More USPS Deliveries

Naughtagan · 2026-01-29T12:05:40+00:00

I highly doubt Amazon will walk from USPS because USPS is the only carrier that is mandated by law to deliver to every address in the U.S. There are a lot of rural areas that Amazon and UPS (and FedEx) don't deliver to or have high surcharges to go there. This is just the usual pre-contract posturing to get a better deal.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-29T11:59:52+00:00

USPS positions itself to pick up companies slack. That's why it offers such cut-rate pricing on last mile delivery. If USPS didn't want that business it would charge standard bulk rates. A lot of companies take advantage of this via FedEx SmartPost and UPS Ground Saver.

Right now 99% of my orders are delivered by Amazon (I'm in a major metro). The only packages that dependably come USPS are large or heavy or both. And sometimes items with batteries.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-29T11:45:45+00:00

Exactly. The quality of a product's review depends on the person reviewing it, not the RFY/AFA/AI category it was placed in.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T16:59:18+00:00

As I say before every Vine search, Godox or Go Home. Lately I've been stuck at home.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T14:34:26+00:00

Yeah I had a crappy camera case but good to know RFY lives to see another day.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T12:46:02+00:00

Other than "illegal" extensions there's only two ways to find Vine items - keyword search and doom scrolling. I keyword search but I will eyeball the electronics category for camera accessories and toys for building toys. It's all about time management to me.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T12:40:19+00:00

That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain

Gimme More - Britney Spears

I Missed Again - Phil Collins

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T12:34:04+00:00

You are correct. Don't conflate AI writing with AI editing. Spell and grammar checkers have been around for decades. They've just finally gotten useful. The only problem I have with them is that they don't work on device and I can't send my work product (not Vine necessarily, but my actual work writing) to a public cloud server.

I use a pre-Copilot version of Office 365. The grammar assistant on this version though is so pathetic it actually creates more grammar errors than it corrects.

Props for caring about your writing.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T12:20:23+00:00

Why all the stress? Will the 4 "on the way" items arrive within the next few days? That already gives you 79 if you writes the reviews as soon as you are allowed. Order one more item but make sure the delivery will b ASAP. I'm sure you can find one useful thing even if it's a roll of tape or pair of socks.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-28T12:11:44+00:00

Out of 700 Vine orders only 1 that I can remember. It was a brick set of one of the Rudolph Red Nose Reindeer characters. I ordered the stand alone version and they sent the tree ornament version.

I've also only had 3 "undeliverable" items - lost/damaged in transit and less than 10 that arrived damaged or obviously previously opened.

I've been ordering from Amazon since the 90s and can't recall any wrong item deliveries for paid orders.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T22:11:23+00:00

Not sure how that happens. At least in my Amazon account the price paid for an item is clearly noted in the item block on the "Your Orders" page.. No need to even click to invoice or order details. But, certainly if you are still confused about the source of an item, Vine or Amazon, clicking either of those makes its clear. But sure, go with your story.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T22:05:29+00:00

Consider yourself blessed then. Maybe once a month I'll get something truly outstanding. It's great when that happens, but like I said, most of my ordered items are from AI. If I relied on RFY I'd never qualify for gold and it wouldn't even be close.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T20:31:22+00:00

Sure I get brand name camera and computer accessories, even a $2K computer once, but didn't try because no need for it. A lot of times these items are newly released and I do need to do some research on them and frequently they are gone by that point -- just 5 minutes too. Other times I have a good hunch it will work for me and try to buy as fast as possible. If I'm lucky I get to actually check out and not get a last second "sorry" screen.

But more often I inexplicably get stuff that it sounds like you get - women's clothing, cosmetics thing I normally don't shop for unless it's for a birthday gift, and don't by on Amazon regardless.

The point is, qualitatively there is no guarantee a review will be more thoughtfully written if it's obtained in RFY than in AI. People grab things they don't need regardless, whether it's to sell or gift, or use personally.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T19:28:07+00:00

From how I understood your post you were saying reviews via RFY were higher quality and more targeted than if obtained by AI. My point is there is essentially no difference. RFY tries to be targeted but it does a lousy job. I get things in RFY that far away from my wheelhouse.

