Monday, March 3, 2014

Amazon: Sunday Shipping and Add On Shipping

For some reason, I am in my second year of Amazon Prime Membership.  I thought it was a good idea the first year and perhaps I would cancel my Netflix subscription, but aside from Absolutely Fabulous, I cannot remember anything I watched with regularity on Amazon Prime.  But there was also the free shipping, which was nice every so often when I wanted a book, but I doubt I really got my money's worth out of the product.

Having missed my window for cancelling, I began year two, actually using the service less than year one.  That being said, last week, I ran out of cage wipes for my guinea pig.  The wipes are essentially animal safe Clorox wipes without the bleach.  But they are really good at cleaning the bottom of a cage or carrier and I've developed a dependency on them, even though the independent pet store refuses to carry the wipes I so desperately need. 

Knowing I could not buy them at the regular pet store, I quickly searched for them online and found them at Amazon, where they were half the price I pay in the store.  Realizing I might get some mileage out of my Amazon Prime membership after all, I go to put them in my cart, when I come to the realization they are an add-on item.  Now, if I pay you $80 to ship me items throughout the year, I expect you to basically ship me any item in your store.  I shouldn't be forced to find $25 worth of other items to pad my order, when all I really needed was cage wipes.  However, I really needed those wipes, so I went and bought 120 liters of bedding, which is a significantly heavier item, but always ships free and was sufficient to meet the limit to get me my two containers of cage wipes.

Angered, I place my order on a Friday afternoon and see that both items have different ship dates.  The bedding will arrive on Tuesday and as of this time is only in transit, but the cage wipes, the Add-On item, are being shipped separately and were scheduled to arrive on Sunday...

Now, perhaps you might feel differently, but if you tell me that I need to order additional items to get shipping, I expect everything to ship together and I don't expect to get specialized Sunday shipping on the Add-On item, yet Sunday came and the cage wipes were waiting for me when I got home from the grocery store, so Sunday delivery works, but at the same time, I cannot help but think I could have just ordered the cage wipes in these circumstances.  But I was denied the rational option and look forward to having another 120 liters of bedding tomorrow.  Needless to say, the chances of being an Amazon Prime member for a third year are very slim. 

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