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Amazon launches same day delivery for Prime customers

318 points by ankushio 11y ago

alyx 11y ago
Requires a $35 minimum purchase
- scrollaway 11y ago
  US only, in 14 areas.
- aroch 11y ago
  So do the vast majority of other Prime shipments, the occasional <$35 item/order may quality for free 2day shipping depending on some undefined circumstances Edit: Whoops, I was thinking non-prime 2day shipping
  - ghaff 11y ago
    Huh? Sorry, but that's just wrong. They do have add-on items which have to be bought at the same time as other items to get the free shipping. But I assure you that I routinely get free Prime shipping for single items that are well under $35. It's the norm.
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  It doesn't actually. The $35 minimum for for getting same-day delivery for free; you can get same-day for $5.99 for prime members and $9.98 for non-members.
- sergiotapia 11y ago
  Hahaha, you guys have it so good. Here in Bolivia there is literally one store, not a website, a store. A Sure PC store that has same day shipping but only for orders over $250.
mnml_ 11y ago
when I saw the page I pressed refresh thinking the css was broken. Then I realised thats how its supposed to look.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
bkjelden 11y ago
The news here seems to be that same day delivery is now free in certain metros, for prime members. Amazon has offered same day delivery for a while, they just charged extra for it.
- jws 11y ago
  Where free means: Orders under $35 are just $5.99 per order for Prime members.
  - giancarlostoro 11y ago
    Where free actually means: Prime members in selected areas now receive FREE Same-Day Delivery on qualifying orders over $35.
    - mason240 11y ago
      I'm always surprised at people's ability to spin positive things in negative light.
      - Reedx 11y ago
        The reverse is true too. Prime shipping is never actually free, you're paying $99/year for it.
        ticksoft 11y ago
        A more honest word is 'complimentary'.
  - bkjelden 11y ago
    yes - good catch. I wonder if there was any marketing analysis that went into choosing $35, in an effort to get people to pad out their orders with unneeded purchases, or if it was strictly chosen on the break-even point for their cost of same day shipping.
mrspeaker 11y ago
I don't know if I'm just unlucky, but I'm in NYC and I rarely get my "free Prime next day deliveries!" the next day (but I am racking up a pile of "$1 off ebooks" vouchers because of it).
- discardorama 11y ago
  Those vouchers have a fairly short (3 months?) expiry date.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- giancarlostoro 11y ago
  When you pick to get those vouchers your delivery is intentionally delayed though.
jhugg 11y ago
Is there a way to restrict my search to eligible items?
- gusmd 11y ago
  Yes. Filter by PRIME | Free Same Day [0] [0] http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/prime/sameday/VXD-180-SameDayLaunch-landing-infoSteps-900x250._V304312315_.png http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/prime/sameday/VXD...
  - jhugg 11y ago
    Ugh. This is super annoying. You can only see this filter and the eligability if your default address is in the region. I live in a valid area, but often have things sent to work which is just outside the valid area. I wish I could see the fast shipping option, and just know I have to send it home.
- maratd 11y ago
  Yes
cherioo 11y ago
Just checked and it seems that this is not available for Locker delivery. I wonder why.
- rickyc091 11y ago
  They can't guarantee you will get it the "next day" since the store owner is the one who puts the packages into the locker themselves.
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  Here in Menlo Park (CA), Locker deliveries are UPS and same-day is OnTrac. UPS doesn't offer same-day service, so I'm not surprised that it's not available for Locker.
drcode 11y ago
Anyone know if this uses Amazon-owned delivery trucks or a traditional package delivery company?
- techsupporter 11y ago
  The same-day items I've received have been delivered by people wearing Amazon-logo shirts but usually in solid-colored vehicles with no markings.
- mason55 11y ago
  In some cases in NYC Amazon is using the subway
- rickyc091 11y ago
  They use their own vans. edit: They basically leverage their amazon fresh / amazon now deliveries.
  - chrisper 11y ago
    Not always. My same day stuff came with OnTrac.
    - wcfields 11y ago
      That's a story I'd love to read about. OnTrac seems to use basically junker cheaply painted white mid-90s minivans whenever I see them about. They simply slap a magnet with OnTrac on it and it becomes a fleet vehicle. While FedEx/UPS have their own custom designed fleet, OnTrac seems to scour auto auctions for theirs.
    - gauravphoenix 11y ago
      I think for west coast customers Amazon uses them. The reason could be - http://www.ontrac.com/ontracground.asp http://www.ontrac.com/ontracground.asp
- jonknee 11y ago
  I think it depends on the market and probably the item / load level. I had a same day item the other day and it was fulfilled by OnTrac.
viiralvx 11y ago
Interesting choice launching in Dallas but not Austin or Houston for Texas.
- dionidium 11y ago
  Just a note: Austin is far smaller than Houston and Dallas
- res0nat0r 11y ago
  This most likely is because the launch locations are physically close to large fulfillment center locations.
- techsupporter 11y ago
  Amazon has two distribution warehouses (one near the big airport, the other at Alliance in north Fort Worth) in D/FW. They've been offering same-day here for a few months now.
- sremani 11y ago
  Looks like Irving near DFW airport is covered, but not much of rest of DFW.
- freehunter 11y ago
  I have a cousin who lives in Austin and he says he's ordered a Mountain Dew from Amazon and had it delivered two hours later by someone in a hatchback. This was about two months ago. YMMV.
  - enraged_camel 11y ago
    Yes, the service is called PrimeNow and it does 2-hour delivery for items commonly found in supermarkets and stores around your area.
opaque_salmon 11y ago
What kind of infrastructure does it take to be able to offer this kind of service in the chosen metropolitan areas? Do they have warehouses and delivery trucks located nearby that are ready to go at a moment's notice? In any case, this is super cool of Amazon, they are really stepping up their game.
- Tobani 11y ago
  I think this is basically the case. Here in indianapolis there is a local Amazon warehouse and I got notification that this service is now available. I think they've been working on this for a while w/ various strategies. For example: I order diapers via Subscribe-and-Save. Sometimes the diapers come in the standard amazon boxes from UPS/Fedex/USPS. Sometimes a guy in an unmarked pick-up truck filled with diaper boxes drops off the diapers(with an amazon shipping label adhered directly to the pampers box).
