Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It

WSJ ^ | Jan 17, 2014 | Greg Bensinger

[Slings and Arrows]

Amazon.com knows you so well it wants to ship your next package before you order it.

The Seattle retailer in December gained a patent for what it calls “anticipatory shipping,” a method to start delivering packages even before customers click “buy.”

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Now we can add "pre-debts" to "pre-crimes".

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IN OTHER NEWS: Amazon.com hires new Chief Logistics Officer.

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[BigCinBigD]

Good. I’ve got about $2000.00 worth of Nikon camera gear in my shopping cart right now. They can send it if they wish.

[ArmstedFragg]

How would you detect they’d done this? If they got it right, you’d just be amazed at how fast the shipping was.

[Little Pig]

You detect this when you load something into your cart, then abandon the cart because you realize you can’t afford it or get distracted somehow, and a day or two later it shows up anyway.

[basil]

I never order stuff off the internet—so maybe I’m not in Amazon’s records?

[Berlin_Freeper]

Big Data - Dangerous

[Slings and Arrows]

If they got it right, you’d just be amazed at how fast the shipping was.

Fixed your typo. ;^)

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I never order stuff off the internet—so maybe I’m not in Amazon’s records?

In all seriousness, I wouldn't count on that.

[JoeProBono]

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Good. I’ve got about $2000.00 worth of Nikon camera gear in my shopping cart right now. They can send it if they wish.

Especially since the law says that if someone sends you something you didn't order, it's yours. (And yes, I think this is the rock upon which this idea will founder.) Warning: IANAL.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hell, I don’t even have a credit card and I get stuff from Amazon all the time. I just charge it to the Underhills.

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?

[right way right]

If you put stuff in your cart at newegg they will sometimes sweeten the deal if you leave it for a bit.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

But doesn’t that only apply to the US Post Office?

[moose07]

Right click, view image. :)

[Slings and Arrows]

Tip appreciated!

[right way right]

JoeProBono has real pictures of God.
I’ll bet on it.

[Slings and Arrows]

But doesn’t that only apply to the US Post Office?

I truly have no idea. (As I said, IANAL.) I'm not sure why it would only apply to USPS-delivered packages, and not those sent by, say, UPS.

[Slings and Arrows]

I did, but the intended message escapes me. (All that displayed was a single pixel.)