News Amazon Delays Shipping PC Parts for Weeks; Shop Elsewhere for Now

[bit_user]

Not sure turning everything off is the right solution. Perhaps we should be looking at going back to 75% normal without restaurant dining rooms, big crowds, ect... But everyone goes to work unless sick and we isolate the vulnerable. Mobilize and produce for the medical needs that are coming.

South Korea showed that you don't need to shut down society, if you act early enough and have enough test kits. Then, you can find who's infected, do contact-tracing, and isolate only those who are truly infected and those who were exposed to them.

Anyway, the US failed in both areas and now we have to fight it the hard way.

 

[bit_user]

Walmart trashes returns into locked dumpsters. This, I believe is because they don't want to accept potentially virus contaminated returns. (Some have complained about Walmart doing this instead of passing food on to those who need it (charity) but they forget the potential for contamination.)

At room temperature, the virus only survives on surfaces for a max of about 3 days. So, they certainly could restock or donate returned items, after either waiting or sanitizing them.

But, "just throw it away" is an easy and simple policy to enact, with minimal risk. And probably not more than a couple % gets returned, anyway. Enough to be annoying, but not to really impact the overall supply situation.

 

[bit_user]

I just ordered noise-cancelling headphones from Amazon, which don't seem to be on the "delayed" list. While I'd agree they're not as important as food, they're certainly not far down the list.

I also needed a HDMI cable to connect a machine I brought home from work. For that, I had to go to Newegg. We'll see how long it takes, but I expect it'll be less than the month Amazon promised.

 

[digitalgriffin]

It's taking me 2x's to 3x's to do the same amount of work because I lack the 3 monitor setup I have at work. I'm just working more hours to get it done.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I just ordered noise-cancelling headphones from Amazon, which don't seem to be on the "delayed" list. While I'd agree they're not as important as food, they're certainly not far down the list.

I also needed a HDMI cable to connect a machine I brought home from work. For that, I had to go to Newegg. We'll see how long it takes, but I expect it'll be less than the month Amazon promised.

Some of amazon's warehouses are fully automated. They have robots which can pick and pull from bins/pins and put it in a box with minimal human intervention.

For tech supplies, I imagine there is more oversight. I would kill for a good monitor right now.

 

[bit_user]

Some of amazon's warehouses are fully automated. They have robots which can pick and pull from bins/pins and put it in a box with minimal human intervention.

Even fully-automated doesn't mean it has infinite bandwidth. You also don't know how much of a bottleneck their shipping & deliveries are.

 

[NewJohnny]

At room temperature, the virus only survives on surfaces for a max of about 3 days.

CDC tested one of the cruise ships and discovered the virus still alive 17 days after everyone left. It's best to assume no surface is safe.

 

[NewJohnny]

UPS finally delivered my package today. It seems they just programmed a "virus" button into their system to use when things get delayed.

My grocery store, however, is completely broken. I might have to drive around town to find something.

 

[mikeebb]

My guess is that the Amazon competitors recommended here are in the same position as Amazon but their systems aren't as transparent or as sophisticated and don't know they won't hit their promised dates or don't care to let you know that until you've made the purchase.

Experienced this many times buying tech goods. They lock in the order and fulfill when they can.

Wish everyone the best. I got sick, doctor was concerned and I went to a central test site. Was tested and stayed in isolation for 6 days, meals in bedroom ect... Missed 4 days of work. My family stayed at home the whole time in case they were exposed. Test was negative and now cleared to work again. And I could still get the stupid bug !

Multiply that loss by the 100's of thousands. Not sure turning everything off is the right solution. Perhaps we should be looking at going back to 75% normal without restaurant dining rooms, big crowds, ect... But everyone goes to work unless sick and we isolate the vulnerable. Mobilize and produce for the medical needs that are coming.

My state appeared to give up on isolating individual cases when there were still a very small number of them.

The middle part there is the meat. If you test negative you could still get it (and in the US, especially in the big cities, you probably will get it). So we all need to be prepared for multiple, possibly long-term isolation episodes. That's why the panic buying.

