Amazon is definitely targeting contractors.

[Packard]

A couple of months ago, I ordered shower mixer from Amazon at about 9:00 in the morning and received the package at 4:30 p.m. the same day.

I ordered a dimmer switch a couple of weeks ago and got delivery about 8:00 p.m. the same day.

I just ordered a Slage combination lock for my front door (at 3:00 p.m.) and the promised delivery date is tomorrow at 5:00 in the morning!

We are getting a new Amazon distribution center about 8 miles from my house (it is under construction now).  Once that is done, they probably will have more items for same day delivery. 

Meanwhile, I ordered the lockset after leaving Lowes.  They said it was on order, but could not tell me when it would arrive.  Or I could drive over the Hudson River ($7.00 with EZ Pass or $12.00 without EZ Pass). Or I could save the drive, the tolls and the higher price by clicking on my tablet at Amazon.com.

My knee jerk reaction when the lock failed, was to buy it locally.  (Slage suggested that I call a locksmith, but that would have cost more than the replacement lock.  A non-starter).

Surprisingly, Slage no longer supports the non-“smart” locks with spare parts.  I guess the phone-controlled locks are more profitable. 

I am kind of “locked in” in using the same model.  I recently painted the door and any new lock would likely require that I paint it again. 

 

[Michael Kellough]

A couple of months ago, I ordered shower mixer from Amazon at about 9:00 in the morning and received the package at 4:30 p.m. the same day.

I ordered a dimmer switch a couple of weeks ago and got delivery about 8:00 p.m. the same day.

I just ordered a Slage combination lock for my front door (at 3:00 p.m.) and the promised delivery date is tomorrow at 5:00 in the morning!

We are getting a new Amazon distribution center about 8 miles from my house (it is under construction now).  Once that is done, they probably will have more items for same day delivery. 

Meanwhile, I ordered the lockset after leaving Lowes.  They said it was on order, but could not tell me when it would arrive.  Or I could drive over the Hudson River ($7.00 with EZ Pass or $12.00 without EZ Pass). Or I could save the drive, the tolls and the higher price by clicking on my tablet at Amazon.com.

My knee jerk reaction when the lock failed, was to buy it locally.  (Slage suggested that I call a locksmith, but that would have cost more than the replacement lock.  A non-starter).

Surprisingly, Slage no longer supports the non-“smart” locks with spare parts.  I guess the phone-controlled locks are more profitable. 

I am kind of “locked in” in using the same model.  I recently painted the door and any new lock would likely require that I paint it again.

I wanted a particular (very quiet) window air conditioner that Lowes sells. The website said my local branch had three in stock but based on a previous bad experience I called and asked if they could find any. They couldn’t.

Back at the website, the Bayonne store was said to have nearly 40 units in stock, and besides that the website said it was half as far away (2 miles) as “my” store. But I live on the north shore of Staten Island and while Bayonne is just a literal stones throw across the Arthur Kill it’s in another state and I have to drive 10 miles and cross a $12 bridge to get to that Lowes. So I did.

That ac unit cost about $40 more at Amazon and would take several days to be delivered. But usually it is far more efficient to get stuff from them.

The air conditioner is rather costly for it’s cooling capacity but it really is very quiet. It has a fan speed setting called “quiet” that is almost too quiet. I can hear the water dripping inside the unit even while the compressor is running. The dripping water is slung around by the fan to better cool the condenser and nearly all window ac units do that but I’ve never before had a quiet enough machine to hear that happening.

 

[Holzhacker]

Extremely rare for me to order from Amazon. I avoid like the plague. Only responding to this thread because of a conversation last week about locks.
Met with a GC about a project. During discussion, he mentioned that he had been talking with his lock distributor. Lock guy told him that the lock manufacturers, Schlage, etc. will be moving into monthly subscription charges in the next couple years for those fancy remote, phone lock things. Just FYI if you are planning on those.

 

[Cheese]

Met with a GC about a project. During discussion, he mentioned that he had been talking with his lock distributor. Lock guy told him that the lock manufacturers, Schlage, etc. will be moving into monthly subscription charges in the next couple years for those fancy remote, phone lock things. Just FYI if you are planning on those.

Thanks for that heads-up...great...this monthly subscription thing really does need to go away. First it was Photoshop, then it was Autocad, pretty soon it will be the tool manufacturers. Purchase a tool and pay never ending monthly and yearly subscription rights just to use that tool.

 

[Packard]

Manufacturers are embracing AI (Artificial Intelligence) software to improve workflow.

Amazon has apparently invested in AO (Artificial Optimism) software.

I ordered two items, for both they acknowledged delivery by 5:00 a.m. 

When I checked back at 8:30 neither item was “out for delivery”.

I was hot to get the lockset early today.  My house keeper has the combination for that lock, and the door only opens with a key, which my house keeper does not have.

When I checked back at 10:00 a.m., the last detail on the lock was at 2:18 a.m., “ Package being processed at carrier facility.”. It has not moved since.  They have offered me a cancellation option.

The other item that was to arrive with it, now arrives on Sunday but no hourly time is indicated.

 

[woodferret]

Labor day (and any long weekend) often causes an op glitch in their scheduling, since they have to integrate outsourced delivery as well as their own own delivery van which operates separate from the fulfillment warehouse.  Their 'in-house' delivery is actually still subcontractor based.  They have no visibility on staffing, at least not to the level they have internally.

I figured by now they'd fix it, but the only way for that to happen is if one of their own engineers gets annoyed by the delivery/staff issue.  Hitting customer support gets the scripted cancel response and it's not filed as an operational issue with HQ so it'll never get fixed.  That and it only happens very sporadically and they usually catch up, like they do with any other transient blockage like weather.

