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Remember when two-day shipping seemed novel? “Wow—I can order this item on Amazon on Monday, and get it Wednesday? That’s amazing!” Now, orders are coming next day, sometimes as early as 4 a.m. I’m all for convenience, but how much faster do deliveries really need to get?
The answer, apparently, is much faster. On Tuesday, Amazon announced two new delivery options for customers in “a growing number of cities and towns:” For over 90,000 products on Amazon’s store, the company will let you choose to get the item in three hours or less. For those in select areas, you’ll even have the option to get it as soon as one hour.
For these new delivery options, Amazon is focusing on items you might expect to find at your local grocery store. That includes “everyday essentials,” like pantry, cleaning, health, and beauty products, as well as over-the-counter meds. The items expand beyond these too, to include electronics, toys, clothes, accessories, and even home and garden supplies.
If a product is eligible for one-hour or three-three delivery, you’ll see that advertised next to the item’s name. You can also search for products that can be delivered in one or three hours, as well as browse the existing “Same-Day Store” to find items that can be sent this fast.
Amazon says one-hour delivery is available to customers in “hundreds” of cities and towns in the U.S., including the following: Los Angeles, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Houston, Washington, D.C., as well as smaller cities like Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; and American Fork, Utah. Three-hour delivery is more widespread, available in over 2,000 cities and towns, including large, mid-size, and small cities, and their suburbs. Amazon didn’t name many of these, but did list suburbs like Cornwall, Pa.; Harrah, Okla.; and Arabi, La. You can check if your area supports these new delivery windows from Amazon’s site here.
What do you think so far?
These new delivery times aren’t free, however. For standard customers, one-hour delivery is $19.99, while three-hour delivery is $14.99. If you have Prime, you get a decent discount: $9.99 for one-hour delivery, and $4.99 for three-hour delivery.
Amazon is rolling out these changes ahead of its Big Spring Sale, which starts March 25 and runs through the 31st. Perhaps the company is banking that certain customers will want to get their discounted items as quickly as possible—even if it requires paying a hefty fee for that expedited delivery.
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