Wednesday, August 28, 2024

An Odd Delivery

Late afternoon, and I am out front watering the flowerpots. A FedEx trucks pulls up. The neighbours get their share of delivery trucks, so I carry on. The driver walks up the driveway and deposits the box by our door. I exclaim my surprise to this pleasant and friendly man We exchange a few words, and off he goes.

A little while later, I am done with my chore. I regard the box more closely. I see that it is a Walmart container. We do not order from Walmart.

My birthday is impending. Has somebody sent a gift? But who would? It could only be Sha, but she'll be here with us on that day: Labour Day, as it turns out.

If it is a birthday gift, I don't want to open it prematurely. I check with Shauna. It is not from her.

Sue opens the box. Once she sees the contents, she partly repackages it.

She presents the box to me. It contains a bottle of soap – a large container to refill our dispensers as required.

I had recently made an order of various items from Amazon. As we thought of items we might soon need, we had added soap to the list.

It is quite puzzling. I order soap from Amazon. It is delivered by FedEx and not by an Amazon truck. It is in a Walmart container of all things.

I can only surmise. Not all Amazon deliveries come directly from the Amazon warehouse. That part of my order much have gone to a third party supplier: an affiliate, if you will. That suppler must also ship for Walmart, and they must have had a Walmart box readily available.

That has to be it. Doesn't it?

I still find it odd, though.

23 comments:

Rosalea said...

I don't order from Amazon because of of the way deliveries are split up. It is an almost 10Km trip, (up and back down) for each piece of an order...What a waste of fuel and detriment to the environment.

DJan said...

It's a mystery. At least it seems to be legit.

DrumMajor said...

Stunning if Amazon is recycling boxes. Linda in Kansas

Ed said...

That is what happens. I find many people don't pay attention to the seller when selecting things on Amazon. If you select the "Add to Cart" yellow button from the browsing screen, you miss it. But if you select the item and go to its individual page first, there would have been a "sold by Walmart" above the item description. Easy to miss sometimes.

For me, as loathsome as it is, Amazon is a necessity due to the remote nature of our area and that it requires a 180 mile round trip drive to obtain some household necessities. Having them delivered directly to my front door is much much cheaper and time saving.

Karen said...

Like the previous poster Ed, I too try to make the drive to my door worthwhile for the driver. My significant other complains about my using this service, but it's six of one or half dozen of the other if I go to the town, isn't it? I've had cleaning supplies from AMAZON come from WalMart too.

Sandra said...

I think you are correct on that. I sometimes have two deliveries on the same day. Not Amazon vehicles nor FedEx. It makes me upset when this happens.

Debby said...

I once ordered something from Amazon only to find out that it was being shipped from China and would take quite some time. That one surprised me, mostly because when you order things from Amazon, sometimes it seems that you've barely finished the checkout process and there is a box on your door step. I don't know if we've ever had an Amazon truck show up before. Usually it is USPS.

gigi-hawaii said...

Did you check the label on the box? Maybe wrong person or address!!!

Jenn Jilks said...

It is odd.

Boud said...

I live a couple of miles from a huge Amazon warehouse, and sometimes get deliveries almost before I've ordered. I wonder if as soon as I start typing, someone's hurtling around picking and packing. Mainly I use Amazon as a search tool, then order direct from the maker. I've found some lovely artisans that way.

Barbara Rogers said...

Yep, they got Walmart to provide your soap. So strange when the big companies play around with our lives. That's inevitable these days apparently.

RedPat said...

Our last Amazon order was delivered by Purolator. Who knows?

Cloudia said...

Life has grown enormously in complexity! I suspect if we did visit the "good old days" we would be bored and worse. Much about how people behaved and treated one another would seem so archaic to us now! Just regard old movies: foreign worlds indeed

MARY G said...

I get some very strange delivery combinations from Amazon orders, from three different delivery companies (all of whom but one have drivers who can find us, not an easy task.) I once got three in one day, three drivers. This compelled me to write in to Amazon and complain about wasted gas and serendipity.

peppylady (Dora) said...

I don't see my self order any thing on line. Until I purchase Christmas gift for the Granddaughters.

Jeanie said...

I"ve ordered things from Amazon that come from elsewhere too. But it would be disconcerting!

Red said...

Life gets complicated but you have to be clean!

Joanne Noragon said...

That's a reasonable explanation.

Granny Sue said...

I have had the same thing happen. It does get intriguing! We order from Amazon regularly, as finding the things we want around here often means an hour drive.

Jenny the Pirate said...

Yes that is it because the same thing has happened to me. Amazon stuff delivered from third-party drivers is common now. And I guess fulfillment by a third party is the norm now too. Let's all work together, they said. I don't know if you read my post about having to sign for soap, but I'm now convinced that each time I have been (randomly and rarely) told that I must sign, it has been by a third-party driver. I guess they at-will get folks to sign to prove something. I don't know as it bores me, hahaha! xoxo

Margaret said...

Yes, many third party sellers. I try to pay attention but I'm still confused by some of the deliveries I get.

Marie Smith said...

There are several delivery trucks around here and we never know who to expect at the door.

Val Ewing said...

If I make an order that has a few different items in it with different delivery times by a day or two, I can combine the delivery into one and Amazon credits me with a few bucks to spend on the next order or to rent a movie. Then my package contains items gathered and sent in one order. There is that option.