Bad news for regular Amazon.com shoppers who live in United States territories: the online retail behemoth now limits their free Super Saver shipping to only residents of the fifty states. Reader Barbara in Puerto Rico wonders why this is. “They ship all their stuff through USPS anyway,” she points out, “so the postage difference is zero!”

Here’s Barbara’s letter:

I live in Puerto Rico and I’m a loyal amazon customer. Over the years I’ve spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on various items. Today I was looking to buy some items and when I checked the shipping options I did not find the Super Saver Shipping. I went to the page that lists the terms and indeed, now super saver shipping is only available for the 50 US states. I’m personally really upset about this since I buy so much on Amazon. They ship all their stuff through USPS anyway so the postage difference is zero! It also came without any notice at all. As recently as late July I made an order with super saver shipping! So sad.

Most sad indeed. This page at Amazon explains who is eligible to super save on their shipping. There are limits on which APO and FPO addresses can, and some heavy items can’t ship to Alaska or Hawaii. But anyone can mail a package to U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Marianas) for the same price that it costs to mail something across town.

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