As people move almost 100% of their shopping online during the current situation, it can perhaps be no surprise that Amazon was going to find itself stretched, perhaps for the first real-time in its history.
The online giant has good form in dealing with increased demand around Black Friday and Christmas, but these are unprecedented times. With delivery staff, warehouse staff and staff at the companies they ship good for being off ill or self-isolating the supply chain was going to take a whack in the face somewhere along the line, and it seems that whack is now.
Regulars will have noticed that many products that you would typically expect to be delivered within 48 hours (or in the case of the UK, late the same day) now have a much longer lead-time – up to a month in some cases.
What we don’t know at this stage is whether those shiny new parts you have ordered will actually take that long to arrive or whether that is a lead-time Amazon have built into their ordering system in order to lower customer expectations.
In the background of all of this, it seems governments are turning to the firm’s delivery expertise to work out plans to deliver COVID-19 test kits in the near future (see here and here).
This could mean that either Amazon switches into full-on medical delivery firm in the short term, or that simply your new Funko Pop vinyl figure arrives with your special coronavirus package.
Obviously with the situation in China since the turn of the new year demand will soon potentially outstrip supply on key components so at this stage it is probably worth still getting your order in even if you have an extended waiting period. Remember it’s not that long since we always had to wait for things to be delivered, and it is only in recent times we have been spoiled with such rapid delivery scheduled.
In the meantime, stay home and stay safe.
