Amazon Patents “Anticipatory” Shipping — To Start Sending Stuff Before You’ve Bought It

[carlzeiss]

Could this be the future of online shopping ?

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/

 

[Cian]

If its ever used it'll only ever be used for horribly predictable shoppers - e.g. you've bought every Football Manager on release day and they can see you're still an active purchaser of other stuff; or you buy the exact same set of stuff as presents every Christmas (pity for them that my grandmother can't use a computer...).

They've admitted that they can't charge for stuff they might send that you didn't actually buy.

 

[vegster]

Everything these days seems so predetermined and programmed. Mrs V just received her first leccy bill since moving in to her new flat. it was really over the top as it was an estimated bill. So, we went online and put the exact meter reading in and submitted it and a little box popped up saying along the lines of " The meter readings you have submitted are considerably lower than those we expected, please check and re-submit, "

I would have loved to be able to reply ( of course no little box pops up for that ! ) " Well, your F@@@@@@ bill was considerably more than we were expecting so please re-submit ! " Harumph !

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Can I keep it for free even if I didn't want it?

 

[theonesmith]

Everything these days seems so predetermined and programmed. Mrs V just received her first leccy bill since moving in to her new flat. it was really over the top as it was an estimated bill. So, we went online and put the exact meter reading in and submitted it and a little box popped up saying along the lines of " The meter readings you have submitted are considerably lower than those we expected, please check and re-submit, "

I would have loved to be able to reply ( of course no little box pops up for that ! ) " Well, your F@@@@@@ bill was considerably more than we were expecting so please re-submit ! " Harumph !

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Also, due to the built-in obsolecence of most of their tat, instead of sending it to you, they are going to post it to your nearest Oxfam shop

 

[beorhthelm]

isnt this the same as just in time supply chain management, but for consumers? and what i'd imagine every supermarket already does, filling the stock room and shelves in advance known events.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Bet the concept of this is making some of you chaps, particularly those who have wives with a fondness for expensive shoes, twitchy

 

[cloud]

Can I keep it for free even if I didn't want it?

I bought two books for my mum on Amazon, and it turned out that she had already bought them. I tried to get a refund, and indeed I did get a refund for both, but they only asked me to return one of the books - the other one (which was still about £7.99) obviously wasn't worth the hassle to them and they told me to keep it.

 

[browneggsandham]

Same happened to me, told me to keep a book I tried to return but still gave me the refund.

Obviously a strategical decision that taking on the cost of return postage is more costly than absorbing the loss of the item.