I’ve been shopping too much via Amazon, lately. Last month, I commented on my misadventures with FedEx delivery, the crux of which involved FedEx and Amazon’s websites (and employees) failing to tell me where the package was – what are computers for?

More recently, we ordered a sink for the kitchen. Amazon promised free “white glove delivery”: the delivery company would call us to schedule a convenient delivery time. Once again, Amazon’s website simply stopped updating early in the process with no clear indication what city the package was in. The delivery company was CEVA, which I’d never heard of. Their website indicated the sink arrived in Albuquerque 11/26 and was scheduled for delivery by 11:59pm on 11/28, two days earlier than we expected it. No call, no text messages, no email. Late on the original delivery date, we called the national office, and spoke with a nice person who confirmed the sink was in Albuquerque and that she left a message with the local office. We called the local office the next day. “Yes, it’s here; we can deliver it tomorrow.” That would be two days later than Amazon promised, five days after it arrived in a warehouse 5 miles from us. We asked if we could pick it up and they said yes. So, we found our way to the industrial area and the building that looks like it should be abandoned as soon as possible.

Understand, I’m not objecting to picking up a 150 pound package. I just don’t consider that “white glove delivery” – somebody made a promise that was misleading. I think CEVA should have been embarrassed and offered delivery the day we called.

More irritating is that Amazon’s website again failed to indicate where a package was days before delivery. Worst of all: neither company used the text or voice numbers or email we provided to communicate with us. Had we known the sink was in town, we would have picked it up two days early and been delighted.

In fact, we received text messages after we picked up the package ourselves that it “had been delivered.” Maybe they weren’t covering their asses, but at that point it looks like the system worked. The system emphatically did NOT work.

I thought Amazon should know that CEVA was not living up to the “white glove” promise (though its employees are very nice and helpful when contacted). It’s Amazon’s response that leads me to blog about this. Here’s the email with small omissions. It turns a frown upside down.

Hello Mark,

I’m very sorry that this has been a disappointing experience for you.

I’ve issued you a $25.00 promotional certificate, which you can use the next time you order an item shipped and sold by Amazon.com. Note: the promotional certificate doesn’t apply to items offered by other sellers on our website and won’t cover the shipping costs of an order.

You’ll see your available promotional balance at checkout–this amount will be applied to your next qualifying order automatically without entering a claim code. Your promotional balance doesn’t appear in Your Account but will always display when you place an order. For more information about using your promotional certificate, including the terms and conditions for using the certificate, visit our Help pages: [link removed]

I’m forwarding your feedback about CEVA to our shipping department–I know they’ll want to hear about your experience.
We’re aware that our choice of delivery services reflects on our business as a whole, and we appreciate your feedback. We hope to see you again soon.

Did I solve your problem?

If yes, please click here: [link removed]

If no, please click here: [link removed]

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,
Erin R

Perhaps Erin is really Siri or Eliza and this letter is the work of consumer psychologists, but it seems sincere and from a decent person. I don’t actually care about the money – I didn’t pay extra for the “white glove delivery,” beyond Prime membership. But I love the empathy in the first paragraph and the fact that my details may actually improve the process. Finally, the simple mechanism for me to respond “Did I solve your problem?” Yes, Erin, you did. Thank you.

In honor of NaNoWriMo, I decided to read a novel this month. Many years ago, I read quite a few books in a year’s time, although far fewer than the prolific readers I know. For about five years now, reading online, especially short, newsy items, has eroded my interest in sitting and just reading one thing for an hour or more.

Interestingly, Amazon’s Kindle may have changed that, but not in the way you or Amazon might expect. (And, it remains too soon to tell.) I have never been one to buy a new book, except in college. I bought used paperbacks, but most of my reading has consisted of library books. Praise be to the public library! (How have the penny-pinchers not shut them down … yet?) A year or so ago, I bought a Viewsonic gTablet. More recently, I downloaded the free Kindle software to the tablet. Finally, I figured out how to download books from the library for free! It’s not quite as easy as it should be, though quicker than a trip to the library. Checkout is just for 10 days, instead of two or three weeks – why? Unfortunately, there are far fewer electronic books than real at the library, but I found Nevada Barr’s Borderline.

When I was a real reader, I went through  a detective / mystery phase, during which I read Nevada Barr. She knows how to write tension-inducing scenes, although she may string too many of those together. In Borderline, heroine Anna Pidgeon suffers a series of exhausting travails, any one of which would wipeout most people. In the end, Barr goes a little overboard, but it was a virtual-page-turner.