As for the shippers, I suspect that part of the Amazon thing is that they do the shipping as well as the selling. So they can shut things off and reschedule at will. The others use UPS or FedEx or USPS, which are all having their issues but generally still deliver within a day or so of schedule.

When you have the bug exploding, like in NY and Calif and Italy, you do need to shut the place down. Without effective treatment, you have to break the cycle. That happens only if you don't have a bunch of people running around infecting each other. It's also why not having PPE for the medical and others directly taking care of the sick ones is disastrous - the health care providers end up spreading it too. Not sure what the deal is with toilet paper, though - is that coming from China now too?

 

[bit_user]

CDC tested one of the cruise ships and discovered the virus still alive 17 days after everyone left.

Nope. Not true.

What they found was genetic material from the virus. That's very different from intact virus that potentially infect someone. They did not find that.

The point of the finding was to see which rooms the virus had spread into. Because there's still relatively little information about how many people are asymptomatic spreaders.

I just heard some data from an isolated town in Italy, where they tested everyone, which found up to 45% of people infected were completely asymptomatic. That is worrisome, and indicates that we should be testing everyone.

 

[mikeebb]

I just ordered noise-cancelling headphones from Amazon, which don't seem to be on the "delayed" list. While I'd agree they're not as important as food, they're certainly not far down the list.

I also needed a HDMI cable to connect a machine I brought home from work. For that, I had to go to Newegg. We'll see how long it takes, but I expect it'll be less than the month Amazon promised.

The office supply places like Staples have some of that stuff too, and can be much quicker than Amazon (though a bit more expensive). Just ordered a Cat6 patch cable (50') from Staples which will be delivered on Friday (2nd day), but which from Amazon and Best Buy would have been delivered mid-late April. Need it to get the work laptop off of wifi, hopefully making Skype work a little better.

 

[mikeebb]

Nope. Not true.

What they found was genetic material from the virus. That's very different from intact virus that potentially infect someone. They did not find that.

The point of the finding was to see which rooms the virus had spread into. Because there's still relatively little information about how many people are asymptomatic spreaders.

I just heard some data from an isolated town in Italy, where they tested everyone, which found up to 45% of people infected were completely asymptomatic. That is worrisome, and indicates that we should be testing everyone.

What it does say is that adequate disinfection takes more than a quick fogging.

 

[bit_user]

we all need to be prepared for multiple, possibly long-term isolation episodes. That's why the panic buying.

Not justified.

First, after you get it, you seem to retain some immunity. So, you would only be quarantined once.

Second, in places where true quarantine has been instituted, you still get deliveries of food and supplies. So, you don't need to panic buy. There's basically no justification for buying more than a couple weeks of food & supplies, right now.

Not sure what the deal is with toilet paper, though

There's no good reason for it. I think some people were worried about diarrhea (which is not a very common symptom of the virus) and over-bought. Once other people saw that, it just prompted them to do the same. And then social media added fuel to the fire. Before long, you couldn't find toilet paper anywhere.

 

[bit_user]

Thanks for the tip.

Just ordered a Cat6 patch cable (50')

I just ordered some Cat6A from Newegg. Cheaper than I expected. We'll see how long it takes, but I'm not in a hurry for it.

The reason being that I pulled the trigger on one of these, a couple weeks ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075Q6NPM2/​

It was on sale for $210.

 

[bit_user]

What it does say is that adequate disinfection takes more than a quick fogging.

Huh? No. I don't follow, at all.

 

[DSzymborski]

Understand, I don't blame the majority of Chinese people. But I shouldn't strengthen my enemy by providing food to his camp, even if it feeds everybody (innocent or not) By supporting legitimate Chinese business, I passively support the Chinese gov't behaviors.

Well, then, simply be prepared to not have a CPU, GPU, motherboard, power supply, etc. The world we live in is not based on 18th-century mercantilism, so a stand like this only means that you'll have to do without, well, everything.

And really, if it's so absolutely crucial that you have a 6 TB hard drive right now, an hour drive is essentially nothing.

