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Fast shipping---especially Prime shipping---is arguably the best reason to use Amazon. However, getting everything your order online as soon as possible is not without its downsides. Instead, you should consider using the "Amazon Day" feature to optimize your deliveries.
What is "Amazon Day"?
Before we dive in, you probably want to know what this whole "Amazon Day" thing is all about. Amazon Day is a service for Prime members that allows you to receive all of your orders on the same day each week.
Rather than having packages arrive scattered throughout the week as you buy them, you choose a preferred day for all of the items to be delivered at once. You can still buy things whenever you want throughout the week, but they'll be saved up to all arrive on the same day.
Less Packaging to Deal With
If you're a frequent Amazon shopper, there's probably no shortage of brown smiley-face emblazoned boxes around your home. When everything ships as soon as possible, you get a bunch of separate boxes. All that cardboard and plastic packaging material piles up, and it's a hassle to properly dispose of.
With Amazon Day, your items are combined into fewer boxes. You can do this manually by waiting to click "Buy" when you have a bunch of stuff in your cart, but Amazon Day does that for you. It's not perfect---sometimes things come from totally different areas and can't be combined---but you'll generally have much fewer boxes to deal with.
Save Trips to Your Home
Combining packages also means fewer trips to your home for delivery drivers. Personally, I feel a bit gluttonous having a special delivery just for an extra charging cable or a T-shirt. Most of the things I buy on Amazon are not urgent needs, and I'm willing to bet it's the same for many people.
All those trips to your home add up, and it's not particularly great for the environment to have gas-guzzling Amazon trucks driving around more than necessary. If you live in a busy neighborhood that sees the Amazon truck driving through every day, it might not matter much, but it might make a difference if you live off the beaten path.
Prevent Package Theft
Packages landing at your front door at random times throughout the week can make it difficult to know when something has been delivered. That's not great if package theft is a problem in your neighborhood---you don't want to leave packages outside your door for too long.
Amazon Day makes it dead easy to know exactly when packages will be arriving at your home. It can be hardwired into your weekly routine. You can pick a day when it's easy for you to be home to bring in the packages. No more boxes sitting on your porch while you're stuck away from home.
How to Limit Deliveries on Other Services
Amazon Day makes it easy to get all of your packages on the same day, but you can take this same idea to other retailers as well. All you have to do is group your purchases together to make fewer orders.
A great way to do this is to keep your online cart open for a week or more---just add things to your cart as you think of them. Don't checkout until you've filled up the cart with several items. Regardless of the retailer, items are more likely to come in fewer packages and trips if you buy them in the same order.
Look, fast shipping is awesome. Getting something from your online cart to your front door in less than 24 hours feels like magic sometimes. There are certainly times when that speedy turnaround is needed, and that's fine. However, convenience comes at a cost sometimes---and in the case of every item you purchase coming in its own box with packaging materials, the cost is a mountain of trash.
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