Yeah, I've had the same experience before. They are set up only for pickups as a last resort. If a signature is required and three delivery attempts have been made. If they allowed pickups from a retail location, I think it would be better implemented including some sort of web API for websites to integrate with that allows you to pick a delivery location.
I actually had mine shipped by Apple marked for personal collection at UPS by me. That seemed to have thrown them into a loop, litterally as it was about to go back to Apple! lol
Just means more loses for Amaizon investors to deal with. I never seen a company finding more ways to lose money than Amazon. However, their lose is my gain, like the cheap prices and free shipping.
I have to agree about losses. I mean, what the hell does Jeff know about brick and mortar. This aint a situation like Apple selling the goods they make.
I see it as more of a UPS store type atmosphere. Radio Shack stores are usually in the same type of locations. Probably at a minimum they would stock Amazon electronics and third party products that compliment them. Hopefully they keep the components. Not everyone has a big component store to run to if they need a capacitor or resistor right away. AmazonBasics electronic components maybe?
Maybe in larger towns but mine is small. We don't have a UPS store either, just the Mailbox store that does UPS, FedEx, etc. We also don't have any kind of mall, just stores located on the main street with a downtown (old town) stretch of 10 blocks. Radio Shack is on the first block entering old town right next to a vacant, formerly state-run liquor store. Put the two together and you'd have a larger store with access by Canadians and tourists as well. A glass front store wouldn't fit in this town but the building is newer brick with large windows and looks good. The old liquor store could be used for group training, giving people a quieter area so they could actually hear what's being said. This arrangement could serve as a new Apple Store design. It could also serve as a shipping destination for those people who aren't home for signed deliveries since everyone can get into downtown within several minutes.
There could be a lot of cost savings involved on shipping if Amazon bypasses their 3rd-party. Radio Shacks are seemingly everywhere in the US, and I know that Sunday delivery with the USPS is expensive — a friend makes double-time for walking her route on Sundays for Amazon — so having Amazon trucks drop at Amazon stores and then deliver locally with Amazon trucks or offer pick up could be huge financial gain… which they definitely need.
You can also sell things either to or via Amazon. I've also rented plenty of textbooks from them, which then requires printing out a label and then shipping the book(s) back to them. I'd much rather just drop it off instead of finding a box and printing out a label. Not a big chore, but a chore nonetheless.
I'm actually quite surprised Radio Shack lasted this long. I can't see Amazon using the stores for retail. I'm sure they would be pick up and drop off locations and possibly places to help expand their same day delivery option.
I'm actually quite surprised Radio Shack lasted this long.
Me, too. A couple of decades ago, I used to work for RS. A slow day of sales at a shopping center location with 1-3 employees was a few hundred dollars. A good day might break $1,000. A busy shopping mall location with a half-dozen employees might do about 2 or 3 times that amount. All the RS stores near me seem to have 1-2 employees who do little more than stand around watching TV and playing with their phones all day while occasionally being interrupted by a customer who happened to wander in to buy a cell phone charger or a hearing aid battery.
Oh don't suggest collecting from UPS ... FedEx maybe. My new Mac Pro was a collect from UPS event just before Christmas last year. It was our city's main UPS depot. It took them an hour and several different people to find it and I was treated like shit. It was if it was my problem they couldn't find it and I was a nuisance not giving up and going away when they couldn't find it. They couldn't work their own tracking system and it ended up that it was in a pile out for return to Apple! When they did eventually find it a quite angry guy throws the small box on the counter. I had to point out it was a $5,000 box he'd just tossed.
Horrible experience.
You should have reported them to someone higher than the store and told them to check the cameras during the time you were there.
I'd end up giving 95 of them (Resistors) away as stocking stuffers!
Resistors as Stocking Stuffers? Stockings are for candy!
I hope you take all 95 and make a little Elf-statue!
Heh heh. Just having fun.
The last components I needed were Caps for the infamous Cap-Gate that affected the (Samsung, for ONCE, not their fault) TV in the house we bought. There's a family owned place around us that's like a double-Radio-Shack.
Oh don't suggest collecting from UPS ... FedEx maybe. My new Mac Pro was a collect from UPS event just before Christmas last year. It was our city's main UPS depot. It took them an hour and several different people to find it and I was treated like shit. It was if it was my problem they couldn't find it and I was a nuisance not giving up and going away when they couldn't find it. They couldn't work their own tracking system and it ended up that it was in a pile out for return to Apple! When they did eventually find it a quite angry guy throws the small box on the counter. I had to point out it was a $5,000 box he'd just tossed.
