View Full Version : Has Amazon Prime taken over mail drops?
It seems like with Amazon Prime makes it basically free to mail resupply on the trail --since my wife has it I've lost interest in prepping things to have family mail us when we start longer hikes.
Am I missing something it seems that about anything I would have prepped other than medication Amazon will ship me.
fastfoxengineering
04-08-2017, 14:29
Amazon prime is awesome and in my experience their customer service is top notch.
I ended up getting a free fire box and $85 off my one year membership because they're engineers took two weeks to fix a technical problem I was having.
I emailed them every 2-3 days asking about the status of my account. It was a problem on there end.
They kept giving my $5-$20 credits to my account and then ended up shipping me a free fire TV box I didn't even bring up.
If they have what you need and you have a prime membership paid for. Why not use it?
Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
handlebar
04-08-2017, 15:01
One caution: if sending mail drops to a General Delivery address, be sure someone at Amazon Prime knows that the shipment must go Priority Mail. I had a problem with an order of shoes from Zappos (owned by Amazon). I was very clear that the order had to go via the US Postal Service, and the sales clerk put a note on the order to ship "via USPS". The warehouse evidently didn't know the difference between "USPS" and "UPS" which I discovered when I got the shipping email. The post office will refuse to accept a shipment from UPS. I was especially irked when the customer service representatives tried to pin the blame on me for an "invalid address". Now when ordering from the trail, I tell the reps to be sure they specify "ship by Post Office Priority Mail",
One caution: if sending mail drops to a General Delivery address, be sure someone at Amazon Prime knows that the shipment must go Priority Mail. I had a problem with an order of shoes from Zappos (owned by Amazon). I was very clear that the order had to go via the US Postal Service, and the sales clerk put a note on the order to ship "via USPS". The warehouse evidently didn't know the difference between "USPS" and "UPS" which I discovered when I got the shipping email. The post office will refuse to accept a shipment from UPS. I was especially irked when the customer service representatives tried to pin the blame on me for an "invalid address". Now when ordering from the trail, I tell the reps to be sure they specify "ship by Post Office Priority Mail",
Been there. +1
Please explain how Amazon is going to FREELY mail a prepackaged resupply box from my home or location while on trail when I'm mailing ahead a couple of boxes of goodies I've just bought locally? :confused:
Use prime pantry and have stuff shipped to you.
ImAfraidOfBears
04-08-2017, 17:11
walmart has better prices and doesnt require a membership for free 2 day shipping
less of a selection though, obviously for the less picky
NO, Amazon certainly isn't going to take over my mailed food drops! Not going the prepackaged from the manufacturer long shelf life route to the trail. Want fresh(er) food without all that often goes into making it have a long shelf life.. Much prefer to hit up a farmers market, health food store, or grocery store that vends FRESH Food. Long shelf lives of the food Amazon and large grocery stores vend in the interior of the store are engineered often highly processed, much refined, and with ample packaging consequences. What MIGHT be acceptable options on Amazoo isn't going to regularly make for an entire resupply so back to buying at the places listed and self mailing food. Yes, I know I'm, a PITA but maybe so is Michael Pollan.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
“Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.”
“Don't eat anything incapable of rotting.”
“What an extraordinary achievement for a civilization: to have developed the one diet that reliably makes its people sick!”
“Imagine if we had a food system that actually produced wholesome food. Imagine if it produced that food in a way that restored the land. Imagine if we could eat every meal knowing these few simple things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what it really cost. If that was the reality, then every meal would have the potential to be a perfect meal. We would not need to go hunting for our connection to our food and the web of life that produces it. We would no longer need any reminding that we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and that what we’re eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world. ... we can change the way we make and get our food so that it becomes food again—something that feeds our bodies and our souls. Imagine it: Every meal would connect us to the joy of living and the wonder of nature. Every meal would be like saying grace.”
Sandy of PA
04-08-2017, 18:55
Dogwood, I sure hope you are putting your effort where your mouth is and growing a garden!
