# Interesting detailed article about using Prime Now



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-amazon-prime-now-2018-2

We don't have this service where I live, but I still thought this article was informative.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've only used the service once and that was here in the UK.

It's touted as being a 2 hour service to get things you suddenly realise you forgot or ran out of, but he's right that if you only buy a few things there's a delivery fee and a tip added on that can almost double the cost of your order.

I ordered things I didn't desperately need in order to meet the minimum requirements and avoid the delivery fee. But when the order arrived half the things weren't there and as (bad) luck would have it the missing things were the ones I was actually wanted and what arrived was just the the things I ordered as fillers. I also received at least two things I didn't order - and was charged for them.

He's also right that although it's a 2 hour service, the timer doesn't start when you order, you have to pick a slot and the next available one may not start for a couple of hours or so.

It would be cheaper and quicker for me to go to the nearest 24 hour supermarket.

Good idea, but needs some further thought and development I think.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I have used PrimeNow quite a few times, although not in recent weeks/couple month. Where I live, large Texas city, we don't have any other store options. I didn't know using primenow others get other store options. For me its just primenow. I also never paid a fee,  it was $25 minimum until just recently and now its $35. I just never needed something under those amounts, defeats the whole point. The tip is always optional. And you can change it to whatever you want if you do want to give some. I always do, but I don't base it on cost of order, but more on how heavy something is to lug up the stairs. The drivers by the way do not know who tips them or doesn't, they get the day's or shifts amount at the end or their day. 

I have used it in the past to get cold medicine, when I wasn't presentable to go to the store. Some grocery items, which will at times be a tad more than driving of course. I have gotten some amazon devices this way when I wanted them right then, or needed some other item now and not 2 days later. I have  never had a delivery be later than the 2 hours promised, in most cases it came just over 1 hour. I always use the 2 hour free option. 

I think with anything else, it all depends on your location. I haven't ordered anything lately as they either didn't have what I needed this way, or I just didn't need anything. 

It is really handy though if you either can't or don't want to leave the house and are in need of something. When both my husband and I got sick, it was super handy. We were packed in on a weekend, neither of us in condition to drive. 
Lots of cough syrup and niquills.  

I have only ever set foot once in a Whole Foods, but they do carry a lot of their in  house brand pantry items now.


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## mikeschr (Dec 7, 2010)

Here in Portland the free deliveries come in 3-5 hours; the windows are 2 hours long.  The fee for faster delivery is $7.99 for 1-hour delivery and $4.99 for delivery within 2 hours.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Well they have now officially added Whole Foods to our options in Prime now. And I mean not just the dry goods from Whole foods we have had under normal prime now, they have an proper separate logo now to shop all of whole foods. Everything, meats, veggies, etc. I think its the whole store. 

Now I just did some comparisons to Trader Joe's and HEB, where I usually shop. Mostly TJ. And they really must have lowered the prices all across a bit. They also include the extra 10% off prime members get for shopping at WF. So say right now they  have a sale on kabobs, usually 9.99 a pound, on sale for 6.99. In my prime app it lists it as 6.29. Which is minus the 10%. This makes prime now really  useful for grocery delivery. Up to now the only other thing there was has been instacart with HEB and that adds a lot of fees to it. Regular fee, delivery fee and tip extra. Prime now has no delivery fee and only thing you add is tip and that is up to you how much. Walmart I think also has home delivery but also has fees. 

So only extra is the tip for Whole Foods. So someone that can't drive or just has issues getting around now has a good food option for home delivery without paying a bunch of fees. So the stuff I compared isn't too bad overall. Romaine hearts I usually get from Trader Joe's are 2.49 for regular and I think 2.99 for organic. The organic is 2.69 at WF, so actually in that case cheaper. 3-pack. All the salads are really in line with the stuff at HEB for organics, which is pretty good. Grass fed ground beef is the same at HEB than in the app. 6.99. Regular pasture is 4.99. Chicken breasts are very good in price. Since I am only looking at stuff I actually would use, I can do a much better compare. Before the grocery prices were at times laughable. Maybe because they had do store them in their warehouse and get delivered from different places. Now it just comes right from the shelves of WF. 

Still can't beat my avocado price I get from Trader Joe though, although its not quite fair as those are called teeny tiny. So they are smaller than normal small ones. 4-5 ounce I weighed them. Those I get for 2.69-2.99 for 6 at TJ. 

But they have regular ones at WF for 2.69 for 4, which I think is still a great price. We eat a lot of avocados as its about the only fruit one can eat lots of on keto diet.  .

I might use this for next week. To get stuff for the 4th. Just the thought of having to go shopping around a day like that makes me all shivery. I hate shopping, I hate crowds. Plus I have a $5 promo code sitting in my account from using the slow shipping on a prime order.  . That should cover part of the tip right there. 

I know there must be a lot of happy folks now here in San Antonio. WF seems to be pretty popular around here.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

We have Instacart in my area but I've only used it a couple of times. It's just too darned expensive. With the tip and all the fees, it usually costs me about $25 for a grocery order. Not only that, but things that I normally buy are not on their list.