Horrible experience.
I would write a letter to UPS customer service and copy Apple on it. Helps to be specific on details regarding your experience--including names of any employees you dealt with.
If Amazon acquires brick and mortar presence across the country, that means the end of sales tax-free purchasing for everyone. Personally, that's a negative for me but it levels the playing field and helps local job retention.
I have to agree about losses. I mean, what the hell does Jeff know about brick and mortar. This aint a situation like Apple selling the goods they make.
They keep trying to fine tune the delivery end of things, I can see some high density areas (identified by their sales data as well) where having a pickup option could lower delivery costs while speeding up the process. 24 hour pickup in NYC for example? How much of their stuff get's lost when it get's propped up against an apartment door?
They keep trying to fine tune the delivery end of things, I can see some high density areas (identified by their sales data as well) where having a pickup option could lower delivery costs while speeding up the process. 24 hour pickup in NYC for example? How much of their stuff get's lost when it get's propped up against an apartment door?
I agree that they might need a pu option... but why buy Radio Shack stores for that purpose. I'm sure there are dozens of other locations that are available to them.
When they start using drone delivery, having thousands of locations from which to launch will be handy.
So why do the drones need to be launched from retail locations? Wouldn't it be cheaper to have a single warehouse in a city and launch the drones from there? It's more expensive to truck inventory to lots of retail locations just to launch drones a few miles closer to you.
I agree that they might need a pu option... but why buy Radio Shack stores for that purpose. I'm sure there are dozens of other locations that are available to them.
That's very good point, (I guess I was looking more at some basis for a physical retail presence at all). perhaps it has to do with the easier conversion of an already set up small parts retail space in some way? Plus assuming Amazon cherry picked from the store list they might have got the match they needed all in one buy for a preliminary setup.
So why do the drones need to be launched from retail locations? Wouldn't it be cheaper to have a single warehouse in a city and launch the drones from there? It's more expensive to truck inventory to lots of retail locations just to launch drones a few miles closer to you.
Distributed nodes reducing the necessary range of the drones? That reduces transit time and increases efficiency for full coverage. Same reason major cities have a lot more than one giant post office location.
Does Radio Shack actually own their stores? I would think the ones in small strip malls are leased. The only two stores that I know of are part of a larger complex.
Distributed nodes reducing the necessary range of the drones? That reduces transit time and increases efficiency for full coverage. Same reason major cities have a lot more than one giant post office location.
I seriously doubt delivery by drones is ever going to work. As the population continues to grow, more people, especially in dense urban areas, are going to be living in high rise apartments/condos. Drones can't fly to an apartment. The proliferation of commercial drones is going to be a nightmare anyway. If a drone ever rings my doorbell I'll probably knock it down with a baseball bat.
If they plan to do this in order to offer In-Store Pick Up, I'd be interested. I mean, it would probably save them some money in shipping as they could just send bigger boxes with multiple customer's items, then those customers pick up.
I'd love it because in college I don't have a mail box so it's really complicated for me to buy stuff in Amazon.
Comments
I actually had mine shipped by Apple marked for personal collection at UPS by me. That seemed to have thrown them into a loop, litterally as it was about to go back to Apple! lol
Just means more loses for Amaizon investors to deal with. I never seen a company finding more ways to lose money than Amazon. However, their lose is my gain, like the cheap prices and free shipping.
I have to agree about losses. I mean, what the hell does Jeff know about brick and mortar. This aint a situation like Apple selling the goods they make.
I see it as more of a UPS store type atmosphere. Radio Shack stores are usually in the same type of locations. Probably at a minimum they would stock Amazon electronics and third party products that compliment them. Hopefully they keep the components. Not everyone has a big component store to run to if they need a capacitor or resistor right away. AmazonBasics electronic components maybe?
Maybe in larger towns but mine is small. We don't have a UPS store either, just the Mailbox store that does UPS, FedEx, etc. We also don't have any kind of mall, just stores located on the main street with a downtown (old town) stretch of 10 blocks. Radio Shack is on the first block entering old town right next to a vacant, formerly state-run liquor store. Put the two together and you'd have a larger store with access by Canadians and tourists as well. A glass front store wouldn't fit in this town but the building is newer brick with large windows and looks good. The old liquor store could be used for group training, giving people a quieter area so they could actually hear what's being said. This arrangement could serve as a new Apple Store design. It could also serve as a shipping destination for those people who aren't home for signed deliveries since everyone can get into downtown within several minutes.
