MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: Is your goal to annoy people into paying you more money, Amazon?

If you or I were shipping, you are correct, it costs more to wait a week and then ship next day.

But they have a deal with the shipping companies, and do not pay full price because they have such a large volume.

Plus, when we order something on Amazon, we are presented with the illusion that all the items are in stock at their warehouse location which is closest to us geographically.

Behind the scenes, when several items are ordered, those items may be at different warehouse locations. We are spared the gruesome details of logistics on how Amazon is going to transfer those items from warehouse to warehouse, via various shipping routes and services.

Amazon saves money by stocking it's various warehouses by guessing where in the country those items will sell - for the best aggregate shipping time. Amazon loses money when their stocking predictions are inaccurate.

Since they're still in business, and apparently thriving, I perceive that their predictions are accurate enough.

And yes, your point about paying extra for the convenience of quick shipping is well taken. But look at it this way, if they had flat rate shipping and could handle the extra volume, almost all local commercial retailers would find themselves out of business. The extra charge for quick ship is one of the few things keeping the brick and mortar operators still operating.