  - wj 11y ago
    How does the subscribe-and-save work as your child grows and goes up diaper sizes?
    - Tobani 11y ago
      You just cancel the subscription and start a new one on the larger size.
      - ars 11y ago
        You don't have to cancel the subscription, they have an option for many items to just change the size.
        Tobani 11y ago
        Could be. I haven't done it in a while. Diapers are weird though, some kinds only go up to size 2, then you have to switch to a different kind and its not really just changing sizes.
ThomW 11y ago
Meanwhile, the DVD I attempted to order this morning using Prime's two-day-shipping delivery date was estimated to be Tuesday (five days away). I get delivery issues, but the item was advertised by being sold by Amazon using Prime.
- coldpie 11y ago
  Did it actually take five days? I find their shipping estimates are often very pessimistic.
  - ThomW 11y ago
    I passed on ordering it. Figured I could grab Airplane! on DVD just about anywhere. lol
  - Igglyboo 11y ago
    Same here. I'd say about 1 in 3 packages I order end up being delivered a day earlier than they quoted.
- untog 11y ago
  They don't say that every single Prime item is available in the two day window - did it say it would be delivered on Tuesday when you ordered? Back ordering happens.
- res0nat0r 11y ago
  Most late delivery issues are because the end carrier (usually USPS) is dropping the ball.
- swalsh 11y ago
  Meanwhile that laptop battery I ordered from Alibaba 2 months ago just shipped. They said it should arrive in 30 - 45 days. Yesterday I just got a new blade for my bandsaw, it was shipped 10 days ago. Isn't it amazing what our expectations for shipping times are now.
  - freehunter 11y ago
enjo 11y ago
No Denver.. lame.
- mjcohen 11y ago
  Only if you live in Denver.
elcct 11y ago
I wonder how are they going to improve from there. Previous day delivery? "We deliver before you buy" (tm)
- krisdol 11y ago
  They're already on it [0] [0]: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/
- dkyc 11y ago
  They actually do something like this: Amazon ships stuff to a logistic center close to you when their machine learning algorithms decide you're likely to buy a specific item shortly.
  - andrewstuart2 11y ago
    I wonder how many times they've pre-shipped that subwoofer I keep throwing into my cart and then deciding to "save for later."
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- zhte415 11y ago
  T "We thought you may be running low on toilet paper, so we sent some for free. If you're not, then just tick no and we'll take it back, or [from a comment that was deleted shortly after it was posted] pass it to an Amazon neighbor for a $2 credit." T+1 "We've noticed you appreciate our pre-emptive notifications, and hope we've been helping you out. We'd like to opt you in to our pre-emptive ordering system, so we can help you forget those small essentials. We've included some complementary, ripe, seedless avocados less than 1 day from the tree they were picked from as a sample of the power this feature can offer; this freshness can't be bought in shops." T+2 "We've opted you in to our pre-emptive ordering system, where we will send you those daily essentials and special seasonal must-haves. There is no commitment. If we ever send you some thing you don't feel you need, we'll happily take it back at no charge and no effort from you." There is definitely a business model there.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
daenz 11y ago
This is anecdotal and not 100% related, but I had Prime for awhile for the fast shipments. When I signed up, Prime was substantially faster than the average standard ship times. When the cost of Prime went up, I cancelled because it wasn't worth it to me anymore. However, I noticed my stuff was still arriving fast. It wasn't marked as "Prime", and it wasn't guaranteed 2-day delivery, but it was much faster than I remember the average standard shipping to be. I am wondering if the Prime shipping infrastructure is the cause of this...everything is faster now, and it would cost money to artificially slow non-Prime shipments down, so they get the ancillary benefit of Prime-ish speed.
- maxxxxx 11y ago
  I experienced the opposite last year. after cancelling Prime my shipments became extremely slow.
  - thomnottom 11y ago
    Same here. And it's not a matter of the actual shipping taking longer. I noticed that once I stopped subscribing to Prime, my orders would wait a few days to a week before shipping and then get to me the next day. It feels like, since I'm so close to a distribution center they can only make Prime worth my while by sitting on the packages longer unless I pay them. And probably the only time I paid extra to have something next day they botched it.
    - maxxxxx 11y ago
      That's right. The shipping itself was fast but orders would just sit for days and sometimes weeks before being shipped.
- maratd 11y ago
  Prime really doesn't have anything to do with 2-day delivery. They wouldn't be able to afford to ship everything by air for free. The advantage of Prime is really that you can have everything shipped for free without worrying about minimums. Well that and all the other perks, like streaming video, photos, etc. They now have warehouses located within 1 day ground shipping distance of everywhere in the continental US. It's not that hard, I doubt they need more than a dozen locations. That said, and I have run into this, if your item isn't commonly ordered and is in one of the warehouses that isn't close to you ... they will adjust the delivery date and still ship it to you over Ground. I have called to complain and they said that Prime 2 Day guarantee only applies to Prime items that are geographically close to you. If it it's a Prime item and for whatever reason it has to travel pretty far to you, no 2 day delivery. I've had items arrive a week after order and they still considered that OK and quoted some legalese. Now, this happens rarely, but it does happen.
netfire 11y ago
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=br_imp_ara-1?_encoding=UTF8&node=8729023011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-hero-A&pf_rd_r=17G0FQ73T3JJQA2N0T74&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2097006022&pf_rd_i=desktop http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=br_imp_ara-1?_encoding=UTF8&node... That's a horrible url. Why not use something like http://amazon.com/news/free-prime-same-day-delivery http://amazon.com/news/free-prime-same-day-delivery? Is there some significant advantage to identifying the page with non-human readable identifiers in the query string that I'm not aware of? Otherwise, very cool. I just wish it was in more areas.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- maratd 11y ago
