[Clodfobble]

I've been an Amazon customer since 2005. In that time, I have placed nearly 1,000 orders, 233 of which were in the last year. Obviously I am a Prime member, plus I use Kindle and have an Audible subscription as well. I know Jeff Bezos is evil and all, but I am, for better or worse, completely addicted to their ability to put the most random stuff on my doorstep less than 48 hours after I've asked for it.

A few years ago they introduced this "Subscribe-n-Save" program where you commit (sort of, because you can skip upcoming orders and cancel anytime) to regular deliveries of a particular product, in return for which you get between 5%-15% off, depending on the number of subscriptions you have arriving in any given month. When it first came out, I investigated, and didn't sign up because nothing I actually wanted was eligible.

A year or two later, I looked in again, and their offerings had expanded. So I signed up, but soon quit after they were routinely out of stock on the day of my shipment, plus the prices fluctuated month-to-month so what looked like a good deal when I signed up would suddenly end up costing more than my grocery store at the last minute.

In the last six months or so I have signed up again, because they seem to have stabilized their prices better and are offering even more these days that I actually want.

BUT. Twice now, I've gotten an email that said my package was "damaged," and being sent back to the warehouse. The money was refunded, but of course the whole reason I'm subscribing to these things is I actually need them every month, and it is now incumbent upon me to re-order them individually in the normal fashion--for which, of course, I will not receive my 15% discount. I have never, in nearly 1,000 orders over 13 years, had a package damaged by the carrier and returned to the warehouse, but now it's happened twice, in a very particular way that forces me to pay 15% more than I was originally promised.

I strongly suspect that "your package was damaged" is code for "meh, our profit margin got too low this month so it never left the warehouse. Buy it at full price, sucker."