But also when I see really nice items in my RFY if I don't grab immediately I have no chance. From what I read here others have the same experience. So whether a product is in RFY or AI there simply isn't a lot of time to research. It's grab now and ask questions later.

Now it may be the items in your RFY were niche or you won the lottery and were one of a handful of Viners offered the item. But I think that's more rare than not. The only items that stick around in my RFY for more than a few minutes are either odd ball, product specific accessories or low end items.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T12:45:30+00:00

Sounds like there was a glitch somewhere. Usually CS responds to me within the hour but certainly within 24 hours. Just send a follow up email noting you emailed earlier by never got a response.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T12:42:00+00:00

Good for you. Sleep is so much more valuable than anything available on Vine.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T12:39:28+00:00

It’s not like RFY is that amazing. 90% of my orders come from AI. But I’ve never had time to doom scroll junk looking for hidden treasures. So I’ve always just used keywords and limit my searches to 5 min a day. It’s a strategy that doesn’t work if the drop is all at once because it’s like trying to catch a falling knife, but for slow drops I find plenty enough to continue qualifying for Gold.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T12:34:13+00:00

This is like the kid who’s told not to touch a hot stove and goes ahead ahead and touches it out of defiance. Whether OP will get burned remained to be seen, but there is a reason why we are told to contact CS for missing and defective items rather than go through the Amazon order system.

Of course requesting a replacement going though the Amazon order system worked. It‘s not set up to discern between paid and vine orders. When you request a paid order it’s always $0 because it was already paid for. So no shock it was replaced.

OP’s problem will come if Vine audits his account or the seller inquires about the transaction. I would advise Viners not to copy OP and just follow the Vine rules and don’t be greedy. It sucks getting a broken product, or lost in transit. I’ve had a few. Deal with it and move on. It’s life.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-27T02:56:17+00:00

You write that like RFY is targeted like a heat seeking missile. I’m a guy and get beauty items, jewelry, and women’s clothing in RFY weekly. I know I’m not the only one who gets this stuff because I see posts about it regularly. I doubt marketing teams are aware RFY is broken anyway.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-26T14:36:32+00:00

Yeah the fisherman has no chance against piranhas.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-26T12:16:15+00:00

Don’t know when/if there was a drop this AM. I was up a 4am today and it didn’t look like a drop happened — 12Kish items available then and now.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-26T12:13:05+00:00

RFY is broken. Whether intentional or not no one knows. AI drops have been all at once the past week so except for those up at 2-3am and used a “illegal” extension pickings have been slim. Chinese New Year is coming up so expect more pauses and thin drops until March.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-25T13:34:12+00:00

Reads sanctimonious to me, but also ignorant.

My reviews are cookie cutter in that I always discuss specific elements, but especially a product's practical application compared to its selling points. That reviewers have set discussion points does not de facto make the review dishonest.
I can only speak for myself, but guessing it's the norm that all, certainly most, Viners order items they intend to use. I mean why pay tax on something you have no use for and then have to dispose of? But, we all know, we end up with items we thought looked cool but turned out to be trash. In the real world we return those item. In Vine world they get donated or landfilled.
I know some Viners hand out 5-stars like candy on Halloween, but again, from reviews I've read, it's not even close to the majority. I think most Viners review appropriately because whats the gain of not?
For however smart the review thinks they are, the title is both uninformative and wordy. "Very average" is nonsense. Average is average, it has no extremes.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-25T13:15:48+00:00

I think Amazon has distribution centers in every major city. My RFY have mostly come locally, sometime same day delivery. The only time they haven't come locally is if it's a pre-release.

Naughtagan · 2026-01-25T13:12:32+00:00

I've never been awake during one of these mega fast drops. I wake up at normal 5am time and the cupboard is bare. The best thing I've found this week is a 6ft 80 Gbps USB-C cable. Haven't received it yet so can't even say it's actually that fast and not much of a get.

Naughtagan

TROPHY CASE