  > Is there some significant advantage to identifying the page with non-human readable identifiers in the query string that I'm not aware of? Sure. When your organization uses a custom CMS and creating pretty URLs requires approval from multiple departments and takes days (or weeks) and you want to throw up a page all quick-like.
  - netfire 11y ago
    Not sure why you would need approval for a pretty URL and wouldn't need approval for the design and content in general. Couldn't those be lumped together for approval at the same time? It just seems subpar for a company of Amazon's size, especially when most CMS platforms have support for pretty urls. Not sure that the design for this page went through any sort of approval process though :)
    - pawn 11y ago
      At a big company, you're getting multiple approvals from multiple people in different areas of the company. If it was as simple as "Get the approval from the President" that'd be one thing, but there's most like a team in charge of just URLs and another team designing the app who would need to go to the URL team for approvals. Another team will most likely be the gatekeeper for whether it goes to production or not, and there's probably at least a half dozen other infrastructure teams I haven't mentioned also involved in the process. I haven't worked for Amazon, but I've worked for another large company, so I know what it's like.
xacaxulu 11y ago
I've noticed that Amazon has totally changed my shopping habits from 3-5 years ago. Clothes and household expendable items are almost entirely purchased on Amazon (even if I just want to try on a pair of boots). Prime Subscription or Pantry takes care of most of the rest. I don't need to drive to Costco anymore or spend time walking around Wal-Mart. I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered fresh to my house every week.
- jessedhillon 11y ago
  > I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered fresh to my house every week. You can do this today with Instacart.
  - thoughtpalette 11y ago
    Instacart has been awesome in Chicago.
    - enobrev 11y ago
      I've used Instacart in Seattle and Chicago and they've been fantastic. Although, I somewhat preferred Amazon Fresh in Seattle for the pre-6am delivery.
- michaelgrosner2 11y ago
  Have you tried Instacart or FreshDirect? (I believe FreshDirect only works in the NYC area)
  - TomDavey 11y ago
    I'm in NYC, and I love Fresh Direct. I use Fresh Direct for the food, and Amazon for everything else. I feel guilty for not patronizing my local retail establishments, but the cumulative advantages of 1) huge inventory, b) rapid delivery, and c) competitive prices, makes the decision to prefer the online giants a no-brainer.
pbreit 11y ago
Would Amazon have done this years ago if it wasn't so bent on avoiding sales tax (and thus locating warehouses far from buyers)? Did potential Amazon competitors miss out on this opportunity?
kapitalx 11y ago
When amazon was pressured into charging sales taxes in many states, I predicted that it would likely translate to same day delivery. They used it as an opportunity to bring the product closer to their customers. I know i'll be using amazon even more now.
xbryanx 11y ago
Does anyone have insights/guesses into the reasons behind the cities where this has been rolled out? It doesn't seem to correlate with market size. Is it: - regulation - supply lines - weather - internal politics ??
- jeffclark 11y ago
  My best and completely uneducated guess would be location to warehouses. Maybe even cross-referenced with typical orders in the area and Amazon's actual ability to get some amount of those typical orders to door-steps same-day.
- nostrebored 11y ago
  What would make you say that? These are all large, urban places which are known to utilize Amazon. Indianapolis is the only city that's confusing to me, but they have a warehouse there, and it is located close enough to ship to other locations within the 1 day timeframe.
  - xbryanx 11y ago
    No Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Upper Midwest is conspicuously absent.
    - mason240 11y ago
      They just started building a new distribution warehouse in the Twin Cities. I'm guessing when it's done we will have same day shipping.
    - nostrebored 11y ago
      Fair point. Seems to be Amazon strategy though, after looking at their distribution center map: https://scmmsublogs.wordpress.com/scm-strategies/amazon-com-inc/ https://scmmsublogs.wordpress.com/scm-strategies/amazon-com-... Wouldn't be surprised to see Chicago added to the list of supported cities soon, but Houston, Minneapolis, and Kansas City are all pretty far from current/planned distribution centers.
frik 11y ago
As a Amazon.com customer since the late nineties I don't get the "Prime" subscription model. I have a e-ink Kindle, I buy MP3s, electronics, many books there on their Market Place and I use AWS. But why should I care about "Prime"? Either Amazon cares about long term customers or not, but don't try to force me to Prime by showing full screen "Prime" advertisement (with a little "no thanks" link) at every purchase. I don't need same-day delivery, but I don't want worse delivery times than before Prime has been introduced (which happened).
- freehunter 11y ago
  I wonder what the cause of your slower shipping was. Another poster said he doesn't have Prime but his shipping speed is still Prime fast. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9619203 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9619203
  - TillE 11y ago
    It's all anecdotal, but before Prime was introduced in Germany, Amazon always shipped very quickly after placing an order. Total time until delivery was reliably 2-3 days. After, it was taking them days to process an order, so that time went up to about a week. I eventually gave in and signed up. Prime shipping isn't actually faster here, it's just what the old normal free shipping used to be.
  - frik 11y ago
    I suspect it was the introduction of Prime as all my shipments take at least a day longer than before. (in western Europe) It took 1-2 days, now it takes usually 2-7 days. I also found no correlation to the reoccurring strike problems at Amazon warehouses in Germany.
- lsaferite 11y ago
  I would guess the slower shipping is a side-effect of shipping costs reduction at Amazon. I've seen them shift to using hybrid delivery services from FedEx+USPS in the US in many cases. I would assume the slower shipping and the introduction of Prime, while maybe marginally related, are mostly coincidental.
zer00eyz 11y ago