I like WalMart's order online and pick up but the only WalMart in my area that has it is a half an hour drive away. Now if the WM that's five minutes away from me had it, I would be using it just about every time.

Prime Now isn't here either but I'll be watching for it.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yeah, the closest walmart that offers the pickups for grocery is a bit out of my way too. Don't really shop at walmart for grocery anyway. Even the drive to stores that have decent size selections are out of the way. And I detest large stores where I have to walk 5 miles just to get my stuff. 
We pretty much only have one regular grocery chain, which is HEB. Outside of the health food types. They ran everyone out of the city, including Albertsons. We did finally get 2 Trader Joe's, but no Aldi's will come here. They are all around us in Texas. Course Trader Joe's is part of the other part of Aldi. There is Aldi North and Aldi South. One of those operates the Aldi stores in American and the other one operates the Trader Joe's. They are split because the 2 brothers do not speak to each other apparently.  . 

But anywho, thats all that we have. And in our town, Amazon PrimeNow can now really make a dent into the grocery delivery. If they keep it like it is, its also way cheaper than what that Amazon Fresh they had in some cities. That was an extra $299 a year on top of prime. I wonder if they still have Fresh in those cities or if they are going to convert it all to PrimeNow. Now that they own a grocery chain. 

I am curious though who is doing the shopping for the PrimeNow on WF stuff. Is it the same folks that are also the drivers, or do WF employees have to put the bags together and the drivers just pick it up? I think sometimes the same drivers that deliver the regular prime stuff via that AMZL delivery service are also doing PrimeNow. I get the same map of where they are and how many stops they have to do as I do on PrimeNow. 

I much rather have whatever fee I have to pay go totally to the tips than have 2 other fee charges in addition to the tips. At least it goes all to the drivers. And its not as much for the consumers.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

The nearest Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are an hour away from me. I do have two Aldi's close by plus WalMart and Publix. At least I have plenty of places to shop.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I sadly haven't seen a Aldi in 23 years. I am still waiting. Once they came to Texas I was sure we'd get one. We are after all a big city. But nope. They built them in the state I lived before I came back to Texas. Oklahoma. hmpf. 

We were suppose to get a couple of Lidl , stores kind of like Aldi, but so far they haven't broken ground yet, even though they bought the lots couple of years ago. I grew up going to stores like Aldi. Oh well, I been fairly happy with our Trader Joe's. Once you look past the delicious, but so not good for my keto life kind of snacks, they have surprisingly  great prices on fat and protein basics.  . And its a small store and much more relaxing for me. 

And although the prices are pretty good at our local grocery HEB, I am unlucky to live near one that is not kept well. Even though they remodeled it a bit. Its one of the bad neighborhood ones.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Ok. So I just did my first Whole Foods order via Prime Now. Because they have the $10 off now and another $10 off a later order with prime day. And I still get my $5 off with my amazon card.  

So experience was totally awesome. They have shoppers and it all pops up on the phone after you order. I wanted some of their big pack of chicken breast, which was out. So I got a chat message with the substitute offer which was thighs, not breasts. After a couple back and forth with the shopper, she found other breasts for about the same price and put the substitute in the chat convo to approve. They got this all totally worked out. Now my order is in cold storage until the driver gets to it. And all I have to pay extra is the tip. No fee. Ride the sales and you get an extra 10% anything on sale at WF. And I didn't have to drive anywhere. That is a game changer in this city. Instacart and all those others can stuff it with their 3 different fees. 

I am assuming they have whole foods employees do the shopping and separate drivers. I hope they hired extra, cause with that $20 off offer, they'll get a lot of orders. Prices must really have gone down since the last time I checked out WF. It was all in line with Trader Joe's and almost in line with HEB. 

Best thing is, I don't get any stuff that wasn't on the list that I impulse buy while in a store.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Awesome, Atunah! Too bad they don’t deliver to my zip code!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

So they still have to iron some issues with items that are sold by weight. I had ordered 2 pounds of zucchini and 1.5 pounds of bok choy. When you add stuff into the cart, you have to use the slider thingie to say how much. I got charged for the full lbs I had ordered. But when I got the order, I had just one zucchini that was 8 ounce and 2 tiny heads of bok that were only 6.4 ounces lol. I emailed via the app this morning, very easy all you have to do is fill in the box with the order number and the issue and within minutes I had a refund on what I didn't get and an extra $5 promo for my troubles.  

They got the cheese correct that I ordered a half pound chunk. Once the shopper goes through the ordered stuff, they change as needed as far as the weight. No clue why that shopper thought one zucchini weighs 2 pounds though. 

Happy overall though. Stuff is fresh and nice looking. Cucumbers are firm and the tomatoes also. They also got the avocados right. Since you depend on someone else to pick the stuff, you kind of have to trust them on that. 

Very handy.


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