When ordering a product from another country, say, China, you might expect to wait a few weeks or even a month for the product to show up on your doorstep. If you order from Amazon, it’ll arrive in five days. Or at least that’s the new deadline the e-commerce giant has recently given the makers and suppliers of small items. [More]
fulfillment
5 Things You Should Know About Amazon’s Issues With Counterfeits
By 7.8.16
When you see a brand-name handbag or laptop being sold on Amazon for well below its retail price, it’s hard to not hit the “Buy” button. But is it a good deal or just a counterfeit in brand-name clothing? [More]
Amazon Planning To Hire 100,000 Temporary Workers This Holiday Season
By 10.20.15
While Amazon continues to deflect criticism of its workplace culture, the retailer announced plans to nearly double its workforce this holiday season: adding 100,000 temporary workers to its roster. [More]
Here’s How Fulfillment Centers Make Shipping Stupid By Making It Smart
By 7.16.14
We received a letter from J., who designs order fulfillment systems for a living. We would call him a “Stupid Shipping Gang Kingpin,” but that’s not really fair: he says that he does his best to make the system less stupid. The problem, J. explains, is that “sometimes the smart way to do things and the common sense way to do things seem at odds with each other.” [More]
Skullcandy Lifetime Warranty Means You'll Wait Your Lifetime For A Replacement
By 7.31.09
There is a guy at Skullcandy named Joe, and he is in charge of their warranty fulfillment program. He is overworked. Why, just on this one warranty replacement story, he’s had to deal with the same customer over and over and over, and the customer still hasn’t gotten a replacement earbud set for the one that broke last November. Wentao writes, “I am also moving out of the country in 10 days, so I will probably never see the headphones I paid for ever again.”
Why Can't You Understand That Hobbytron Does Not Want To Talk To You?
By 1.17.09
Hector ordered one product from Hobbytron and received something else. He tried to contact them to arrange a return, but every avenue they offered didn’t work, or funneled him to an alternative method. He finally recieved an RMA from them, but no instructions or description of what happens next. Hobbytron is really busy right now, Hector! They don’t need your guff!
Newegg Doesn't Deliver PS3 With Spiderman 3, Blames Sony
By 3.7.08
Okay, everyone together in Moe Szyslak’s voice: 
“Whaaaaa?” We’re just as confused as you are. Newegg, which has one of the most stellar reputations of any retailer, online or b&m, apparently sent a customer a regular PS3 box instead of one with a Blu-ray copy of “Spiderman 3.” Here’s where it gets all evil alternate universe: when the customer called to complain, the CSR told him it wasn’t Newegg’s problem and for him to talk to Sony.
Update-3/7/08: Newegg contacted the OP and resolved the issue—see the OP’s comment below.
Wal-Mart Joins The Stupid Shipping Gang
By 12.26.07
A reader writes, “As part of our Christmas shopping; we ordered several DVD’s, video games, and a phone card from Wal-Mart’s website.” The items trickled in over several days, then “this showed up. A 10X11X5 inch box, an air-filled air bubble, and one thin phone card taped to the bottom of the box.”
Companies, this has got to stop! It’s wasteful and annoying. It’s stupid. It can’t cost that much to hire someone to put together a shipping program that uses different package sizes for different types of products.