I have a love hate relationship with amazon and this is just making it worse. As a customer, this is amazing service. Sometimes I pay a bit more at amazon just for speedy delivery (it is a trade off you need to balance). And for a lot of things the selection is amazing. As someone who runs a small business that has to ship products, amazon continues to raise the bar to a level/place that we just cannot meet. Our timelines for delivery and shipping costs are "out in front" and I can assure you that in setting that expectation we are deterring some customers from purchasing. To that end, we are investing in tools to be more high touch and high engagement, our margins are such that we are able to do that but a lot of other small player simply do not have that ability.
- mabbo 11y ago
  If what you're shipping to customers meets certain criteria, you could use Fulfillment By Amazon to have them do the shipping and logistics for you. There's costs involved, but maybe it comes out as an overall win for you.
thedangler 11y ago
It would be really nice if this type of information was listed in their API. I still don't know why when you look up an item it doesn't say whether its same day delivery or not.
mangeletti 11y ago
Link without tracking data: http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=8729023011 http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=8729023011
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
iak8god 11y ago
As longtime Prime member and a resident of a metro area that doesn't make the cut (and is almost certainly not in the next round), I can't help feeling like I'm subsidizing this service for those who live in the right place. In fact, every time Amazon adds a new benefit for Prime members that I can't use or don't want, it reminds me that I must be overpaying for Prime if I'm only using the two day shipping.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  Meh, that seems a bit like complaining the guy who lives next to the post office gets his mail earlier. Amazon already had to build distribution centers near major markets - might as well deliver faster if it's possible anyways.
  - yellowapple 11y ago
    One of those distribution centers is on the outskirts of Reno/Sparks, yet Reno is not included in this for whatever reason.
    - jedberg 11y ago
      Not enough people to make it worth hiring the fleet of delivery people.
      - yellowapple 11y ago
        Over 225,000 people (which is destined to grow as the job market continues to expand; Tesla's Gigafactory is one of several potential sources of employment within the next half-decade), and they already hire a boatload of Reno residents for the distribution center there; hiring a handful of delivery people and picking up a few more delivery trucks would be a drop in the bucket for them. Oh well. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before drone deliveries become the norm.
- georgemcbay 11y ago
  Despite being a Prime member for years the only thing I've used it for is the two-day shipping but I don't mind the existence of the other perks because just in real dollar terms Prime still saves me a boatload of money versus shipping costs I'd have to pay for similar quick (and in a way more importantly: consistently arriving on the correct day) shipping when buying on other sites. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm in San Diego so this new thing does actually benefit me... and I'm pretty excited about it. Sorry.
yellowapple 11y ago
I'm surprised (and disappointed) Reno isn't included, seeing as there's a major Amazon distribution center just on the outskirts (in the same area where Tesla's building their Gigafactory). That should be really easy to pull off.
lubujackson 11y ago
Has anyone actually found a thing that is for sale on the same day? I live in SF and for any search the "Get it today" is grayed out (and has been since 8 am).
- alchemism 11y ago
  Yesterday I had the option of buying an SSD same-day. I'm in Philadelphia.
novaleaf 11y ago
I dunno. I just ordered $100 in stuff and it's set to deliver "Saturday by 8pm" (2.5 days from now)
getpost 11y ago
In LA, Amazon same day delivery didn't deliver on the same day in 2 of 3 orders. The order that was delivered same day came at 10pm, much too late. Of course, I only ordered same day delivery because I actually needed the item that day. I was trying to save a car trip (an especially valuable feature in LA), but had to go out and buy the items anyway. The people who deliver same day seem to be freelancers, who don't seem to have any delivery tracking technology. I can't see choosing this option again. Ordering for next day delivery almost always meets the delivery commitment.
- byoung2 11y ago
  Same day delivery has always worked for me (4 of 4), but they do come late, always after 9pm, and it's always a private vehicle (white Chevy Astrovan). I live in Woodland Hills, if that makes a difference. The closest warehouse Amazon has is in San Bernardino, but 2 of my packages had tags that said Burbank, so they must have a smaller distribution center there. I have noticed that if you add an item to your wish list and later buy it, with prime it will arrive the next day, not 2-3 days. I think Amazon ships items in your wish list to a warehouse close to you if they are not there already, but I can't prove my theory.
dutchrapley 11y ago
I had feeling this was going to happen. While I don't live in one of the metro areas on the map, I recently had an order that I received the next day, although I chose 2-day shipping.
- organsnyder 11y ago
  Recently, I've had that happen frequently—probably 50% of the time. Makes it difficult to time orders when I'm trying to receive something covertly on a day when I'm working from home (and my wife is not). I've ended up paying for overnight shipping just to ensure that I have the timing right.
tsotha 11y ago
This is why Amazon gave in on state sales taxes. In order to pull this off they needed to expand their distribution network, which meant having a "presence" which would have put them on the hook for taxes anyway. I'm curious to see if they'll pull it off. There's a lot of wreckage from previous attempts that failed.
tobico 11y ago
Now if only Australia could get same-month delivery.
stickhandle 11y ago
same day is ridiculous. what's next? are they going to have convenience stores disguised as trucks roaming the neighbourhood waiting for me to realize halfway through making tacos that I have no sour cream?
wunderlust 11y ago
Why does this post have so many upvotes and comments?
hanlec 11y ago
Amazon's Prime 2-day delivery completely changed my ability to wait for gratification. For deliveries that take the normal 5 days, I'm finding myself checking Delivery app a couple of times every day, hoping that something is wrong with the details and I'll actually receive my box sooner. A couple of examples: 1. I have bought a couple of things from Massdrop and because these were estimated to arrive in about 2 weeks, I was initially very annoyed and then totally forgot about them 2. I have chosen a product based on how soon it'll be delivered (I didn't actually need it urgently) instead of just considering the product qualities.

