How does a courier make money on an Amazon free delivery?

Worztron

Hi.

How does a courier make money on an Amazon free delivery? For example when in Ireland you buy at least £25.00 worth of stuff.

Thanks.

Amazon pay the courier.

Revolutionary concept really.

lau1247

Worztron wrote: »

Hi.

How does a courier make money on an Amazon free delivery? For example when in Ireland you buy at least £25.00 worth of stuff.

Thanks.

Not all amazon uk items that includes free delivery are the best price in the site and i guess amazon have pricing deal also due to the size of the operation

Worztron

Ari Spoiled Waiter wrote: »

Amazon pay the courier.

Revolutionary concept really.

How much do Amazon pay the courier? As a % of the total purchase cost or per weight?

chris85

Worztron wrote: »

How much do Amazon pay the courier? As a % of the total purchase cost or per weight?

Think about this now. Why would they base it on price? It would be size or weight.

No Pants

Worztron wrote: »

For example when in Ireland you buy at least £25.00 worth of stuff.

That's the point where they figure they've enough margin to cover the courier. Don't worry, you're still paying for the courier.

Worztron

No Pants wrote: »

That's the point where they figure they've enough margin to cover the courier. Don't worry, you're still paying for the courier.

How can they call it free delivery if you are paying for it? The ultimate in false advertising?

JustAddWater

Worztron wrote: »

How can they call it free delivery if you are paying for it? The ultimate in false advertising?

Because you don't specifically pay a courier charge. The item has a higher margin but nobody knows what that is, the courier charge would be worked into it

It's a false economy when you think you save more, could be cheaper elsewhere. By advertising by letter of the law it's not false or illegal, it's just not true

Zaph

Worztron wrote: »

How can they call it free delivery if you are paying for it? The ultimate in false advertising?

Because if you buy stuff for less than £25 they add on a delivery charge. But essentially you're paying for delivery twice if you buy less than £25 in a single order.

stanley1

am i mistaken, has free delivery changed from 25 euro to 25 sterling.

Engine No.9

Most likely there's contractual arrangements in place. Amazon guarantees the courier it'll be the only one it uses, courier provides a price per package. Or else they might have an arrangement where they pay so much per year to the courier with annual visits to the contract whereby next yrs price would be determined based on this yrs business and projected growth figures.

Zaph

stanley1 wrote: »

am i mistaken, has free delivery changed from 25 euro to 25 sterling.

It's always been on orders over £25, not €25

Engine No.9

Just to add to my earlier point, for arguments sake, Amazon has a deal with ups whereby theythem €1M a year to deliver their stuff. They send out half a million packages a year, so their cost for delivery is €2 per package. They charge you €5 or €10 for delivery. Another revenue stream for them.

partyatmygaff

Worztron wrote: »

How can they call it free delivery if you are paying for it? The ultimate in false advertising?

It isn't "free" delivery. Then again, nothing is free. Credit card processing isn't free. Hiring an army of staff and managing a massive retail empire isn't free either.

In case you've only just realised, you never just pay for the product itself. You're pay for the product, the cost of business and pay the business a little extra in the way of profit in exchange for them making things convenient for you (Retail 101).

The business' costs are factored in to the price of every item you buy. If they've got the margins to cover courier costs once you go past £25, then they'll offer "free delivery". It's not free in absolute terms because you're still paying for it. It's "free" if you compare it to other retailers who don't have the benefit of a massive retail network with low overheads (due to the economies of scale) who pass on their courier costs to their customers.

Worztron

If someone buys £25+ worth of goods that means Amazon is making a decent enough profit. They should skim some of that profit (along with all the many purchases that are well over £25+) and use it to pay for the deliveries.

L1011

pajopearl wrote: »

Amazon guarantees the courier it'll be the only one it uses, courier provides a price per package.

This definitely isn't a factor - Amazon use An Post for final delivery for most items to Ireland (after shipping to An Post themselves) but also use Royal Mail for full delivery, iParcel or UPS (and others) depending on what it is they're sending and where.

Engine No.9

MYOB wrote: »

This definitely isn't a factor - Amazon use An Post for final delivery for most items to Ireland (after shipping to An Post themselves) but also use Royal Mail for full delivery, iParcel or UPS (and others) depending on what it is they're sending and where.

Like I said it's contractual. Anything that comes in to Ireland via a courier will be delivered by that courier or their delivery partner in the destination country. If it comes in by regular mail, an post will deliver it. All depends on the contract at the point of origin.

A Dub in Glasgo

Don't forget that Amazon has higher profit margins because they major in on tax avoidance schemes

pleasant Co.

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Don't forget that Amazon has higher profit margins because they major in on tax avoidance schemes

Don't forget that Amazon's profit margins are actually razor thin

ei9go

I am aware that Littlewoods pay Fastway in the region of 1.50 Euro per delivery.

I would assume that Amazon pay similar.

Michael D Not Higgins

Worztron wrote: »

How can they call it free delivery if you are paying for it? The ultimate in false advertising?

This is like pizza where the carryout price is always cheaper than delivery but they call it free delivery.

Nonoperational

This is an incredible thread.

Worztron

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

This is like pizza where the carryout price is always cheaper than delivery but they call it free delivery.

This quote comes to mind.

H. G. Wells: "Advertising is legalized lying."

rubadub

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

This is like pizza where the carryout price is always cheaper than delivery but they call it free delivery.

I have seen it called a "walk in discount", i.e. the discount is the delivery charge.

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Don't forget that Amazon has higher profit margins because they major in on tax avoidance schemes

at least the irish government gets any VAT you do pay.

Zaph wrote: »

Because if you buy stuff for less than £25 they add on a delivery charge. But essentially you're paying for delivery twice if you buy less than £25 in a single order.

And if you spend £50 on 2x£25 items you have paid for 2 delivery charges, as the delivery cost is going to be factored into each £25 item. A £50 item might not have it.

I prefer upfront delivery costs because of this, I can avail of the discount due to me which should ordinarily be greater with the more I buy.

There's also a very simple rule, -if you have to hand over money it's not free.