it's kind of like the sorceror's apprentice

[cellio]

A few days ago I wanted to order some books from Amazon. While I was getting a delivery anyway, I decided to throw in a small kitchen item that I hadn't been able to find locally and that Amazon sells directly. I wanted two of said item.

The shopping cart would not allow me to order two of them, though I saw no "almost out of stock" notice on the product page. So I split it into two orders, since I was ordering enough to be able to do that and keep the free shipping, and I was able to put one of the kitchen items in each order. Mission accomplished, though it felt a bit silly.

Then yesterday the email came. For my convenience (and at no extra charge), each of these orders was split into two, one for books and one for the kitchen item. (Presumably they ship from separate warehouses.) I will apparently be receiving four packages from them, two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday. This is more than "a little" silly. :-) It could have been two instead of four, but the interface stumped me. I'm glad I didn't also throw in, say, a clothing item, a DVD, and some electronic gadget into the order; mail carriers have enough hassles this time of year without my help.

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

My postal reps asked me to start subscribing to every catalog possible, to justify their continued employment. Don't feel too bad, but do send "erk?" feedback, because that's ridiculous.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

They do indeed ship from different distribution centers. Where I live, ordering electronics and books together is verboten, because with the free super saver shipping it'll take weeks. Separated orders arrive within days. Not sure but there's something wrong with Amazon's packaging optimization routine. It seems like they wait for the slow train to ship from one warehouse to the other and then repackage everything.

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I ordered several items a day apart - three kitchen items and a pillow. I got them delivered all in the same box.

Hmm.

S

[alfiechat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had the same thing happen, Sue. don't get it.