Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Launches One-Hour Delivery Service In Baltimore and Miami

Posted by samzenpus on from the but-I-want-it-now dept.

schwit1 writes Amazon.com announced the launch Thursday of its one-hour delivery service, Prime Now, in select zip codes in Baltimore and Miami. It initially launched in Manhattan in December. The one-hour service, available to Amazon Prime subscribers through the Prime Now mobile app, costs $7.99. Two-hour delivery is free. From the article: "Amazon Prime's success has blown away the company's projections and 'petrified' local and national retailers, said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a national retail consulting and investment banking firm headquartered in New York City. 'If you're a retailer and you're not scared of Amazon ... you should be,' he said. 'They are the change agent. They are leading the change in retail.'"

8 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. The death of delayed gratification by amalcolm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the birth of the ultimate impulse buy

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
  2. Big difference by Roodvlees · · Score: 4, Insightful

    8 dollar to not wait one hour extra? Wow, that's a huge difference.

    --
    Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
    1. Re:Big difference by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It depends on the PoV. It's also $8 to cut the waiting time in half.

    2. Re:Big difference by N1AK · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It can be for some items and some buyers. I don't see why people who can't immediately see a use for something are so quick to jump to the conclusion that their isn't one. One random example might be someone working at home who needs to do a disproportionate amount of printing and runs out of ink. $8 to have it solved in an hour or less might be a bargain for them. I can think of a few dozen more, although they aren't likely to be reasons why I'd pay to upgrade personally. But then, I don't know if I've ever paid for next day, and that service seems to be pretty useful and popular.

    3. Re:Big difference by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I can think of a ton. You're hosting a party and you discover you're out of something. You're a company who just had a critical item break and you lose money until you can get another. Your flight leaves soon and you discover that you forgot to pick up something. You're cooking a big dinner and discover that you don't have a key ingredient. And on and on, there's no end to the list.

      This "it's not my typical usage needs" attitude that many here are displaying is also the problem I see with many attitudes about electric cars. "Well, I drive 300 miles every day and only have enough money to buy a used jalopy and live in an urban apartment with no electricity". Fine - then don't get a freaking EV yourself.. It doesn't mean that everyone in the world's needs are the same as yours.

      --
      "TAMS shouldn't be destroyed. They should just tag us before releasing us into the wild." -- Maeglin
  3. What's more interesting to me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...is not that Amazon are offering same-day courier delivery - that concept is centuries old - but that the high street fails to provide an in-demand version of what used to make it unique: trained staff providing demonstrations and support on custom products and services, from meat to electronics.

    I don't (didn't) go into local shops because they're cheaper, but because they are (were) better. Mind you, the local independent greengrocer - who is so resourceful with purchasing that they even pay local gardeners such as ourselves for the fruit of the dozen redcurrant bushes we have - also happens to be cheaper, as well as offering the rich flavours of fresh produce.

    There was once a local independent electronics store run by someone who could fix any TV or telephone - and a short walk beyond that, a ham radio outlet full of half a century of gadgets, and he'd understand anything about anything at HF. A local computer store used to have an engineer who would build and sell co-processor cards in the back room. Going to any of these places was an education.

    The hardware stores weren't staffed by snotty kids who just pointed at some Chinese junk on the shelf and shrugged if you asked them what was the best option, but people who were involved in building or carpentry or plumbing themselves, and who took joy in explaining how to operate some piece of kit - and, of course, if you weren't sure, you could pay them to do the work.

    A retail job at places like this was a respectable career, not something you did because you failed at education or wanted something to get you through your undergrad studies. A customer wasn't someone you tried to fleece and then he'd fuck off disappointed but out of pocket, but someone who'd come back year after year.

    So, I say it's not that Amazon has displaced the high street, but that the high street no longer delivers what it used to deliver. Is this because consumers have become lazy, compulsive and throwaway in their purchasing decisions? Probably partly. But the high street tried to chase the sell-quick-and-high starting in the '80s, and they've suffered terribly for it.

    1. Re: What's more interesting to me... by dj245 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you have retail experience you will see that many people will come to the shop to try and then buy online. One counter is to sell your own products but that does not work in every sector.

      Which reinforces the OP's point that shops need to offer more than aisles of product and a cash register. I went into a hobby store yesterday to look at, and possibly buy, an RC truck. I'm completely new to the hobby so I had many questions, such as "what would you use 5 channels for in an RC truck", "can the model with the brush motor be upgraded to brushless, and how much would that cost", "Can the 2WD models be upgraded to 4WD", etc etc. I needed a sales person who knew how to help me find what would be best for me. Instead, the shop was staffed by a 10 year old kid (not kidding) and a couple of older kids whose ages were a bit ambiguous but definitely under 16. I'm sure they are good kids but they don't know how to be a good salesperson.

      This is kind of an extreme case but you can't sell product if you put no effort into selling product! In this case Amazon prices are the same as hobby shop prices (probably due to strict MSRP rules) so I would have been happy buying locally. And it doesn't help that nowhere are there comparison charts between some of the different RC models. Traxxas has about 8 different versions of the 1/10 Slash truck, but no table of differences. I expected a 30 minute education and buying experience, but now I have to research all over the internet, through countless forums, to answer all my newbie questions. Give me a decent salesperson any day of the week.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  4. I'd rather by rossdee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd rather live in a state where Amazon wasn't, have 2 day free shipping, and not have to pay sales tax.