318 points by ankushio 11y ago

alyx 11y ago

Requires a $35 minimum purchase

scrollaway 11y ago
US only, in 14 areas.
aroch 11y ago
So do the vast majority of other Prime shipments, the occasional <$35 item/order may quality for free 2day shipping depending on some undefined circumstances Edit: Whoops, I was thinking non-prime 2day shipping
- ghaff 11y ago
  Huh? Sorry, but that's just wrong. They do have add-on items which have to be bought at the same time as other items to get the free shipping. But I assure you that I routinely get free Prime shipping for single items that are well under $35. It's the norm.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
It doesn't actually. The $35 minimum for for getting same-day delivery for free; you can get same-day for $5.99 for prime members and $9.98 for non-members.
sergiotapia 11y ago
Hahaha, you guys have it so good. Here in Bolivia there is literally one store, not a website, a store. A Sure PC store that has same day shipping but only for orders over $250.

mnml_ 11y ago

when I saw the page I pressed refresh thinking the css was broken. Then I realised thats how its supposed to look.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

bkjelden 11y ago

The news here seems to be that same day delivery is now free in certain metros, for prime members. Amazon has offered same day delivery for a while, they just charged extra for it.

jws 11y ago
Where free means: Orders under $35 are just $5.99 per order for Prime members.
- giancarlostoro 11y ago
  Where free actually means: Prime members in selected areas now receive FREE Same-Day Delivery on qualifying orders over $35.
  - mason240 11y ago
    I'm always surprised at people's ability to spin positive things in negative light.
    - Reedx 11y ago
      The reverse is true too. Prime shipping is never actually free, you're paying $99/year for it.
      - ticksoft 11y ago
        A more honest word is 'complimentary'.
- bkjelden 11y ago
  yes - good catch. I wonder if there was any marketing analysis that went into choosing $35, in an effort to get people to pad out their orders with unneeded purchases, or if it was strictly chosen on the break-even point for their cost of same day shipping.

mrspeaker 11y ago

I don't know if I'm just unlucky, but I'm in NYC and I rarely get my "free Prime next day deliveries!" the next day (but I am racking up a pile of "$1 off ebooks" vouchers because of it).

discardorama 11y ago
Those vouchers have a fairly short (3 months?) expiry date.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
giancarlostoro 11y ago
When you pick to get those vouchers your delivery is intentionally delayed though.

jhugg 11y ago

Is there a way to restrict my search to eligible items?

gusmd 11y ago
Yes. Filter by PRIME | Free Same Day [0] [0] http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/prime/sameday/VXD-180-SameDayLaunch-landing-infoSteps-900x250._V304312315_.png http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/prime/sameday/VXD...
- jhugg 11y ago
  Ugh. This is super annoying. You can only see this filter and the eligability if your default address is in the region. I live in a valid area, but often have things sent to work which is just outside the valid area. I wish I could see the fast shipping option, and just know I have to send it home.
maratd 11y ago
Yes

cherioo 11y ago

Just checked and it seems that this is not available for Locker delivery. I wonder why.

rickyc091 11y ago
They can't guarantee you will get it the "next day" since the store owner is the one who puts the packages into the locker themselves.
Stratoscope 11y ago
Here in Menlo Park (CA), Locker deliveries are UPS and same-day is OnTrac. UPS doesn't offer same-day service, so I'm not surprised that it's not available for Locker.

drcode 11y ago

Anyone know if this uses Amazon-owned delivery trucks or a traditional package delivery company?

techsupporter 11y ago
The same-day items I've received have been delivered by people wearing Amazon-logo shirts but usually in solid-colored vehicles with no markings.
mason55 11y ago
In some cases in NYC Amazon is using the subway
rickyc091 11y ago
They use their own vans. edit: They basically leverage their amazon fresh / amazon now deliveries.
- chrisper 11y ago
  Not always. My same day stuff came with OnTrac.
  - wcfields 11y ago
    That's a story I'd love to read about. OnTrac seems to use basically junker cheaply painted white mid-90s minivans whenever I see them about. They simply slap a magnet with OnTrac on it and it becomes a fleet vehicle. While FedEx/UPS have their own custom designed fleet, OnTrac seems to scour auto auctions for theirs.
  - gauravphoenix 11y ago
    I think for west coast customers Amazon uses them. The reason could be - http://www.ontrac.com/ontracground.asp http://www.ontrac.com/ontracground.asp
jonknee 11y ago
I think it depends on the market and probably the item / load level. I had a same day item the other day and it was fulfilled by OnTrac.

viiralvx 11y ago

Interesting choice launching in Dallas but not Austin or Houston for Texas.

dionidium 11y ago
Just a note: Austin is far smaller than Houston and Dallas
res0nat0r 11y ago
This most likely is because the launch locations are physically close to large fulfillment center locations.
techsupporter 11y ago
Amazon has two distribution warehouses (one near the big airport, the other at Alliance in north Fort Worth) in D/FW. They've been offering same-day here for a few months now.
sremani 11y ago
Looks like Irving near DFW airport is covered, but not much of rest of DFW.
freehunter 11y ago
I have a cousin who lives in Austin and he says he's ordered a Mountain Dew from Amazon and had it delivered two hours later by someone in a hatchback. This was about two months ago. YMMV.
- enraged_camel 11y ago
  Yes, the service is called PrimeNow and it does 2-hour delivery for items commonly found in supermarkets and stores around your area.

opaque_salmon 11y ago

What kind of infrastructure does it take to be able to offer this kind of service in the chosen metropolitan areas? Do they have warehouses and delivery trucks located nearby that are ready to go at a moment's notice? In any case, this is super cool of Amazon, they are really stepping up their game.

