Amazon has more than 100 million “Prime” members , each of whom pays $119 a year for an ever-increasing list of services, but mostly, the promise of unlimited, free two-day shipping on “Prime” items.

Yet with more than a week before Christmas, hunting through the stacks of items for that reliable “Prime” logo, I was shocked by how many items won’t arrive in time for the holiday, let alone in the promised 48-hour window. That little Prime logo used to mean something. Now it feels like a ruse that lulls shoppers into a false sense of security, until they go to checkout and see a shipping arrival date far later than anticipated.

This cuts through the greatest promise of Prime. It’s not just the free, two-day shipping. It’s that it’s so reliable, you never have to think for more than a second about buying something. In this sense, Prime was constructed to be great for the consumer (so efficient) and great for businesses (mindless impulse shopping!).

I’ve been a Prime member myself for over a decade, so I’ve come to expect that the rush of the holiday season will clog the arteries of Amazon’s fulfillment centers and delivery services alike and make shipping less than reliable. But anecdotally, to me and many of the people I know and work with, this year, it feels worse than ever.

It doesn’t help that we’ve seen a slow dilution of Prime itself over time, with the rise of Prime Pantry and Add-on Items. They force you to buy a minimum number of items to get the best deal, adding back the very psychic burden Prime had eliminated from the equation of online shopping in the first place. As a result, it can be hard to find true, two-day Prime items that aren’t marked up to insane prices by third-party sellers.

But Prime was still Prime. This holiday, I’ve noticed things that are in stock and labeled “Prime” have nonsensical shipping dates. I’m not alone in experiencing Shipping Shock™. Complaints about slow Prime shipping abound across the internet. Quora literally has a thread asking, “Has Amazon slowed down their free shipping speed intentionally?” The “top answer” with 22,000 views is a customer rant about late shipments. Many others chime in to confirm the slowdowns, and offer conspiracy theories as to what could be going on.

It’s certainly happened to me. Take the little gasket (pictured above) that I need to make fresh, festive whipped cream for the holidays. It’s Prime! It’s in stock! My ancient hunter brain takes a load off; I’ve provided the crucial saturated fats for my family. We will survive the Greater Chicagoland Area winter. And then I notice, this 10-cent piece of rubber arrives via four-day shipping with the “FREE” in all caps, like Amazon is doing ME the favor for making me wait four days for something I could get at a restaurant supply store in a few minutes.