Amazon.com Delivery
A few years ago, I finally and irrevocably switched to reading technical literature exclusively in English. This is a fairly common approach in IT circles, so in this post I would like to talk not about the reasons (which in general lie on the surface), but about the consequence of this decision. Not about the consequences, but about the consequence - about how I became a regular customer of Amazon.
It's no secret that Amazon is the largest online store (including bookstore, because with this they started). There is a wide selection of books of different subjects at very affordable prices. However, as in any (almost any) online store, shipping costs are added to the cost of the product itself.
For a long time when placing an order, one of the steps was to choose the type of delivery:
However, one day while compiling the next order (June 2008), to my surprise, I did not find the step of choosing the type of delivery. By default, the system selected Priority International Courier, and I could not find any controls to change this value. Having written to the support service (there were suspicions that this was just a mistake), I received the following answer:
On the one hand, I understood that cooperation with our mail gives them little pleasure (cheaper options were delivered with the help of ordinary Russian mail), on the other - I already managed to use Standard International Shipping and Expedited International Shipping - and no problems not found: orders received exactly on time.
After that, I ordered books on Amazon many times - and each time I observed the same picture: the delivery is comparable in value to the book (or even more than one and a half times). But they do not save money on their favorite business (I mostly order books on programming), and even more often, books are needed for work, so I had to accept it.
The other day, Amazon delighted me with the news that a book on the Entity Framework was finally sent, which I preorder to. Curiosity went to the statistics of your bank account - and saw the figure of 2537 rubles. Too much, I thought, remembering that the bill was $ 70. It was then that I felt (albeit at the microscale) the global crisis and the devaluation of the ruble: the dollar is no longer 24, but 36 (yes, it only reached me :)).
Why am I doing all this? More than six months have passed, but the situation has not changed. Every day for the dollar they give more and more rubles, therefore, less and less I want to give to DHL, Fedex or UPS $ 36 honestly earned dollars for delivery. Who has any opinion on this? Maybe someone found a solution to this problem? Maybe there are alternative bookstores with a wide choice and at the same time more pleasant delivery cost to Russia?
PS When I received the answer from the support, I had no idea that under Russia they mean Moscow. Now I entered a random Moscow address and saw exactly the same sad picture. In my opinion, a strange decision to "throw" Moscow like this, because, firstly, it is a huge army of customers, and, secondly, there should be no problems with delivery to Moscow.
Update1
As noted by himmel , most technical books are available electronically. Indeed, with the advent of my ebook reader, I am less and less willing to buy paper books. However, firstly, some books you want to have in print, and, secondly, Amazon has not been limited to books for a long time, and whatever you ordered, you will have to face the above delivery restrictions.
Update2
MikhailEdoshin advised the store betterworld.com . I looked at their range, read the reviews (by the way, it turns out, Habré already had an article about this store). I really liked. Perhaps, I will order the next book already there.
For comparison, take the book that I ordered last (which was officially released only on February 12, but is already available in both stores) - “Programming Entity Framework” by Julie Lerman. Price: on Amazon - $ 34.64, on BetterWorld - $ 37.98 Delivery: on Amazon - see above, on BetterWorld: International - $ 3.97, International Priority $ 11.97. The difference is more than significant.
Update3
Another alternative proposed by the haber-man mishka is to use not the American Amazon, but regional offices, such as amazon.co.uk or amazon.de: with their delivery to Russia, things are better.
By the way, in addition to saving on delivery, you can save on the difference in rates. Take all the same book on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk:
1. Amazon.com: $ 34.64 * 34.8 = 1205 rubles
2. Amazon.co.uk: ÂŁ 18.19 * 49.6 = 902 rubles
Very interesting, in my opinion, the result. If earlier a pound was given about two dollars, then during the crisis this ratio has changed significantly.
Update4
In addition to betterworld.com, the following stores exist: www.pragprog.com , Abebooks.com, Barnesnoble.com, Tower.com. At the same time, it’s worth comparing not the cost of books in these stores, but the total cost of books and delivery (somewhere cheaper than books, somewhere delivery ...).
Also do not forget about ebay.com.
And there is a wonderful resource bookfinder.com, which not only gives out the price of the book in different stores, but also translates it into rubles (which is very convenient, because dollars are not used everywhere). Although not all the stores are indexed here, the rest will have to be analyzed manually.
It's no secret that Amazon is the largest online store (including bookstore, because with this they started). There is a wide selection of books of different subjects at very affordable prices. However, as in any (almost any) online store, shipping costs are added to the cost of the product itself.