Tobani 11y ago
I think this is basically the case. Here in indianapolis there is a local Amazon warehouse and I got notification that this service is now available. I think they've been working on this for a while w/ various strategies. For example: I order diapers via Subscribe-and-Save. Sometimes the diapers come in the standard amazon boxes from UPS/Fedex/USPS. Sometimes a guy in an unmarked pick-up truck filled with diaper boxes drops off the diapers(with an amazon shipping label adhered directly to the pampers box).
- wj 11y ago
  How does the subscribe-and-save work as your child grows and goes up diaper sizes?
  - Tobani 11y ago
    You just cancel the subscription and start a new one on the larger size.
    - ars 11y ago
      You don't have to cancel the subscription, they have an option for many items to just change the size.
      - Tobani 11y ago
        Could be. I haven't done it in a while. Diapers are weird though, some kinds only go up to size 2, then you have to switch to a different kind and its not really just changing sizes.

ThomW 11y ago

Meanwhile, the DVD I attempted to order this morning using Prime's two-day-shipping delivery date was estimated to be Tuesday (five days away). I get delivery issues, but the item was advertised by being sold by Amazon using Prime.

coldpie 11y ago
Did it actually take five days? I find their shipping estimates are often very pessimistic.
- ThomW 11y ago
  I passed on ordering it. Figured I could grab Airplane! on DVD just about anywhere. lol
- Igglyboo 11y ago
  Same here. I'd say about 1 in 3 packages I order end up being delivered a day earlier than they quoted.
untog 11y ago
They don't say that every single Prime item is available in the two day window - did it say it would be delivered on Tuesday when you ordered? Back ordering happens.
res0nat0r 11y ago
Most late delivery issues are because the end carrier (usually USPS) is dropping the ball.
swalsh 11y ago
Meanwhile that laptop battery I ordered from Alibaba 2 months ago just shipped. They said it should arrive in 30 - 45 days. Yesterday I just got a new blade for my bandsaw, it was shipped 10 days ago. Isn't it amazing what our expectations for shipping times are now.
- freehunter 11y ago

enjo 11y ago

No Denver.. lame.

mjcohen 11y ago
Only if you live in Denver.

elcct 11y ago

I wonder how are they going to improve from there. Previous day delivery? "We deliver before you buy" (tm)

krisdol 11y ago
They're already on it [0] [0]: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/
dkyc 11y ago
They actually do something like this: Amazon ships stuff to a logistic center close to you when their machine learning algorithms decide you're likely to buy a specific item shortly.
- andrewstuart2 11y ago
  I wonder how many times they've pre-shipped that subwoofer I keep throwing into my cart and then deciding to "save for later."
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zhte415 11y ago
T "We thought you may be running low on toilet paper, so we sent some for free. If you're not, then just tick no and we'll take it back, or [from a comment that was deleted shortly after it was posted] pass it to an Amazon neighbor for a $2 credit." T+1 "We've noticed you appreciate our pre-emptive notifications, and hope we've been helping you out. We'd like to opt you in to our pre-emptive ordering system, so we can help you forget those small essentials. We've included some complementary, ripe, seedless avocados less than 1 day from the tree they were picked from as a sample of the power this feature can offer; this freshness can't be bought in shops." T+2 "We've opted you in to our pre-emptive ordering system, where we will send you those daily essentials and special seasonal must-haves. There is no commitment. If we ever send you some thing you don't feel you need, we'll happily take it back at no charge and no effort from you." There is definitely a business model there.

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daenz 11y ago

This is anecdotal and not 100% related, but I had Prime for awhile for the fast shipments. When I signed up, Prime was substantially faster than the average standard ship times. When the cost of Prime went up, I cancelled because it wasn't worth it to me anymore. However, I noticed my stuff was still arriving fast. It wasn't marked as "Prime", and it wasn't guaranteed 2-day delivery, but it was much faster than I remember the average standard shipping to be. I am wondering if the Prime shipping infrastructure is the cause of this...everything is faster now, and it would cost money to artificially slow non-Prime shipments down, so they get the ancillary benefit of Prime-ish speed.

maxxxxx 11y ago
I experienced the opposite last year. after cancelling Prime my shipments became extremely slow.
- thomnottom 11y ago
  Same here. And it's not a matter of the actual shipping taking longer. I noticed that once I stopped subscribing to Prime, my orders would wait a few days to a week before shipping and then get to me the next day. It feels like, since I'm so close to a distribution center they can only make Prime worth my while by sitting on the packages longer unless I pay them. And probably the only time I paid extra to have something next day they botched it.
  - maxxxxx 11y ago
    That's right. The shipping itself was fast but orders would just sit for days and sometimes weeks before being shipped.
maratd 11y ago
Prime really doesn't have anything to do with 2-day delivery. They wouldn't be able to afford to ship everything by air for free. The advantage of Prime is really that you can have everything shipped for free without worrying about minimums. Well that and all the other perks, like streaming video, photos, etc. They now have warehouses located within 1 day ground shipping distance of everywhere in the continental US. It's not that hard, I doubt they need more than a dozen locations. That said, and I have run into this, if your item isn't commonly ordered and is in one of the warehouses that isn't close to you ... they will adjust the delivery date and still ship it to you over Ground. I have called to complain and they said that Prime 2 Day guarantee only applies to Prime items that are geographically close to you. If it it's a Prime item and for whatever reason it has to travel pretty far to you, no 2 day delivery. I've had items arrive a week after order and they still considered that OK and quoted some legalese. Now, this happens rarely, but it does happen.

netfire 11y ago

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=br_imp_ara-1?_encoding=UTF8&node=8729023011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-hero-A&pf_rd_r=17G0FQ73T3JJQA2N0T74&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2097006022&pf_rd_i=desktop http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=br_imp_ara-1?_encoding=UTF8&node... That's a horrible url. Why not use something like http://amazon.com/news/free-prime-same-day-delivery http://amazon.com/news/free-prime-same-day-delivery? Is there some significant advantage to identifying the page with non-human readable identifiers in the query string that I'm not aware of? Otherwise, very cool. I just wish it was in more areas.