 

[bit_user]

Well, then, simply be prepared to not have a CPU, GPU, motherboard, power supply, etc. The world we live in is not based on 18th-century mercantilism, so a stand like this only means that you'll have to do without, well, everything.

It's not an all-or-nothing proposition, though. I believe in fair trade, and limiting excessive dependence on any single producer or supplier. I'm not totally anti- free-trade, I just think you don't need to buy into it to the extent of your own potential detriment.

And let's be clear, China has been playing chess (or Go), while we've been playing checkers. I don't agree with Trump's tactics (which, let's be clear, haven't actually worked), but we do need to be wary and more strategic.

 

[DSzymborski]

It's not an all-or-nothing proposition, though. I believe in fair trade, and limiting excessive dependence on any single producer or supplier. I'm not totally anti- free-trade, I just think you don't need to buy into it to the extent of your own potential detriment.

And let's be clear, China has been playing chess (or Go), while we've been playing checkers. I don't agree with Trump's tactics (which, let's be clear, haven't actually worked), but we do need to be wary and more strategic.

I'm not disagreeing with you (and being careful to not stray too far into politics), just noting that the previous poster's idea of not buying anything with even a loose economic association with China is an impossible proposition.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I'm not disagreeing with you (and being careful to not stray too far into politics), just noting that the previous poster's idea of not buying anything with even a loose economic association with China is an impossible proposition.

I just avoid buying Chinese when i can avoid it.

Taiwan i have no issues with and a lot of our parts come from there.

 

[Jason H.]

Yea I noticed that today. I went to order a new CPU cooler (Scythe Mugen 5 rev.b) and the prime option wasnt showing its usual 1-2 day delivery speed but instead showed a date for the end of next month.

So I orded it from Ebay, but I had to pay 61$ for it and thats 13$ more than its worth, but I paid it so I could get the cooler sooner than later.

 

[NewJohnny]

Nope. Not true.

Thanks for the correction, I didn't read too deep. I fail to see the significance of 17 days though.

 

[DSzymborski]

I just avoid buying Chinese when i can avoid it.

Taiwan i have no issues with and a lot of our parts come from there.

And those companies have a lot of financial ties with China and are using raw materials imported from China. Any electronic component you buy, made anywhere by anyone, has a high probability of containing rare earth metals from China. From key components in every car coming from China to your recycling being taken to Chinese debt purchasing enabling your low interest rates on your house or car, it's completely unavoidable unless you go full Amish.

At this point, it's like starting with a baked cake and trying to then get the eggs back out of it.

 

[digitalgriffin]

And those companies have a lot of financial ties with China and are using raw materials imported from China. Any electronic component you buy, made anywhere by anyone, has a high probability of containing rare earth metals from China. From key components in every car coming from China to your recycling being taken to Chinese debt purchasing enabling your low interest rates on your house or car, it's completely unavoidable unless you go full Amish.

At this point, it's like starting with a baked cake and trying to then get the eggs back out of it.

While I can't argue your point, I will say that at least Taiwan is a lot more democratic and free of the corruption and bs that china is guilty of.

Also I said I try to avoid it WHEN i can. Not that I can avoid it entirely. But if I do buy something, I look at the tag of where it's made. Will I spend 10, 20, 50%, 100% more for something made here? Yes. And I have, especially tools.

 

[bit_user]

Thanks for the correction, I didn't read too deep. I fail to see the significance of 17 days though.

17 days is of significance only to people who don't understand that some DNA & RNA fragments is entirely different than intact virus.

It's unsurprising that some DNA and RNA lasted for at least 17 days. In fact, it was expected. They went looking for it, so they could see how far the virus spread, in spite of rigorous quarantining policies. That says more about cruise ships than it does as quarantining, since a cruise ship is not designed as a proper quarantine facility. But, it also says something about how many asymptomatic people were infected. That was probably one of the main things they were looking at, if they weren't able to test everyone while they were aboard the ship.

 

[digitalgriffin]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technol...HUbVvFSwqvCh98UN8eEhl9MVrpjh3ffQmHrbQh5Jyz_FQ

Well maybe im glad they aren't shipping now.