GameTheory8

An easy way to think about this (for me at least) would be to think in terms of transferring liability to another party.

Who's responsible for the package/order when the package gets left with the neighbor? Would the liability/loss transfer to the customer if the package goes missing when the neighbor supposedly has/had it?

If you're a seller on Amazon/eBay and shipped the package yourself, the liability of the total value of the package is with the seller, unless you purchase insurance or signature tracking information.

For packages 13+ ounces (0.36+ kg), USPS automatically provides insurance up to $50 when sending packages Priority Mail (w/restrictions): http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/609.htm

This isn't really a solution when you start multiplying the # of carriers (USPS/UPS/FedEx/Ontrac/etc) that deliver in the US, to the number of packages that heavy e-commerce users receive per month. It's not unusual for people with Amazon Prime accounts to have 10+ packages delivered in a month. If they would have to go to different locations to pick up all these packages, then it quickly negates much of the convenience/experience of shopping online.

From my consumer perspective (mostly Amazon Prime packages):

I've probably had 1 or 2 random lost/stolen packages over the last 6-7 years, from a handful of locations. There's more that randomly go missing for a day or so but those are usually carrier issues, and not lost, but delayed.

From my business perspective:

We're a semi-large FBA seller on Amazon and have had 100,000ish orders over the last 2 years. I've received many messages before where customers claim to have packages go missing, but a quick reply notifying the customer that we'll get x carrier to investigate usually gets a quick reply that they found the package.

To us, this is more of a numbers game where we allocate 0.x% of revenue to lost/stolen/damaged packages and then just try to minimize the losses on a case by case basis. Our main goal is to have happy customers that receive what they ordered, so if there's any delivery hiccups, we always take the liability and quickly replace or refund.

Bonus Amazon tip:

Delivery confirmation w/tracking information isn't proof of delivery for packages, and they'll refund/replace orders even if the tracking details say "Delivered". This makes sense when a package gets delivered and someone steals it before the customer takes possession of it.

As a seller on Amazon, in the event of a problem/claim, Amazon requires signature confirmation to guarantee that the package was actually received. Signature confirmation is expensive so it then only makes sense for packages valued at $300+. (Products in Electronics might be different w/higher loss rates)

IMO, damaged packages are a bigger issue, but then that becomes mostly a packaging, then carrier issue.

What's the solution? No clue, but adding friction points such as giving a package to a neighbor, or having to go somewhere else to retrieve your package just slowly adds to a negative customer experience over time and should be avoided whenever possible.

Not sure if it's a state by state thing or a general change but: Is there any way to bring back the example (live?) insurance quotes with or without uploading a spreadsheet of employee information?

That seemed like the most amazing feature to me when we were first exploring the service because it provided such a great way of comparing all the plans.

We're currently in the middle of deciding which insurance packages our company will purchase/offer through Zenefits and this quote hits home:

“It’s a lot easier to approach smaller companies,” says Conrad of this approach. “Try getting on the phone with a decision-maker at a 1,000-person company. It takes weeks if not months. We can close a lot more 100-person companies more easily.”

Their sales guy has been pounding us with phone calls lately trying to offer help/close the deal and it accelerated when April was ending. Not sure if that's a +/- with them but it definitely stood out vs other companies that we've dealt with.

While it costs an extraordinary amount to build a salesforce that can cold call every one, he argues the unit economics makes each new customer a worthwhile investment.

Does anyone know of any articles that reference any CLV calcs for Zenefits?

Announcement: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment...

So was the tipping point somewhere around Feb 26, 2015 when they announced their algorithm update? http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/02/finding-m...

Quick way to check: Is your site mobile friendly? https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Will this be more focused on improving search for digital products (App Store) or more toward creating a comprehensive catalog for digital/physical products to index + download/purchase?