It’s better for an online retailer to send an item packaged incorrectly than to not send it at all, or to wait around for the perfect box or envelope to show up. Right? That’s the founding principle behind the Stupid Shipping Gang, who sent reader Veganman a box of tiny door bumpers that could have fit in an un-padded manila envelope. [More]
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Walmart, Other Retailers Slash Price Of Hachette Books Amid Amazon’s Ongoing Feud With The Publisher
By 6.2.14
While the power struggle between Amazon and book publisher Hachette moves into its third week, other retailers have begun to use the situation to their advantage. [More]
Amazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Makes Sure Coffee Filters Arrive Safely
By 5.28.14
Reader Laura (no relation) received a big, sturdy Amazon box at work. “The kind large enough to hold six to eight regular reams of 8×11 paper,” she wrote to Consumerist. “20 inches in length and a good foot wide and deep.” This box must hold a large amount of office supplies, right? Not so much. [More]
Amazon Flexes Muscle, Pulls Titles In Ongoing Dispute With Publisher
By 5.23.14
When perusing Amazon for a too-good-to-put-down book, consumers often assume the site’s vast library of titles includes all that’s available in the literary world. But the e-tailer is now putting pressure on one publisher by making it hard to find and order that company’s books. [More]
Amazon Using 30-Day Try-Before-You-Buy Offers To Attract Fire TV Customers
By 5.22.14
While the idea of free trial periods for streaming video subscription services like Amazon Prime is nothing new, the online retailer is now applying that same try-before-you-buy concept to streaming hardware. [More]
What Could Possibly Be Inside Car-Sized Amazon Locker With A Nissan Logo On It?
By 5.16.14
Yet again, Amazon and Nissan have teamed up to bring the world a mystery involving an enormous Amazon-branded container out in public. Last time, the massive Amazon box on a flatbed truck contained a Nissan Versa, which was a great cross-promotion. What could be inside the mysterious giant Amazon locker in San Francisco? Maybe the Nissan logo on one side provides a clue. [More]
Does Amazon’s Inventory Commingling Help Fake Products Fly Under The Radar?
By 5.12.14
When you order a certain brand’s product on Amazon and end up with a fake version of the real thing, who’s to blame? Some companies say it’s Amazon’s fault for commingling its inventory at some warehouses in the name of expediency, mixing up products that come directly from them with third-party sellers who also use the e-commerce giant’s warehouse order-fulfillment services. [More]
Amazon Sends Snail Mail To Remind Prime Members They Have Instant Video Streaming
By 5.9.14
Who said nothing good comes in the mail? Amazon is using the oft-forgotten form of communication to remind Prime account members that they have access to instant video streaming. [More]
Amazon Snags Patent For Taking Photographs Of Stuff Against A White Background
By 5.9.14
You there, with the camera, the seamless white background and the subject you’re prepared to shoot — halt! Or at least stop to ponder the reality that Amazon has apparently been granted a patent for taking photos of stuff against a white background. [More]
How Does A Negative Amazon Review Result In Threats Of A Lawsuit?
By 5.8.14
UPDATE: While neither Medialink nor its lawyer have responded to our request for comment on this story, the company has posted a lengthy note on its Facebook page in which explains the motives behind the cease-and-desist letter and says that its Amazon seller account has been suspended. [More]
Apparently, It’s Very Difficult To Box Up Cat Toys
By 5.8.14
Reader James was not impressed last week when we posted a picture of a cat toy that Amazon shipped inside another cat toy…or, as us people without cats call them, a very large “cardboard box.” James assured us that he could top one cat toy in a mere oversized long, thin box: he received two cat toys in a box large enough to ship at least four cats.* [More]
Amazon Expands Sunday Delivery To 15 Cities Because We’re All Very Impatient
By 5.8.14
When ordering products online there’s a strong desire to have said merchandise delivered to your door immediately. But sometimes weekends – especially Sundays – get in the way. For residents of 17 cities, that will no longer pose a problem now that Amazon is expanding its Sunday deliveries. [More]
Amazon, Google, Reddit, Netflix, 4Chan, Dozens Others, Plead With FCC To Protect Net Neutrality
By 5.7.14
In perhaps the most motley crew (as opposed to Mötley Crüe) of tech and Internet companies ever assembled for a single cause, around 150 businesses representing everything from content and infrastructure to gaming, crowdfunding and 3-D printing have written the FCC to ask that it not completely screw up net neutrality. [More]
Another Amazon Prime Order, Another Delivery Fake-Out From Ontrac
By 5.7.14
“OnTrac has made Amazon Prime a very expensive joke in Los Angeles,” reader Matthew wrote to Consumerist. How much of a joke? “This has happened at least six times in as many months to my wife and me. Tried contacting OnTrac and couldn’t get through to a human being.” That’s not a very funny joke. Matthew and his wife are far from alone in their dissatisfaction with OnTrac, though. [More]
FedEx To Start Charging By Package Size
By 5.7.14
Currently, shipping companies like FedEx and UPS only take a package’s size into account when it passes certain dimensional thresholds, but it looks like FedEx will soon start using package size and weight to determine shipping rates for all packages. [More]
Amazon Now Lets You Use Hashtags To Shop On Twitter
By 5.5.14
Because you should apparently never take your eyes off of Twitter, lest you miss the same updates and photos that your friends are also sharing simultaneously on Facebook, Instagram, and whatever else the kids today are all hopped up on, Amazon has launched a new service that lets you add items directly to your Amazon shopping cart with the use of a hashtag. [More]
Amazon Stupid Shipping Gang Ships Cat Toy Inside Second Cat Toy
By 5.2.14
We can’t imagine how difficult it must be to box up packages in an online fulfillment warehouse, working with time constraints to find the best container for an unfathomable variety of products. Yet sometimes the packaging choices themselves are unfathomable, and that’s when we point out that the Stupid Shipping Gang has been at work. Stephen sent along this photo of his cat toy packaged in a comically oversized box. [More]
Which Cities Spend The Most Money On Pampering Pets?
By 4.30.14
So you think you love your little fluffy wuffy snorgly borgly honeypie Fido, do you? You tuck him in with his special blanket every night, feed him his fancy food and generally fawn over your pet — but how does your city stack up when it comes to spending cash on pets? [More]
