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1.5
Updated by user Apr 13, 2017

At the Post Office Carrier Annex picking up a package, I noticed a hand written sign for employees. Evidently FedEx, UPS & DHL drops packages off at that office & has USPS finish delivering the packages.

I guess the rumor of "General Delivery" might be true. The lady at the PO wouldn't comment.

LOL I decided to place another order at Amazon since my grandson was needing diapers, saves almost $1, plus I ordered couple more things. As soon as I get a shipping confirmation I'll update my rant/complaint about Amazon.

Original review posted by user Mar 12, 2017

Been a happy Amazon Prime member for several yrs. The reasons I joined Prime was #1 I live in a rural area of Alaska that doesn't receive home USPS service nor do I have a PO Box.

Our subdivision has a cluster of small mail boxes that is for letters only. If I receive notification of a package, it requires 1+ hr round trip drive to town if the weather is nice to pick up said package. For yrs Amazon Prime 99.8% sent all my orders by FedEx. As a grandfather of 6, with 5 adult kids I've spent a small fortune at Amazon.

Customer service was always great & rarely had any issues. Starting a few months back I noticed more orders were being sent by USPS. Let me set the stage, Priority mail usually takes 7-10 days from the Lower 48. When Amazon sends the ordered item, it arrives Anchorage (45miles) then sent to the city of Wasilla & package sorting Carrier annex.

Along the way, Amazon & I receive notice the package is out for delivery, which it isn't because it hasn't been sorted at the Wasilla carrier annex. Usually the following day is when I receive notice from USPS since our Postal carrier doesn't deliver until late in the afternoon. Anyway you look at it, no way can USPS deliver packages to Alaska in 2 days, nor 3 per Prime membership. So after noticing more orders being sent by USPS rather than FedEx, expecially after our area had been hit with a major storm, sent another email to customer service about the shipping complaint.

First time or two the agents didn't seem to understand the logistics of the Alaska thing, not even sure if the CS agents were based in the US. Below is part of an email I received. I don't want you to make a disappoint and to help you with this, I've escalated this issue with a strong feedback to our Shipping Department so that an investigation with the carrier can be made. If the issue is found to be conclusive, however, we'll go ahead and de-prioritize USPS from among your shipping options.

Please try to understand, the carrier assignment depends on the shipping address, weight of the package and the distance it has to travel from our fulfillment center. I hope you understand that we do not have the option to allocate the specific carrier, our system selects the most nearby available carrier when your item ships by default. I was even told I had the option of paying extra to have my order arrive sooner. I asked the same agent isn't that what Prime is for & all I heard was crickets.

That's when I realized that CS agent didn't give two ***'s about custom service. I actually thought the shipping issue was fixed. At that point I had monthly auto orders, had been ordering cases of diapers monthly for 3 yrs being delivered by FedEx like clock work and it's like Amazon changed its shipping policy. I've asked CS numerous times if the default shipping to Alaska has changed & have been told no.

I've asked since 99.8% previous orders were shipped by FedEx & now by USPS, why the change and was told it was up to the vendor. When I explained Prime is sold & shipped by Amazon, that means Amazon is the vendor. I again asked why the change in shipping & could never get an answer. I did get a couple extra month's added on to my Prime membership for my dissatisfaction with shipping.

I have purchased items that were not Prime. I knew they were going to take longer to arrive & would need to be picked up at the package sorting delivery in town. Not very often though. I've never wanted an apology, don't want another month of Prime added to my account.

So I finally canceled my monthly auto orders, stopped the monthly diaper orders. At this point we're not buying anything from Amazon, which is too bad. I'm being conservative with my guess, spent $10K on the website over the yrs. The way I look at it is, if I have to make an hours round trip into town.

I might as well spend my money at a local store. If we have *** weather, that 1 hr can turn into 2-3 hrs. I much preferred the old Prime & shipping, didn’t mind the occasional trip to the USPS.

Most definitely not worth the time or the trouble now. One would think since Amazon is now the #1 online retailer that they wouldn't be cutting corners.

Reason of review: Problem with delivery.

Amazon Pros: Joining prime was fedex shipping to my rural location in ak.

Amazon Cons: Prime no longer shipping by fedex.

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Guest

The reason they switched the way they deliver Ptrime to Alaska is because they have their own planes now. They have an actual hub in anchorage.

They ship to anchorage via their own planes and then gets transferred to a USPS carrier and then to local USPS delivery truck. It now takes longer and I’ve had shipments lost, which had never happened when they used Fedex.

Guest

People that complain about vendor service are the reason a lot of vendors won't ship to Alaska. Please don't ruin it for the rest of us patient customers. (I live five hours from Anchorage at the end of a rural road and general delivery post office is my only prime option and I APPRECIATE IT.

Guest

Amazon Prime is a rip off for all Alaskans and Hawaiian, we pay the same annual fee as the lower 48 states and get less for it.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1525367

Same problem here in Kenai, Alaska. Amazon is refusing to ship items to Alaska.

I placed an order for 5 items I can't find locally. Every item was: Sorry, this item can't be shipped to your selected address. Learn more. You may either change the shipping address or delete the item from your order.

No explaination was given.

This occurs on 90% of the items I've ordered, or tried too. But my Prime membership just increased.