I often use Amazon Prime for next day delivery, but some items are listed as “Expedited” because they come from further away so it takes longer to get to me.  Okay, that sounds fair, but just about how far away do they come?

RUNNING CAP

The other week, I bought a case for my phone.  There was no indication on the Amazon page that it was being despatched from — Piacenza, Italy.  I only found that out when they updating the tracking data on the day of delivery.

Last Friday I bought a new running cap because mine are getting a bit worn.  Again, I used Amazon Prime for free delivery, and again it’s “expedited”.  I’ve been pondering why the tracking data hasn’t been updated since Friday, but today I’m told it’s going to be delivered.  The tracking data now says that, wherever it was despatched from is unknown, but it arrived in Grimbergen — a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium.

PHONE CASE

How is it that we need to ship phone cases and caps from so far abroad, and we don’t have them in the UK?  If the Amazon page had said they were coming from so far away, I’d have opted to buy ones that are in the UK.

How is it cheaper to post for free something from Italy or Belgium than within the UK?

HARIBO TUB

Meanwhile, in other Amazon news, on 16th December, I ordered a tub of Haribo for Christmas.  It was on a special price.  It’s now mid-July and it still hasn’t arrived.  Every month they send an email saying it’s been delayed, and pushing back the arrival date by yet another month.

Haribo are, I believe, one of the most popular children’s sweets of modern times – and Amazon can’t get any in for 7 months?  Yet they can ship caps and phone cases around the world for free postage?  How does that make any kind of sense to anyone?

UPDATE: 10th August 2017

And so today, when their next deadline comes around, Amazon email me to say –

“Our supplier has informed us that this item is no longer available.”

It took 8 months of delaying my order to tell me that they can’t fulfil my order.

How odd that the product is available on Amazon via third parties, and via Amazon themselves if I want to pay more and use “Amazon Pantry”.

Another example of a big company not wanting to fulfill the order at the original price, perhaps?  Does a couple of quid really mean so much to a company that saves millions by exploiting legal loopholes to keep their tax bills so low?

In the grand scheme of things, a tub of Haribo is a very small hill of …. jelly sweets, but a company as big as Amazon being flummoxed by a tub of Haribo is like Goliath being outfoxed by David.  It’s comical.