Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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Retail Apocalypse aka The E-Commerce Thread
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Kiroy
Marine Biologist
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Yes he is.
As a small shipper who gets minimal discounts usps is about 10-20% cheaper than ups when it comes to packages under 5lbs. They become competative over 5lbs combined with larger distances. USPS could easily raise some pricing in some circumstances but i'd say from the very small business perspective Trump is off the mark.
I know fuck all about what amazon pays but id bet Trump is right that usps is subsidizing their bottom line with completely ridiculous discounts.
If usps isnt symbiotically profiting off amazon in a major way they are retarded and doing it wrong.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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Oldbased
> Than U
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They all do. I'd LOVE to know what prices these places pay. When Target runs litter promotions for example I can get 35lb Tidy Cat containers shipped 1-2 days UPS( Real UPS this time not USPS ) for $7 each. They normally cost $12 in stores. Now how can it sell it for $5 under store cost which would eat away much of the margin and still pay to ship something 35lbs 2 day or less delivery.
Chewy, Jet, Target, Walmart, Amazon and more all do it. None of them seem to care about weight or size for the most part which makes you wonder what sort of deals they made.
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ShakyJake
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Not for me. I can't remember the last time I had an Amazon package delivered by UPS. Also, poor USPS is forced to deliver on Sundays now.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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What Kiroy said. I used to ship by USPS whenever i could when I ran my ecom, it was cheaper than UPS, especially on small shipments and for shipments that werent expedited. UPS and Fedex shipping was preferred for expedited delivery because USPS failed often to deliver shit in 1 or 2 days
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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delivery service is dependent on delivery date, item, and warehouse availability.
sure sometimes your shit gets shipped from 10 states away, but that might just be b/c other shit is going to the same place too
most of my stuff is usps w/ ups handling the big items.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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USPS does have a "last mile" contract with Fedex. Fedex will ship from merchant to whatever their closest distribution center is, then drop off all packages at the USPS distro center and USPS will do the residential delivery.
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Hachima
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Around here most of my prime packages are delivered by Amazon and their couriers(random person in their own personal vehicle) and they often toss the package and don't ring the bell but my camera picks them up so I'm prepared if they ever do break something. After that stuff is delivered by UPS which has always been professionally safely placed down. I will rarely get something through USPS and its usually when its something super small like a SD memory card.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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Here is what I've noticed that is off on it all.
The companies that do free shipping are direct. It is either UPS, USPS or Fed Ex all the way and usually 2 day delivery. Places like Jet( Walmart owned ), Chewy( PetSmart owned ), Target, Walmart, Amazon.
The companies that charge a asston for shipping for multiple ship with smartpost final route and take 4-14 days to get delivered. That is places like Kohl's, Coldwater Creek and so forth.
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I worked at Amazon, as an executive, for a decade, but not in transportation or supply chain, and learned a ton. I can share some basics but I have to be careful about what I say. Here is public (ish) information:
Amazon maintains real time inventory and supply chain planning. Packages can be encumbered for delivery at the factory. Forecasting predicts how many of each item to send where in the country to minimise transport with very high accuracy. Amazon forward deploys high volume and popular items to all major cities to minimise transport distances. Amazon turns over all inventory ten plus times a year (B&M do 1-3 on total inventory), meaning that the cost of goods is low as you add very little (floor space x time) holding cost. Amazon owns a large percentage of transportation including the final mile. Amazon does so much volume with UPS, USPS, etc that it can negotiate incredible rates and aggressively works to be tolerant of the loss of any supplier (transport or otherwise) to keep market forces at work with their service suppliers. Amazon obsesses over operational metrics to a level of detail and attention that is actually scary to human beings in there outside world.
Amazon maintains real time inventory and supply chain planning. Packages can be encumbered for delivery at the factory. Forecasting predicts how many of each item to send where in the country to minimise transport with very high accuracy. Amazon forward deploys high volume and popular items to all major cities to minimise transport distances. Amazon turns over all inventory ten plus times a year (B&M do 1-3 on total inventory), meaning that the cost of goods is low as you add very little (floor space x time) holding cost. Amazon owns a large percentage of transportation including the final mile. Amazon does so much volume with UPS, USPS, etc that it can negotiate incredible rates and aggressively works to be tolerant of the loss of any supplier (transport or otherwise) to keep market forces at work with their service suppliers. Amazon obsesses over operational metrics to a level of detail and attention that is actually scary to human beings in there outside world.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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When i was an exec at my first e-com, they were turning inventory 3 times a year, i got it to 10 times a year in my first 6 months and we were doing $23M in gross annual revenue when i started (company was around for 7 years at that point). 2 years after i started we were doing over $80M. I was overseeing all marketing, merchandising, forecasting and purchasing.
Good to hear I was on Amazons level, armed with nothing more than a bunch of excel spreadsheets and my Jewish tricks
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Kiroy
Marine Biologist
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Usps is pretty fucking on point nowadays with their shipping times. We may have one issue in a thousand shipments and its typically just a flat out lost package.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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I feel like all these posts on ecom and shipping should be moved into the retail apocalypse thread and that thread should be renamed to the general ecom thread. Lots of good knowledge in these posts and looks like we got a lot of folks in that biz
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
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