You can also sell things either to or via Amazon. I've also rented plenty of textbooks from them, which then requires printing out a label and then shipping the book(s) back to them. I'd much rather just drop it off instead of finding a box and printing out a label. Not a big chore, but a chore nonetheless.
I'm actually quite surprised Radio Shack lasted this long. I can't see Amazon using the stores for retail. I'm sure they would be pick up and drop off locations and possibly places to help expand their same day delivery option.
I'm actually quite surprised Radio Shack lasted this long.
Me, too. A couple of decades ago, I used to work for RS. A slow day of sales at a shopping center location with 1-3 employees was a few hundred dollars. A good day might break $1,000. A busy shopping mall location with a half-dozen employees might do about 2 or 3 times that amount. All the RS stores near me seem to have 1-2 employees who do little more than stand around watching TV and playing with their phones all day while occasionally being interrupted by a customer who happened to wander in to buy a cell phone charger or a hearing aid battery.
Amazon should buy all of them.
I always expected Amazon to buy out Barnes & Noble
You should have reported them to someone higher than the store and told them to check the cameras during the time you were there.
I'd end up giving 95 of them (Resistors) away as stocking stuffers!
Resistors as Stocking Stuffers? Stockings are for candy!
I hope you take all 95 and make a little Elf-statue!
Heh heh. Just having fun.
The last components I needed were Caps for the infamous Cap-Gate that affected the (Samsung, for ONCE, not their fault) TV in the house we bought. There's a family owned place around us that's like a double-Radio-Shack.
I would write a letter to UPS customer service and copy Apple on it. Helps to be specific on details regarding your experience--including names of any employees you dealt with.
If Amazon acquires brick and mortar presence across the country, that means the end of sales tax-free purchasing for everyone. Personally, that's a negative for me but it levels the playing field and helps local job retention.
That was probably going away anyway.
I have to agree about losses. I mean, what the hell does Jeff know about brick and mortar. This aint a situation like Apple selling the goods they make.
They keep trying to fine tune the delivery end of things, I can see some high density areas (identified by their sales data as well) where having a pickup option could lower delivery costs while speeding up the process. 24 hour pickup in NYC for example? How much of their stuff get's lost when it get's propped up against an apartment door?
They keep trying to fine tune the delivery end of things, I can see some high density areas (identified by their sales data as well) where having a pickup option could lower delivery costs while speeding up the process. 24 hour pickup in NYC for example? How much of their stuff get's lost when it get's propped up against an apartment door?
I agree that they might need a pu option... but why buy Radio Shack stores for that purpose. I'm sure there are dozens of other locations that are available to them.
So why do the drones need to be launched from retail locations? Wouldn't it be cheaper to have a single warehouse in a city and launch the drones from there? It's more expensive to truck inventory to lots of retail locations just to launch drones a few miles closer to you.
I agree that they might need a pu option... but why buy Radio Shack stores for that purpose. I'm sure there are dozens of other locations that are available to them.
That's very good point, (I guess I was looking more at some basis for a physical retail presence at all). perhaps it has to do with the easier conversion of an already set up small parts retail space in some way? Plus assuming Amazon cherry picked from the store list they might have got the match they needed all in one buy for a preliminary setup.
So why do the drones need to be launched from retail locations? Wouldn't it be cheaper to have a single warehouse in a city and launch the drones from there? It's more expensive to truck inventory to lots of retail locations just to launch drones a few miles closer to you.
Distributed nodes reducing the necessary range of the drones? That reduces transit time and increases efficiency for full coverage. Same reason major cities have a lot more than one giant post office location.
Does Radio Shack actually own their stores? I would think the ones in small strip malls are leased. The only two stores that I know of are part of a larger complex.
I seriously doubt delivery by drones is ever going to work. As the population continues to grow, more people, especially in dense urban areas, are going to be living in high rise apartments/condos. Drones can't fly to an apartment. The proliferation of commercial drones is going to be a nightmare anyway. If a drone ever rings my doorbell I'll probably knock it down with a baseball bat.
If they plan to do this in order to offer In-Store Pick Up, I'd be interested. I mean, it would probably save them some money in shipping as they could just send bigger boxes with multiple customer's items, then those customers pick up.
I'd love it because in college I don't have a mail box so it's really complicated for me to buy stuff in Amazon.