by Tdarcos » Fri May 01, 2020 12:21 pm
Billy Mays wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:12 pm
Tdarcos wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:31 pmAmazon is promising 21. Days.
As this point it should be clear to everyone that Amazon is just ramming it down our throats.
Look, Amazon has problems too. They might have to have minimum distancing between masked pickers, potentially requiring some access lanes to operate one-way, and people being out because they're sick or have a fever. This cuts capacity which means orders take longer.
If Amazon has, say, a 20% reduction in staffing capacity either due to increased spacing, reduced staff and other issues, they can't just replace those people because they might not be able to add temporary (or permanent, if they died) replacements for those people if a logistics survey determines you're at max. crowding allowed under social distancing.
If it's causing staff shortages in all departments then the much faster usual shipping has to be cut back. But how?
In electric utilities, when the amount of available electricity is less than demand, they have to find a way to make up shortages. Often they can spin up reserve generators. Sometimes they can purchase power from other utilities over the regional grids. Then they cut the power of industrial and residential users who either agreed to shut off for a few minutes their air conditioning, and industrial users who get a lower rate in exchange for the utility temporarily cutting service. In really bad cases, instead of sending 110 volts, they'll send 105, which most equipment won't notice or may run a little hotter. After that, they have no choice but to shut off the power in some neighborhoods. This practice of reducing load in the event of excess electricity demand is called "load shedding."
Everyone does load shedding. If your income is reduced you load shed your creditors, paying critical bills like food and shelter first. In the case of Amazon, important or critical items come first and other customers are temporarily load shedded. For Amazon, "important" or "critical" would mean food and medical supplies and other essentials for quick deliveries. Others will get theirs as time permits.
Billy Mays wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:12 pmWho buys essentials on Amazon anyways?
Those who can't get them locally. Disabled customers. Rural customers. Soldiers in hotspots where going to get special items off base might potentially be a death sentence. (There are special APO/FPO addresses for mailing things, they have reserved zip codes. These provide US-based addresses for military personnel in remote areas. Mailer pays postage as if it was a US address, once it gets to the APO/FPO processing center, the military picks up the cost to deliver it to the ship or base the soldier is at.)
Billy Mays wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:12 pmAnd why do we have handicapped parking spaces but no such consideration for handicapped people who can't even drive?
Because the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 requires a minimum number of disabled parking spaces in each facility, and mandates no discrimination for persons with disabilities, and a person who has one need not mention it
unless they wish to invoke an accommodation. If you get on a bus and need to use the front seats, you can ask for them, the person must move
unless they are also disabled. Handicapped placards and tags are available because we can't ask the car if its owner is handicapped and to be sure non-disabled users aren't abusing the privilege. Most businesses will accommodate people with a disability if it's not too much trouble. I once went to a store where I wanted a soda, but there was a step in front. I asked a customer to tell the clerk a customer with a wheelchair was out front. He asked the lady to come back and tell me he'd get to me as soon as he finished serving the other customers, and he did. If you put a vest on your dog that says "service dog" you can bring it anywhere even places normally required to exclude animals, and nobody will question you.
Billy Mays wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2020 11:12 pm The disabled should take precedence if there was such a shipping crisis, which there isn't, maybe by a few days but not the fuck it we're all going 700 years back in time model of delivering packages.
Not that far back, more like 100. If you used the Sears-Roebuck catalog or Montgomery Wards to order something circa 1920 from a wheat farm in rural Bumfuck, Nebraska, ten miles from Nowhere, it took about a week for your order to get there, another month for your personal check to clear (or a week for post office money orders and American Express travelers checks), then maybe a month for your package to be delivered. Call it 6-8 weeks.
700 Years ago meant asking a merchant to pick something up when he went to some far off place. His next trip might not be for a month, it might take 3-4 months to get there and the same to return, plus maybe a month for stops in several cities, so you're looking at more like 10
months to a year, if he doesn't die during the trip.