For a long time when placing an order, one of the steps was to choose the type of delivery:
- Standard International Shipping (~ $ 8)
- Expedited International Shipping (~ $ 13)
- Priority International Courier (~ $ 36)
However, one day while compiling the next order (June 2008), to my surprise, I did not find the step of choosing the type of delivery. By default, the system selected Priority International Courier, and I could not find any controls to change this value. Having written to the support service (there were suspicions that this was just a mistake), I received the following answer:
Hello from Amazon.com.
I truly understand your concern and sincerely apologize for you.
')
Our shipping options have been shipped to some international destinations.
Because of the packages shipped away at a non-trackable time frame, we’ve offered it only. The shipping method for the order.
Currently all orders are shipped to Russia is only via the Priority International shipping method.
We realize this inconvenience. However, international customers have been allowed to ensure that they have been entered.
It is important for you to improve your service and selection.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
On the one hand, I understood that cooperation with our mail gives them little pleasure (cheaper options were delivered with the help of ordinary Russian mail), on the other - I already managed to use Standard International Shipping and Expedited International Shipping - and no problems not found: orders received exactly on time.
After that, I ordered books on Amazon many times - and each time I observed the same picture: the delivery is comparable in value to the book (or even more than one and a half times). But they do not save money on their favorite business (I mostly order books on programming), and even more often, books are needed for work, so I had to accept it.
The other day, Amazon delighted me with the news that a book on the Entity Framework was finally sent, which I preorder to. Curiosity went to the statistics of your bank account - and saw the figure of 2537 rubles. Too much, I thought, remembering that the bill was $ 70. It was then that I felt (albeit at the microscale) the global crisis and the devaluation of the ruble: the dollar is no longer 24, but 36 (yes, it only reached me :)).
Why am I doing all this? More than six months have passed, but the situation has not changed. Every day for the dollar they give more and more rubles, therefore, less and less I want to give to DHL, Fedex or UPS $ 36 honestly earned dollars for delivery. Who has any opinion on this? Maybe someone found a solution to this problem? Maybe there are alternative bookstores with a wide choice and at the same time more pleasant delivery cost to Russia?
PS When I received the answer from the support, I had no idea that under Russia they mean Moscow. Now I entered a random Moscow address and saw exactly the same sad picture. In my opinion, a strange decision to "throw" Moscow like this, because, firstly, it is a huge army of customers, and, secondly, there should be no problems with delivery to Moscow.
Update1
As noted by himmel , most technical books are available electronically. Indeed, with the advent of my ebook reader, I am less and less willing to buy paper books. However, firstly, some books you want to have in print, and, secondly, Amazon has not been limited to books for a long time, and whatever you ordered, you will have to face the above delivery restrictions.
Update2
MikhailEdoshin advised the store betterworld.com . I looked at their range, read the reviews (by the way, it turns out, Habré already had an article about this store). I really liked. Perhaps, I will order the next book already there.
For comparison, take the book that I ordered last (which was officially released only on February 12, but is already available in both stores) - “Programming Entity Framework” by Julie Lerman. Price: on Amazon - $ 34.64, on BetterWorld - $ 37.98 Delivery: on Amazon - see above, on BetterWorld: International - $ 3.97, International Priority $ 11.97. The difference is more than significant.
Update3
Another alternative proposed by the haber-man mishka is to use not the American Amazon, but regional offices, such as amazon.co.uk or amazon.de: with their delivery to Russia, things are better.
By the way, in addition to saving on delivery, you can save on the difference in rates. Take all the same book on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk:
1. Amazon.com: $ 34.64 * 34.8 = 1205 rubles
2. Amazon.co.uk: ÂŁ 18.19 * 49.6 = 902 rubles
Very interesting, in my opinion, the result. If earlier a pound was given about two dollars, then during the crisis this ratio has changed significantly.
Update4
In addition to betterworld.com, the following stores exist: www.pragprog.com , Abebooks.com, Barnesnoble.com, Tower.com. At the same time, it’s worth comparing not the cost of books in these stores, but the total cost of books and delivery (somewhere cheaper than books, somewhere delivery ...).
Also do not forget about ebay.com.
And there is a wonderful resource bookfinder.com, which not only gives out the price of the book in different stores, but also translates it into rubles (which is very convenient, because dollars are not used everywhere). Although not all the stores are indexed here, the rest will have to be analyzed manually.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/51874/
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