High risk
Early on in the pandemic I wrote a piece that described Amazon as America’s new Red Cross. A story I came across today underlines that point. How many other ecommerce players make the news when deliveries are slow? From CBS LA:
Residents in two Ventura County cities say their Amazon Prime service has suddenly become sluggishly slow without explanation.
Rosalinda Rodriguez of Moorpark is paralyzed from the chest down. Though she uses a wheelchair to get around, she relies on delivery services like Amazon for convenience and safety.
“I am at high risk if I do contract coronavirus because I do have a spinal cord injury,” Rodriguez said.
She pays $119 a year for an Amazon Prime membership so she can get her orders in one to two days. But about a month ago, her amazon deliveries suddenly slowed.
“So now if I try to place an order it will take anywhere from seven to 10 days,” she said.
There was a time when “seven to 10 days” was something of an ecommerce miracle. Now, anything beyond one or two days, and Amazon is held up as putting people’s health — life! — at risk. Amazon wouldn’t tell CBS LA why deliveries had slowed, but did say it was seeking to increase capacity in the area.