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maratd 11y ago
> Is there some significant advantage to identifying the page with non-human readable identifiers in the query string that I'm not aware of? Sure. When your organization uses a custom CMS and creating pretty URLs requires approval from multiple departments and takes days (or weeks) and you want to throw up a page all quick-like.
- netfire 11y ago
  Not sure why you would need approval for a pretty URL and wouldn't need approval for the design and content in general. Couldn't those be lumped together for approval at the same time? It just seems subpar for a company of Amazon's size, especially when most CMS platforms have support for pretty urls. Not sure that the design for this page went through any sort of approval process though :)
  - pawn 11y ago
    At a big company, you're getting multiple approvals from multiple people in different areas of the company. If it was as simple as "Get the approval from the President" that'd be one thing, but there's most like a team in charge of just URLs and another team designing the app who would need to go to the URL team for approvals. Another team will most likely be the gatekeeper for whether it goes to production or not, and there's probably at least a half dozen other infrastructure teams I haven't mentioned also involved in the process. I haven't worked for Amazon, but I've worked for another large company, so I know what it's like.

xacaxulu 11y ago

I've noticed that Amazon has totally changed my shopping habits from 3-5 years ago. Clothes and household expendable items are almost entirely purchased on Amazon (even if I just want to try on a pair of boots). Prime Subscription or Pantry takes care of most of the rest. I don't need to drive to Costco anymore or spend time walking around Wal-Mart. I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered fresh to my house every week.

jessedhillon 11y ago
> I look forward to the day when my Whole Foods order can be delivered fresh to my house every week. You can do this today with Instacart.
- thoughtpalette 11y ago
  Instacart has been awesome in Chicago.
  - enobrev 11y ago
    I've used Instacart in Seattle and Chicago and they've been fantastic. Although, I somewhat preferred Amazon Fresh in Seattle for the pre-6am delivery.
michaelgrosner2 11y ago
Have you tried Instacart or FreshDirect? (I believe FreshDirect only works in the NYC area)
- TomDavey 11y ago
  I'm in NYC, and I love Fresh Direct. I use Fresh Direct for the food, and Amazon for everything else. I feel guilty for not patronizing my local retail establishments, but the cumulative advantages of 1) huge inventory, b) rapid delivery, and c) competitive prices, makes the decision to prefer the online giants a no-brainer.

pbreit 11y ago

Would Amazon have done this years ago if it wasn't so bent on avoiding sales tax (and thus locating warehouses far from buyers)? Did potential Amazon competitors miss out on this opportunity?

kapitalx 11y ago

When amazon was pressured into charging sales taxes in many states, I predicted that it would likely translate to same day delivery. They used it as an opportunity to bring the product closer to their customers. I know i'll be using amazon even more now.

xbryanx 11y ago

Does anyone have insights/guesses into the reasons behind the cities where this has been rolled out? It doesn't seem to correlate with market size. Is it: - regulation - supply lines - weather - internal politics ??

jeffclark 11y ago
My best and completely uneducated guess would be location to warehouses. Maybe even cross-referenced with typical orders in the area and Amazon's actual ability to get some amount of those typical orders to door-steps same-day.
nostrebored 11y ago
What would make you say that? These are all large, urban places which are known to utilize Amazon. Indianapolis is the only city that's confusing to me, but they have a warehouse there, and it is located close enough to ship to other locations within the 1 day timeframe.
- xbryanx 11y ago
  No Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Upper Midwest is conspicuously absent.
  - mason240 11y ago
    They just started building a new distribution warehouse in the Twin Cities. I'm guessing when it's done we will have same day shipping.
  - nostrebored 11y ago
    Fair point. Seems to be Amazon strategy though, after looking at their distribution center map: https://scmmsublogs.wordpress.com/scm-strategies/amazon-com-inc/ https://scmmsublogs.wordpress.com/scm-strategies/amazon-com-... Wouldn't be surprised to see Chicago added to the list of supported cities soon, but Houston, Minneapolis, and Kansas City are all pretty far from current/planned distribution centers.

frik 11y ago

As a Amazon.com customer since the late nineties I don't get the "Prime" subscription model. I have a e-ink Kindle, I buy MP3s, electronics, many books there on their Market Place and I use AWS. But why should I care about "Prime"? Either Amazon cares about long term customers or not, but don't try to force me to Prime by showing full screen "Prime" advertisement (with a little "no thanks" link) at every purchase. I don't need same-day delivery, but I don't want worse delivery times than before Prime has been introduced (which happened).

freehunter 11y ago
I wonder what the cause of your slower shipping was. Another poster said he doesn't have Prime but his shipping speed is still Prime fast. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9619203 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9619203
- TillE 11y ago
  It's all anecdotal, but before Prime was introduced in Germany, Amazon always shipped very quickly after placing an order. Total time until delivery was reliably 2-3 days. After, it was taking them days to process an order, so that time went up to about a week. I eventually gave in and signed up. Prime shipping isn't actually faster here, it's just what the old normal free shipping used to be.
- frik 11y ago
  I suspect it was the introduction of Prime as all my shipments take at least a day longer than before. (in western Europe) It took 1-2 days, now it takes usually 2-7 days. I also found no correlation to the reoccurring strike problems at Amazon warehouses in Germany.
lsaferite 11y ago
I would guess the slower shipping is a side-effect of shipping costs reduction at Amazon. I've seen them shift to using hybrid delivery services from FedEx+USPS in the US in many cases. I would assume the slower shipping and the introduction of Prime, while maybe marginally related, are mostly coincidental.

