There are some legitimate reasons for this. Perhaps you were ordering high-volume items that had low inventory, and it was unclear when they populated the shipping estimate for you whether you'd be getting items currently in stock, or waiting on Amazon to first receive a shipment.

Additionally, there is little reason to commit to a delivery timeline that they cannot commit to. Prime 2-day delivery is not actually a guarantee, as far as I understand it (and in some places it is not 2-day, e.g. Hawaii, from what I've heard), but it is a much firmer commitment, because Prime members are paying a fee for improved service. Regardless of whether Prime delivery is guaranteed, Amazon has optimized much of its logistics chain around <=2-day delivery. So you may be reaping some benefits from that.

Finally, Amazon is almost definitely using the cheapest possible shipping option (unless you are opting to pay more for improved options). Just because the rate paid is low does not mean that carriers will purposefully slow down. Once those items are picked, the cheapest thing to do is to move them quickly. Regardless of shipping option, that package still incurs a cost everywhere it sits, and every time it moves. So it will be routed as efficiently as it can to you. Holding it is just accruing liability (more options for loss or damage). If you happen to be near the DC, or near to the shipping carrier's hub, it's likely you will get stuff very quickly, even if it is estimated at longer.

You may be seeing the worst-case estimate for cross-country shipment, but benefit from one or several of the things above.

In Canada they're really slow, it's taking 2-3 weeks to get Amazon packages delivered, so I end up using eBay and other vendors as much as I can.

I've had a lot of stuff take significantly longer than even the extended estimate

I dunno. I think you just got lucky. I’m still waiting on some packages.

But also I think they’re using it as an excuse to use cheaper shipping. I know bestbuy is doing this for sure.

I think they figure no one will notice they’re using smartpost and if you complain just blaming the speed on the pandemic.

I'm in the middle of a large project at home. I've made probably 10-15 orders from Amazon in the past six weeks as I find my way through it. All but two of them arrived within 3 days, despite most showing weeks out. No difference in shipper, shipping tier or anything else that I could see. Of the two outliers, one arrived within the estimated time and the other was lost in shipping.

I've noticed the same pattern. Presumably they would rather lose business in the short term (by scaring away time-sensitive shoppers) than risk damage to the brand by delivering late.

Considering that at least 5 Amazon employees have died, I would have a hard time crying about a late package right now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/14/sixth-confirmed-amazon-worke...

Amazon has over 800,000 employees. 1/100,000 is not a high rate compared to general population.

(Not trivializing deaths.)

They probably _are_ being conservative in estimates, but I ordered a new Kindle on April 9 and it didn’t arrive until the 27th.

Same, re Amazon.