My concern with counting on Amazon for resupply is delays to make sure the post office is open, and the box made it to some of the little towns in time.
NO, Amazon certainly isn't going to take over my mailed food drops!
“Imagine if we had a food system that actually produced wholesome food. Imagine if it produced that food in a way that restored the land. Imagine if we could eat every meal knowing these few simple things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what it really cost.”
Hear, Hear! First I must confess that I was unaware that you can buy food from Amazon or Walmart online. I subscribe to several principles when it comes to food. Eat local, slow food. Buy local. Know where your food is coming from. The simpler the better. The only time I go down the frozen food aisle is to buy dog food. The only food in our freezer that comes from the grocer is vegetables and fruit. The biggest problem I have with going the Amazon route is that it violates my buy local principle. If I choose Amazon over my local grocer that is more money and jobs leaving my small community. I don't want to lose our local grocer. The county adjacent to mine has had zero grocery stores in the entire county for the past three years. A true food desert. If people want fresh food they have to travel 60 miles. I like to keep my money in my community and not send it to some billionaire.
I know it is tough to eat sensibly while doing a long distance hike. I admit that when I did my AT thru my eating habits were a 180 departure. I quit looking at labels for hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup instead focusing on calories. I have mostly hiked stoveless for the past 4 years and find I eat better. I eat more wholesome food and less processed food. When I do my BMT thru hike this year I am going to focus on a healthy diet and even try to stay away from Snickers.
The American factory food system has benefited from cheap oil at the cost of obesity, diabetes, soil degradation, hypoxia, etc.
When backpacking I let eating local slide.
Dogwood, I sure hope you are putting your effort where your mouth is and growing a garden!
My concern with counting on Amazon for resupply is delays to make sure the post office is open, and the box made it to some of the little towns in time.
One of the losses I have this spring is in not having a victory garden because in the process of moving. I grew up watching that PBS show To the Victory Garden filmed in part at nearby Calloway Gardens in GA. Learned a lot about that show.
Like the mega Asian markets Produce Departments in the Atlanta area. Some great deals with a super wide selection.
Hitched into Asheville one AT hike mainly to hit up the Farmers Market.
Ahh, USPO delays on a hike are over dramatized in my experiences. It's mainly a complaint offered up by run away freight train always gotta go go go if anything is worth doing it's always worth doing fast crowd and those attempting to pack in too much in too short a timeframe. I send many via Flat Rate Priority boxes in Med size in which I can cram 6-7 full days food plus 10 days supplements. I've only been burnt twice in literally 100's if not more than a 1000 boxes sent this way domestically. One of those times was when first learning how to expedite sending from the mainland to HI. Selecting USPO's to mail to that have open Sat hrs, long weekday hrs, and adjusting hiking pace, which I always do anyway, gets me there when open. It doesn't have to be as inconvenient as it sounds. It helps to send to USPO's that are in an area where a nero or zero is beneficial to the hiking experiences. Hiking never has been just about hiking. Many USPO's lobbies are only closed on Sunday but workers are in back. If I call telling them ahead when open explaining need for the package but that I will not get there during normal open hrs a worker will usually place my package somewhere outside, leave it with someone in town, or tell me to knock on a door after normal hrs to give it to me. Kindness or showing appreciation helps. The USPS gets a bad wrap too often. I get super reliability sending trail packages this way and cooperation from this gov't branch.
rocketsocks
04-09-2017, 22:57
When drones start making field drops, yes! Thad be a bit much.
ldsailor
04-10-2017, 12:20
I used Amazon for resupply last year on the last part of my 532 mile section hike. It worked out great; although I had packages sent to hostels (didn't want to get trapped on the weekend).
I'm going back for another 500 miles in May, and I've got some food that I'll be mailing ahead. After I get my last self mailed re-provision package, it's back to Amazon. I stick with Mountain House freeze dried foods and protein bars, so it works out pretty good. I am a little concerned about the protein bars, because I'm leaving later than I did last year. Most protein bars have chocolate and if it is too hot, I can imagine the mess I'll have when I get the package.