so, Amazon, is it or is it not free shipping to arrive before Christmas?

[mrbigstuff]

Spent most of the day compiling a list of stuff to order today, given that Amazon says free shipping to arrive before Christmas, and yet when I go to checkout, free shipping indicates it arriving Dec 29 at the earliest....

Is this just a way to extract more shipping charges, or are they really serious?

[Pam]

I'd trust their shipping estimates. Look for the same item from other sellers. You may get quicker, in time for Christmas, shipping.

[M A V I C]

Are they all items fulfilled by Amazon?

[Robert M]

MrBig,

I wouldn't count on anything arriving prior to Christmas from any vendor. The vendor only only one factor. The carrier is the other. UPS, for example, has a message in their shipping system that says guaranteed delivery is suspended during high volume time frames. Right now counts as one of those times. If it's critical for you to have a given item by Christmas, best bet is to purchase it locally.

Robert

[mrbigstuff]

this is all shipped from Amazon, btw

[mrbigstuff]

and, all in stock, according to them

[Acer]

Do you have Prime?

[Robert M]

MrBig,

Doesn't matter. Amazon is at the mercy of the small package carrier. They can ship the package out the same day you order but all bets are off once it's in the hands of UPS, the USPS or whichever carrier they use for delivery.

For what it's worth, I had a package shipped from Amazon.com to my offie via the USPS. The USPS marked the goods as delivered on the day it was scheduled to be delivered. It took an additional 7 days for it to actually get delivered to my office and that was the day after I handed a print out of the tracking information to the postal carrier.

Robert

[mrbigstuff]

I used to have Prime, but dropped it this summer. Can I sign up and then back out later? (not reading the fine print at the moment, due to time)

[onthedownlow]

YES - you can probably sign up for a 30-day Prime trial and then order.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/pipeline/signup


I just ordered something this afternoon, not a gift or needed, but it will be delivered on Sunday (though likely Monday, since I won't be around to receive it).

Likely just depends on where the product is in their warehouse locations vs destination.