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[Screens Around Town] Crate and Barrel, Amazon, and Ticketweb Matt Jun 14 2007

12 comments Latest by Jeff Hartman

Crate and Barrel
room views
Crate and Barrel offers typical product shots and also “room views” that show the product in a real context. Example: Calphalon Cookware.

Amazon
overnight
Nice touch at Amazon to disable the overnight button and explain why.

Ticketweb
ticketweb
Oh Ticketweb, you know my interests so well!

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12 comments so far

Michael Zuschlag 14 Jun 07

How does the Amazon explanation appear? On mouseover of the disabled button?

Jon Maddox 14 Jun 07

oh, i saw that show in Portland a little under a month ago. It rocked! ;)

Jeff Hartman 14 Jun 07

In what situation would overnight and two-day arrive on the same day?

Daniel 14 Jun 07

I know I’m such a nerd for this…

But isn’t that All Clad cookware in the screenshot? I know the link goes to Calphalon, but I found it ironic :-)

spacecowboyian 14 Jun 07

I think you got my events.. I would eat a plasma tv for a ticket to that show.

http://www.myspace.com/arrogantsonsofbitches

Adam James 14 Jun 07

When I order from B&H Photo in NYC I get the package in overnight even when I choose standard ground shipping because I’m in Massachusetts. Amazon’s feature is probably the same situation.

michael f 14 Jun 07

jeff: Perhaps the overnight had a time cutoff that had passed so the package wouldn’t actually ship until the next morning.

Jeff Hartman 14 Jun 07

@michael f: I don’t know how their shipping works, but my online store ships FedEx exclusively so I’m speaking of experience with them.

Pickup time is the same for next day, two-day, and three-day (Express Saver). Cutoff time should be the same for both of these services because to shipping companies they’re all considered “express” shipping (i.e. FedEx Express includes next day, 2-day and Express Saver vs. FedEx Ground which is Business Ground and Home Delivery). It’s not like you have a guy doing pickup for only Priority Overnight and another guy to pick up 2-Day.

I can’t imagine Amazon would use different carriers for next day vs. 2-day.

UNLESS ….because of volume, Amazon’s express carrier doesn’t do any of the sorting and Amazon does all the sorting for them to get better shipping rates. Then you might have specific people picking up by shipping type. Hmmm.

B 14 Jun 07

Jeff, your online store probably has one warehouse. Amazon has dozens. Maybe the location where the item was in stock had already passed their cutoff for the day.

Jeff Hartman 15 Jun 07

Number of warehouses should have nothing to do with it. Overnight and 2-day are time commitments and have nothing to do with distance (speaking of domestic shipments here). It doesn’t matter if a warehouse is in Los Angeles, Des Moines, or Seattle if shipping to New York.

What doesn’t make sense to me is how the dates are the same. One day shipping does not equal 2-day shipping. The only time 2-day shipping is equal to 1-day shipping is if the destination is within one day (typically by ground, not air). They usually don’t take 2 days to deliver a package that is one day away (i.e. Chicago to Chicago).

I keep thinking this through because to consumers (and Matt of 37S) it seems at first that this is being helpful, but to me it is confusing.

Swati 15 Jun 07

If you order on Thursday, 2 day delivery should deliver on Saturday. But FedEx Saturday delivery is extra, so you get it on Monday instead.

3-day delivery would also be Monday because they count Saturday as a potential day.

So in this case 2-day and 3-day delivery are the same.

Jeff Hartman 15 Jun 07

Saturdays are never counted in the expected delivery date because as you said, Saturday is a special delivery option. Expected delivery dates are always based on business days, unless you choose that option. Still should have no effect.

The post did not show the date Matt took the screenshot. If it was June 6th the date for overnight of June 7th is correct and the button for 2-day shipping is confusing because 2 days away is June 8th.

If the date the screenshot was taken June 5th, overnight is incorrect in saying June 7th.

Comments are closed