“If this is all a bug, then it’s extra gnarly and will be confusing to unravel,” Freese told Recode, referencing the disparities between Spokane addresses. And for that faster address, four of the 10 products still didn’t qualify for two-day Prime shipping. He found that only one of the four delivery addresses in Spokane had faster delivery speeds than five business days. So to dig a little further into potential issues there, Freese tested an extra three addresses in different parts of Spokane County, and five extra Prime-eligible products for a total of 10. In his Prime shipping experiment focused on Washington, Freese was especially surprised that one of the counties with slow delivery speeds was Spokane, because Amazon has opened two new fulfillment centers there since 2020. Amazon’s website says that “nearly all addresses in the contiguous US” qualify for two-day Prime shipping. She also denied the possibility that Amazon had stopped offering two-day Prime shipping to some parts of the US where it was previously available, despite some customers having that very complaint. Instead, she said Prime delivery promises fluctuate based on many factors including transportation capacity in a given region and a customer’s location. While not exhaustive, Freese’s experiment appears to back up complaints from some customers about bizarrely slow delivery speeds.Īmazon spokesperson Lauren Samaha said the company has not identified any widespread issues with Prime delivery speeds and that Amazon is not slowing down deliveries to some members in an effort to cut costs. Freese’s experiment included five separate bestselling products, all sold and shipped by Amazon, including an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a pack of Amazon’s own brand of diapers, and a 64-ounce container of Tide detergent. (He chose a random residential address in the biggest city or town in each county.) These orders still carried a Prime badge on the checkout page, but had the simple branding of “FREE delivery” rather than any mention of “two-day” or “next-day” shipping. He found that in a third of the counties, 13 in total, Prime orders would take either four or five business days to arrive. He surmised that he was either witnessing the results of a technical bug that was potentially costing the company sales, or a cost-cutting move that essentially meant Amazon was, in Freese’s words, “redefining the word Prime” for some customers - but with zero disclosure.Īfter reading similar complaints on social media and suspecting a potential broader issue, Freese ran an experiment in August to test Prime delivery promises in all 39 counties in Washington state. Instead, Prime two-day shipping had been replaced by a delivery speed reminiscent of the 1990s: five business days. He knows better than most how things work behind the scenes after a customer places an order.īut in July, he was surprised to find that Prime’s free two-day shipping, the hallmark of Amazon’s membership program, appeared to no longer be available on any merchandise whatsoever in his hometown of Omak, Washington, about 200 miles northeast of Seattle. Freese worked in Amazon corporate roles for more than a decade, including three years leading data analysis work in the company’s transportation and fulfillment divisions. The inconsistency has been especially puzzling to a former Amazon employee named Peter Freese. And it raises key questions: Are cracks appearing in the membership program at the core of Amazon’s e-commerce domination? Or is Amazon intentionally slowing delivery speeds for some Prime customers?Īre you a current or former Amazon employee with thoughts or tips on this topic? Please email Jason Del Rey at or His phone number and Signal number are available upon request by email. It means fast, free delivery!” But Prime members in some parts of the country have been surprised by slower delivery speeds than they were once used to. And one of those customers, a longtime former Amazon employee, recently conducted informal research that indicates Prime customers have to wait four or five business days for delivery across various parts of Amazon’s home state of Washington.Īmazon boosted Prime’s annual price to $139 earlier this year, and its signup page boasts, “Look for the Prime check mark as you shop. From western New York to central Missouri to rural Washington state, some Amazon Prime members are asking a version of the same question: What happened to Amazon Prime’s two-day shipping?Īs Amazon brings next-day and same-day Prime delivery to more parts of the US, complaints from some Amazon customers about long Prime delivery times are still common in other regions. The complaints from Amazon customers are similar and popping up across the US.
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