[Village Taphouse]

I'll also mention that my wife ordered an office chair through Amazon.  Her credit card was not charged and the status of her order is "Your order may be lost".  It shows one chair on the order.  Meanwhile, TWO chairs showed up about a week ago.  I assembled one and she has been using it.  We're not sure what to do with the other one because you can't return it (or do anything really) until Amazon's system recognizes it as "delivered".  I have also heard of people receiving a TV with their name and address on it.  When they call Amazon to tell them that they didn't order it and "what should I do with it", they literally tell them to keep it because it's easier than shipping it back. 

[Slowbrew]

I'll also mention that my wife ordered an office chair through Amazon.  Her credit card was not charged and the status of her order is "Your order may be lost".  It shows one chair on the order.  Meanwhile, TWO chairs showed up about a week ago.  I assembled one and she has been using it.  We're not sure what to do with the other one because you can't return it (or do anything really) until Amazon's system recognizes it as "delivered".  I have also heard of people receiving a TV with their name and address on it.  When they call Amazon to tell them that they didn't order it and "what should I do with it", they literally tell them to keep it because it's easier than shipping it back. 

This isn't the first year this type of thing has happened.  In 2002 (I think. Maybe 2012?) we ordered a 50" Plasma TV and a week later 2 of them showed up.  I accepted one and refused the other.  Luckily they were on different lading bills.  I was only ever charged for one.  Crazy stuff happens.

Paul

[Bel Air Brewing]

We buy online exclusively now, from a local shop (TX) and a distant one (CA).
Shipping is always FedEx or UPS...NEVER the USPS!!!

The delivery is prompt, and free. Never had a problem. But...we never us the Postal Service. And now you know why.

[reverseapachemaster]

I buy a lot online. I'd rather shop more locally but none of the local shops are convenient to get to these days and I don't want to drive all over town to piece together a handful of items when I can click away on my computer at better prices. It's also hard to compete locally on quality or price for hops that I can order direct from farmers or hop-specific retailers.

On shipping I think which service works best is a lot about the retailer and where you live. When I lived in Texas the USPS was extremely unreliable. Here in Denver they deliver packages early in the morning and then come through a second time with the regular mail delivery during the day. Nothing gets lost or shows late. Fedex is ok but UPS is almost certain to mess something up. OTOH it seems like more retailers do the "created a label to mark it as shipped but then ship it a week later" with USPS than Fedex or UPS.