[quote="Billy Mays" post_id=107562 time=1586412770 user_id=1042]
[quote=Tdarcos post_id=107543 time=1586374318 user_id=829]Amazon is promising 21. Days.[/quote]
As this point it should be clear to everyone that Amazon is just ramming it down our throats.[/quote]
Look, Amazon has problems too. They might have to have minimum distancing between masked pickers, potentially requiring some access lanes to operate one-way, and people being out because they're sick or have a fever. This cuts capacity which means orders take longer.
If Amazon has, say, a 20% reduction in staffing capacity either due to increased spacing, reduced staff and other issues, they can't just replace those people because they might not be able to add temporary (or permanent, if they died) replacements for those people if a logistics survey determines you're at max. crowding allowed under social distancing.
If it's causing staff shortages in all departments then the much faster usual shipping has to be cut back. But how?
In electric utilities, when the amount of available electricity is less than demand, they have to find a way to make up shortages. Often they can spin up reserve generators. Sometimes they can purchase power from other utilities over the regional grids. Then they cut the power of industrial and residential users who either agreed to shut off for a few minutes their air conditioning, and industrial users who get a lower rate in exchange for the utility temporarily cutting service. In really bad cases, instead of sending 110 volts, they'll send 105, which most equipment won't notice or may run a little hotter. After that, they have no choice but to shut off the power in some neighborhoods. This practice of reducing load in the event of excess electricity demand is called "load shedding."
Everyone does load shedding. If your income is reduced you load shed your creditors, paying critical bills like food and shelter first. In the case of Amazon, important or critical items come first and other customers are temporarily load shedded. For Amazon, "important" or "critical" would mean food and medical supplies and other essentials for quick deliveries. Others will get theirs as time permits.
[quote="Billy Mays" post_id=107562 time=1586412770 user_id=1042]Who buys essentials on Amazon anyways? [/quote]Those who can't get them locally. Disabled customers. Rural customers. Soldiers in hotspots where going to get special items off base might potentially be a death sentence. (There are special APO/FPO addresses for mailing things, they have reserved zip codes. These provide US-based addresses for military personnel in remote areas. Mailer pays postage as if it was a US address, once it gets to the APO/FPO processing center, the military picks up the cost to deliver it to the ship or base the soldier is at.)
[quote="Billy Mays" post_id=107562 time=1586412770 user_id=1042]And why do we have handicapped parking spaces but no such consideration for handicapped people who can't even drive?[/quote]
Because the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 requires a minimum number of disabled parking spaces in each facility, and mandates no discrimination for persons with disabilities, and a person who has one need not mention it [i]unless[/i] they wish to invoke an accommodation. If you get on a bus and need to use the front seats, you can ask for them, the person must move [i]unless[/i] they are also disabled. Handicapped placards and tags are available because we can't ask the car if its owner is handicapped and to be sure non-disabled users aren't abusing the privilege. Most businesses will accommodate people with a disability if it's not too much trouble. I once went to a store where I wanted a soda, but there was a step in front. I asked a customer to tell the clerk a customer with a wheelchair was out front. He asked the lady to come back and tell me he'd get to me as soon as he finished serving the other customers, and he did. If you put a vest on your dog that says "service dog" you can bring it anywhere even places normally required to exclude animals, and nobody will question you.
[quote="Billy Mays" post_id=107562 time=1586412770 user_id=1042] The disabled should take precedence if there was such a shipping crisis, which there isn't, maybe by a few days but not the fuck it we're all going 700 years back in time model of delivering packages.
[/quote]
Not that far back, more like 100. If you used the Sears-Roebuck catalog or Montgomery Wards to order something circa 1920 from a wheat farm in rural Bumfuck, Nebraska, ten miles from Nowhere, it took about a week for your order to get there, another month for your personal check to clear (or a week for post office money orders and American Express travelers checks), then maybe a month for your package to be delivered. Call it 6-8 weeks.
700 Years ago meant asking a merchant to pick something up when he went to some far off place. His next trip might not be for a month, it might take 3-4 months to get there and the same to return, plus maybe a month for stops in several cities, so you're looking at more like 10 [i]months to a year[/i], if he doesn't die during the trip.