 

[Packard]

Right now, they remain my best option.  So I wait…

I would note that Musk probably was the driving force for subscription service (though satellite radio probably predates that).  Mercedes builds 4-wheel steering in all their S-class sedans.  But you have to pay a subscription for it to be active.

It represents a new revenue stream, so it is not going away.  I’m surprised that there is no subscription for the GPS service on my Chryslers.

 

[squall_line]

It represents a new revenue stream, so it is not going away.  I’m surprised that there is no subscription for the GPS service on my Chryslers.

All manufacturers have a subscription for their GPS, just not the traditional monthly subscription you may be thinking of.

Try updating the base maps in your GPS.  The fee, depending on the manufacturer, will likely make your eyes water if you get it legitimately from the OEM.

The quality level of Android Auto and Apple CarPlay in newer vehicles has made this model much less appealing or necessary, but I will say that I find it beneficial to have at least a base map set in a car without needing to attach a phone, even if the maps are a few years old.

 

[smorgasbord]

All manufacturers have a subscription for their GPS, just not the traditional monthly subscription you may be thinking of.

We're a bit OT here, but surprisingly, Tesla doesn't charge for map/software updates, which come over cellular or WiFi. And you don't need a phone and it works even in areas without connectivity.

Current products from Schlage claim "no subscriptions:https://www.schlage.com/en/home/smart-locks/platforms.html

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[Crazyraceguy]

While we are not contractors in the "pickup truck in your driveway" sense of the word, we do get a lot of supplies from Amazon. I think mostly because it's just easier, one stop shopping. The buying history makes getting re-stock types of things super easy. I have gotten a lot of things delivered the next day, some before 7am, the others generally before noon. Almost everything else comes by the second day
We have suppliers/vendors for the major products, but when I need shop supplies, I go straight to the "buyer" and he makes it happen.

I'm a bit of a nut-case who owns everything I use (except the big shop equipment) but I'm also the one who takes care of getting what the other departments need to keep functioning, plus maintenance parts/tools, etc. Some of that stuff is so specialized that it can only come from the distributor/manufacturer, otherwise Amazon. There are several warehouses around here, but that's to be expected in a city this big.
Though they are not always the cheapest, the free (and quick) shipping makes up for it, most of the time.
The RIGID jointer I just bought.....no. They wanted $200 more for it than the big orange store. They delivered it free too, but I had to wait a few days. They don't stock them in the stores. It gets delivered by a sub-contractor service, and all of the paperwork makes it seem like it came from your local store, but it didn't. Some warehouse holds all of that kind of thing.

As an aside, my '14 Camaro had way more "native/built-in" capability than my '20 Colorado does, but that was before Apple Car Play and Android Auto. They seem to have cut back, in favor of external applications. Not only could the Camaro read texts out loud to me, it had its own phone built in. It did not rely on a separate cell phone. You could make or receive calls with no cell phone at all. Newer isn't always better, in 6 years they went backward.

 

[Packard]

The lockset from Amazon did arrive on the promised date, but not at 5:00 a.m.  Ten hours later at 3:00 p.m.

But it was all for nothing.

Replacing a lockset with an identical lockset is remarkably easy.  Just two screws to remove.  Slide out the old and slide in the new (but don’t forget the battery).  And two screws to replace. 

So why did it take me 3 hours to get this done? 

The new lockset exhibited the same symptoms as the old. It would not lock. 

After trying repeatedly to program in the combination, I decided to try another battery.  The battery I was using was brand-new-freshly-cut-from-a-blister-card and carried a date of 2022.  It should have been good.  It was guaranteed to store for 10 years.  Duracell.

Another battery from another blister-mounted card went in and all is working fine. 

I have no doubt that the battery was the culprit for the old lockset and it never really needed to be replaced. 

I’m not sure what I am to learn from this.  Historically, Duracell batteries, fresh from the blister mount have proven to be fine.

I probably had 4 - 5 hours of frustration.  Waiting for Amazon did not figure in on my frustration. 

The very first time I ordered by mail was with the Alaskan Trading Company back in 1961 or so.  I ordered a Pendleton (or maybe a Woolrich) shirt.  About 4 months later I learned I was a creditor. (I never saw any part of the creditors’ share of the money.)

I did not start to shop mail order or online until Amazon came around. 

I have a few trusted online vendors, but 62 years after mu experience with Alaskan Trading, I remain wary of vendors I cannot visit.

Amazon has proven to be very reliable, and easy to work with.  Though reaching a human it getting increasingly difficult at Amazon.  And they don’t post my reviews when they don’t like them.

 

[MCS-Todd]

I am a contractor that does primarily remodels. We order a lot of our products and supplies via Amazon. You do have to make sure you shop things and know your prices. Last year, a box of 25 lag screws in the two big box stores were $147 & $125. Same screws and same manufacturer on Amazon was $70. Recently I went to order a part and it was $15 more on Amazon but was delivered in a few days as opposed to the 2-3 weeks from the cheaper source.

 

[mwolczko]

  And they don’t post my reviews when they don’t like them.

Interesting. I’ve posted some harsh reviews and never had that happen.
BTW, I heartily recommend this tool:
https://a.co/d/2ZkpQuX

 

[Charles959]

Be sure to get the ZTS MBT-1R4 model, which unlike some earlier models, can test a Lithium AAA primary battery. I bought mine directly from ZTS. The tester is made in the USA.
https://www.ztsinc.com/mbt1.html

 

[Charles959]

I just asked ZTS about support for testing a 9 volt lithium primary (non-rechargeable) battery, and learned that they have a model that can test these batteries. It is shown under "Military" on the ZTS website. It can also test common lithium-ion 3.6 volt rechargeable batteries: RCR123A, 18500, 17650, 18650.
https://www.ztsinc.com/mbtmilsf.html