zer00eyz 11y ago

I have a love hate relationship with amazon and this is just making it worse. As a customer, this is amazing service. Sometimes I pay a bit more at amazon just for speedy delivery (it is a trade off you need to balance). And for a lot of things the selection is amazing. As someone who runs a small business that has to ship products, amazon continues to raise the bar to a level/place that we just cannot meet. Our timelines for delivery and shipping costs are "out in front" and I can assure you that in setting that expectation we are deterring some customers from purchasing. To that end, we are investing in tools to be more high touch and high engagement, our margins are such that we are able to do that but a lot of other small player simply do not have that ability.

mabbo 11y ago
If what you're shipping to customers meets certain criteria, you could use Fulfillment By Amazon to have them do the shipping and logistics for you. There's costs involved, but maybe it comes out as an overall win for you.

thedangler 11y ago

It would be really nice if this type of information was listed in their API. I still don't know why when you look up an item it doesn't say whether its same day delivery or not.

mangeletti 11y ago

Link without tracking data: http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=8729023011 http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=8729023011

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iak8god 11y ago

As longtime Prime member and a resident of a metro area that doesn't make the cut (and is almost certainly not in the next round), I can't help feeling like I'm subsidizing this service for those who live in the right place. In fact, every time Amazon adds a new benefit for Prime members that I can't use or don't want, it reminds me that I must be overpaying for Prime if I'm only using the two day shipping.

ceejayoz 11y ago
Meh, that seems a bit like complaining the guy who lives next to the post office gets his mail earlier. Amazon already had to build distribution centers near major markets - might as well deliver faster if it's possible anyways.
- yellowapple 11y ago
  One of those distribution centers is on the outskirts of Reno/Sparks, yet Reno is not included in this for whatever reason.
  - jedberg 11y ago
    Not enough people to make it worth hiring the fleet of delivery people.
    - yellowapple 11y ago
      Over 225,000 people (which is destined to grow as the job market continues to expand; Tesla's Gigafactory is one of several potential sources of employment within the next half-decade), and they already hire a boatload of Reno residents for the distribution center there; hiring a handful of delivery people and picking up a few more delivery trucks would be a drop in the bucket for them. Oh well. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before drone deliveries become the norm.
georgemcbay 11y ago
Despite being a Prime member for years the only thing I've used it for is the two-day shipping but I don't mind the existence of the other perks because just in real dollar terms Prime still saves me a boatload of money versus shipping costs I'd have to pay for similar quick (and in a way more importantly: consistently arriving on the correct day) shipping when buying on other sites. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm in San Diego so this new thing does actually benefit me... and I'm pretty excited about it. Sorry.

yellowapple 11y ago

I'm surprised (and disappointed) Reno isn't included, seeing as there's a major Amazon distribution center just on the outskirts (in the same area where Tesla's building their Gigafactory). That should be really easy to pull off.

lubujackson 11y ago

Has anyone actually found a thing that is for sale on the same day? I live in SF and for any search the "Get it today" is grayed out (and has been since 8 am).

alchemism 11y ago
Yesterday I had the option of buying an SSD same-day. I'm in Philadelphia.

novaleaf 11y ago

I dunno. I just ordered $100 in stuff and it's set to deliver "Saturday by 8pm" (2.5 days from now)

getpost 11y ago

In LA, Amazon same day delivery didn't deliver on the same day in 2 of 3 orders. The order that was delivered same day came at 10pm, much too late. Of course, I only ordered same day delivery because I actually needed the item that day. I was trying to save a car trip (an especially valuable feature in LA), but had to go out and buy the items anyway. The people who deliver same day seem to be freelancers, who don't seem to have any delivery tracking technology. I can't see choosing this option again. Ordering for next day delivery almost always meets the delivery commitment.

byoung2 11y ago
Same day delivery has always worked for me (4 of 4), but they do come late, always after 9pm, and it's always a private vehicle (white Chevy Astrovan). I live in Woodland Hills, if that makes a difference. The closest warehouse Amazon has is in San Bernardino, but 2 of my packages had tags that said Burbank, so they must have a smaller distribution center there. I have noticed that if you add an item to your wish list and later buy it, with prime it will arrive the next day, not 2-3 days. I think Amazon ships items in your wish list to a warehouse close to you if they are not there already, but I can't prove my theory.

dutchrapley 11y ago

I had feeling this was going to happen. While I don't live in one of the metro areas on the map, I recently had an order that I received the next day, although I chose 2-day shipping.

organsnyder 11y ago
Recently, I've had that happen frequently—probably 50% of the time. Makes it difficult to time orders when I'm trying to receive something covertly on a day when I'm working from home (and my wife is not). I've ended up paying for overnight shipping just to ensure that I have the timing right.

tsotha 11y ago

This is why Amazon gave in on state sales taxes. In order to pull this off they needed to expand their distribution network, which meant having a "presence" which would have put them on the hook for taxes anyway. I'm curious to see if they'll pull it off. There's a lot of wreckage from previous attempts that failed.

tobico 11y ago

Now if only Australia could get same-month delivery.

stickhandle 11y ago

same day is ridiculous. what's next? are they going to have convenience stores disguised as trucks roaming the neighbourhood waiting for me to realize halfway through making tacos that I have no sour cream?

wunderlust 11y ago

Why does this post have so many upvotes and comments?

hanlec 11y ago

Amazon's Prime 2-day delivery completely changed my ability to wait for gratification. For deliveries that take the normal 5 days, I'm finding myself checking Delivery app a couple of times every day, hoping that something is wrong with the details and I'll actually receive my box sooner. A couple of examples: 1. I have bought a couple of things from Massdrop and because these were estimated to arrive in about 2 weeks, I was initially very annoyed and then totally forgot about them 2. I have chosen a product based on how soon it'll be delivered (I didn't actually need it urgently) instead of just considering the product qualities.