For the most part, I like reading on the tablet and would not miss paper. I like being able to highlight, note, bookmark, and look up words instantly. Holding the tablet wasn’t any more awkward than holding a thick book.

I’ve also used the Kindle software to read a chapter or two of half a dozen books that I would have to pay for  (and won’t). That was kinda cool.

One gripe about the Kindle software: although I am an Amazon Prime member, I do not get access to the Kindle library exchange. Amazon wants to sell Kindles. Given Amazon’s crappy selection and worse interface for video (it stinks), I gotta wonder what Prime gets me, especially after my one-day package delivery was flubbed.

I have a suggestion for Amazon, UPS, FedEx, et al.: Let customers schedule a delivery or set a window. I’ve been a hostage at home all day waiting for a package. Why? Because “tracking” only tells me what happened 12 hours ago. I can expect my package “by end of day.” Seriously, that’s the best they can do in the age of computers?

At the very least, give me real tracking, not “out for delivery” (whenever). I’ll get a text message *after* delivery, but I can’t have one saying it will be here in less than an hour or more than 8?

I know many people don’t particularly care when a package comes. Ironically, I often home all day, anyway. But, when it matters, I should be able to say “deliver after 5pm” or “don’t deliver between 10am and 2pm.” That would that be great service.

Updated 8:33pm

Sigh. After 7pm, I emailed FedEx. I was surprised to hear back within minutes. They say package was never turned over to them. No comment on their own site reporting the package was In Transit.

I chatted with Pedro at Amazon Help. He said sorry, he’d refund the $3.99 I paid for one-day shipping.

I’m normally patient. I let Amazon’s promises get to me. Live and learn. Just another corporation.

Heavy rain triggers mud, rock slide that halts Durango trains; blocks roads after storm | The Republic

Rain also triggered two mud slides that temporarily blocked traffic on two highways in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Transportation says boulders fell across both lanes of U.S. 50 Tuesday night, temporarily closing the highway west of Canon City.

Another slide blocked U.S. 550 north of Red Mountain Pass in southwest Colorado, but traffic was moving.

The National Weather Service warned that monsoon rains could bring another round of moderate to heavy rainfall to southeast and southern Colorado on Wednesday. The weather service said storms could cause street flooding and more rock or mud slides.

Heavy rain triggers mud, rock slide that halts Durango trains; blocks roads after storm | The Republic

This is another great xkcd. They almost always are. I’ll have to look up Lise Meitner and Emmy Noether.

xkcd: Marie Curie

xkcd: Marie Curie

On December 16, 2009, I had one of my front teeth extracted, #9 to be exact. Ole Number Nine bore the brunt of my collision with a brick wall while riding a bike at age 7. The accident was caused by my pant leg getting caught in the bike chain – I’ve been very careful to avoid that since the day I staggered home, blood pouring from my mouth. It’s hard to say when #9 actually died, but it was dead by the time I turned 40 and had a root canal on it. That sufficed for more than 10 years, until the bone around the tooth eroded, requiring a bone graft, then an implant, with many months of healing in between. So, for the first half of 2010 I had a gap-toothed smile. I was only self-conscious around some strangers, in particular, when I was teaching a class. Eventually, I got a mis-named “flipper,” a temporary denture, something I would have done sooner had I realized it was more than cosmetic and actually preserved the space between my teeth. More than a year after the extraction, I got a temporary crown. And as of 3/4/11, I have my permanent crown.

In those 14 and a half months, we went to Guatemala, got a new dog (Luke!), drove from Miami Beach to Albuquerque, camped in Colorado, travelled to DC. And I wrote a book. An eventful year, in which I saw one dentist or another more times than in the 10 years before.

Watson Jeopardy! computer: Ken Jennings describes what it’s like to play against a machine. – By Ken Jennings – Slate Magazine

Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It’s very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman. But unlike us, Watson cannot be intimidated. It never gets cocky or discouraged. …

Just as factory jobs were eliminated in the 20^th century by new assembly-line robots, Brad and I were the first knowledge-industry workers put out of work by the new generation of "thinking" machines. "Quiz show contestant" may be the first job made redundant by Watson, but I’m sure it won’t be the last. …

But there’s no shame in losing to silicon,  … [m]y puny human brain, just a few bucks worth of water, salts, and proteins, hung in there just fine against a jillion-dollar supercomputer.

Watson Jeopardy! computer: Ken Jennings describes what it’s like to play against a machine. – By Ken Jennings – Slate Magazine

Good joke aside, Watson has known the touch of at least one woman on the IBM development team.