With the advent of Amazon's new Amazon Prime program (where for $79 you get 2nd day shipping on all of your orders for a year) on 2/2, it seems like the Super Saver shipping is taking a lot longer than it used to, not because UPS is taking longer, but because its taking Amazon longer to get the order out the door to UPS.* I have bought a fair amount of smaller electronics, accessories, CD, and books from Amazon in recent years but have been very disappointed with the service this year. I don't usually need an order shipped 2nd day so I haven't joined this program. And my recent experiences are more likely to drive me to purchase from others than to shell out the $79.

I can envision one possible Amazon response: "We're so busy with shipping to the Amazon Prime customers that other orders are being delayed." I'm a bit incredulous. I suspect we'll have a better picture as to how successful this program is in a few weeks when Amazon announces earnings for the quarter.
Just wondering whether others have had similar experiences.

I have found them to be just as varied now as they have been for years. 70% of the time I have a Super Saver (est. 2 weeks delivery) in my hands within 5 days. The other 30%, it truly is 2 weeks, sometimes 3. I haven't noticed a difference in the past few months.

This is one of the most frustrating things about Amazon. I never order from them if I can get it elsewhere if I have a "must have" deadline, because even the "overnight" shipping doesn't really guarantee you much if you don't know when the item is going to ship.

I've never understood their shipping, order two things, shipped the same time, different ways, one gets here tomorrow the other over a week. Makes no sense at all to me how they do it.

I don't think ti's gotten worse, I think you are just hitting the bad part of the cycle.

Have people really joined prime?

I ordered two books on saturday morning with the "ships in 24 hours" tag and they have still yet to go out.

With the free shipping they sometimes need to move items from one warehouse to another to combine them when shipping to you. For this reason I always try to break orders up to single items if each is over the free shipping minimum.

Amazon can be a real pain with shipping. Stuff that's supposedly available immediately doesn't ship for a week. Stuff that's available in a few days gets delayed by weeks.

I try to make Amazon my last choice these days. I still use them for books, but Overstock's commercials claim that 95% (or whatever) of their books are priced less than Amazon. We'll see...

I joined Prime and don't regret it for a second. It's already almost paid for itself and the two day (free) option has worked flawlessly so far. Just to see if I could do it, I ordered a $1.50 paperback from them and sure enough, it came two day air.

I like Amazon because they don't charge me sales tax and because they carry some of everything. I am buying a lot more than books these days from them.

In fact, my g/f bought a Dyson vacuum using my account and the $399 machine shipped with no sales tax and came two day air.

Good enough for me.

I joined prime, too. I usually choose the super-saver shipping option, but then I figured out that the few times a year I've needed 2-day or next day shipping, I've probably spent the $80 getting those orders expedited (christmas and birthdays, etc). So, I figured, why not spend the same amt a year but get everything 2-day? So far it has worked out, and I'm much less shy about just ordering 1 CD and not going on a spree to get "free shipping". Also, the three other members of my household are enrolled under my subscription, so it gets used.

Also, I own stock in AMZN... :P

(Given that your info says "Living/Freezing in Anchorage, AK": ) AFAIK, Alaska doesn't impose a sales tax (don't know about localities). Why would any online retailer collect sales tax on goods shipped to you in Alaska, or are you having them shipped elsewhere?

Edited for unplanned smiley when I used parentheses

Overstock's shipping isn't much better and returns are a pain in the butt.

Here's another couple data points:

a) order placed 24 March (headphones and pressure cooker). Headphones shipped 25 Mar; pressure cooker shipped 29 Mar. Both super saver.

b) order placed 29 March (iPod). Shipped 30 March. Super saver shipping.

This is faster on average than anything I've had shipped over the past six months (probably 10 orders).

I've had the same experience. I pay extra for expedited shipping and then they just sit on my order for a week....

ANC is definitely home but I'm living in the lower 48 going to school this year.

Amazon's shipping is the reason that I no longer deal with them. I keep a wish list there, but no longer buy anything from them. I've found that Walmart.com is less expensive (even w/ shipping charges and taxes) and quicker than Amazon.