I know some of you will hate the idea of shopping with a massive retailer like Amazon, but let’s face it. There are times when you just need to shop on Amazon and this close to Christmas is absolutely one of them. So if this is you, you’re probably looking at Amazon.co.uk in disbelief right now as you see abnormally long delivery times, even for Prime customers. It appears to be a bug, but here’s what we know.
Update: This is likely not an Amazon-specific issue. Holyhead Port’s closure caused a massive backlog of packages.
Long Amazon Delivery Windows
Right now, I’m looking at a SwitchBot on Amazon.co.uk. I’d normally expect this to be delivered in 2 or 3 days. If I was to order it, Amazon is currently saying it wouldn’t be delivered until 28 December 2024.
Even looking at the likes of an Amazon Echo Pop, on my Amazon Prime account, and I’m getting the “arrives after Christmas warning”.
Yet, I’ve already ordered one or two items which have arrived well inside the initial delivery date. So what gives?
Well, there are potentially several things at play here.
Amazon Prime Promotion
Amazon could be giving priority to Amazon Prime customers. These are the customers paying a premium fee for access to extra services and faster delivery.
But I am a Prime customer and I’m still seeing unusually long delivery times for many items.
Post Black Friday Sales Hangover/Christmas Demand
Amazon has turned Black Friday into a week-long sales event. It’s extremely possible that the Amazon delivery network is completely overwhelmed. Just the other day a delivery driver passed me training a new driver. I’ve never seen this before. While incredibly anecdotal, I could imagine that a shortage of drivers at Christmas combined with extremely high order volumes has left the Amazon delivery network choked.
It’s not unusual to see Amazon delivery times extended around Christmas. But it is unusual to see delivery dates fluctuating wildly. I’ve just ordered something that wasn’t coming for two weeks because I’ve suddenly got next day delivery. After I ordered it, the same item jumped to being delivered next week.
We are also getting dangerously close to Christmas. So while the 10th of December might seem early, it’s not unusual for ecommerce sites to start cutting off orders in the next few days.
Confused Delivery Algorithms
It’s almost certain that this is some sort of “bug” in how Amazon estimates delivery times. Because Amazon Ireland hasn’t launched yet, we piggyback on Amazon UK. All of their delivery time calculations likely aren’t optimised for cross-channel deliveries.
The result? After a busy shopping period and heading into even more last minute Christmas shopping, the calculations have stopped adding up and have become incredibly conservative. Amazon claims to be massively customer-centric, so it would make sense if they are taking an approach of “under-promise, over-deliver”.
I’ve reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this article as soon as I hear back.
13/12/24: Updated article to include Holyhead Port closure information.
