Amazon Prime Now Review
This year Amazon has rolled out their Prime Now same-day delivery service to a ton of new cities. What had for awhile been a very limited program is now widespread. The idea is simple. Find something on Amazon and if it is available locally, you can have it delivered in as little as 1 hour.
Earlier today I was searching Amazon for an item I need. After finding it on Amazon, I started to checkout and of course was told it would arrive on Friday. Then I remembered Prime Now is in Vegas, so I popped open the app and began my journey.
Ordering
In order to get same day delivery, you have to order through the Prime Now app. Once opening the app I immediately found my item and was surprised to see it was about $3 cheaper than the Amazon website. Since my item didn’t cost enough to meet the minimum $20 spend threshold, I began looking for more. Since they have a $20 off $50 coupon for first time orders, I decided to go all in.
I racked my brain trying to figure out what to order to get to $50. First I remembered that my beard trimmer recently died. Got one of those at a great price. Then I saw some baby food that Elizabeth likes and Green Tea that we occasionally drink. Before long I was up to $50.01!
Checking Out
At checkout you will login to your Amazon account and choose a billing address and credit card. For me, I had to re-enter the entire card number as a security precaution. On the checkout screen you can also enter any promotional codes. I entered GETITNOW for my $20 discount!
When paying you do have to choose a credit card even if you have Amazon gift cards. This is because any tip you decide to leave the courier is put on the card. According to the app, you can add or change the tip up until 48 hours after ordering. I believe Amazon suggests a 15% tip, but one is not required. Amazon says the courier gets the entire tip and they don’t take a cut.
Delivery Timeframe
With Prime Now you have two options for delivery. 1 hour delivery is $7.99 or 2 hour delivery is free. For my order 1 hour delivery was unavailable, but I wouldn’t have used it anyway. I placed my order at 10:22am and the earliest slot for 2 hour delivery was Noon-2PM. Since there were no age restricted items, I was able to check a box allowing the courier to leave the items outside my front door.
My Experience
As I mentioned above, I placed my order at 10:22am. At 12:49pm I received a text saying my order was going to arrive soon along with a tracking link. I clicked it and was able to see the driver’s location. He was indeed just a few blocks away from my house, but it took until 1:13pm for me to receive the “delivered” text.
I was actually not at home when the delivery came, so it was left at my front door. When I arrived home a bag with most of my products along with the packages of green tea were sitting outside of the front door. It took less than 3 hours from order until delivery and it cost nothing more than the tip!
Conclusion
Prime Now is an awesome service. It adds the convenience of getting something right away, without the hassle of having to get it in a store. Amazon isn’t always the lowest price, so that is a consideration, but for the items I purchased, the deal was good and the $20 off code made it even better. My only real complaint about Prime Now is having to order through the app. Hopefully at some point it will become an option on the website, but I’m sure that will cause usage to explode.
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Prime Now is a great idea with a lot of problems. I have placed a lot of orders, and regularly have items cancelled because they are out of stock. Its ridiculous because if I place an order, I have absolutely NO IDEA if I will actually receive what I wanted. I cant count on them to deliver ingredients for a recipe, food that I need for dinner, because they may cancel out a key item. If this happens, I have to go to the store anyway. Not really seeing the point of it if thats the case
Plus if you dont tip, the service is HORRIBLE. You dont get notification emails and they completely ignore your emails to customer service.
[…] Amazon Prime Now Review: Is Amazon’s Same-Day Delivery Service Any Good? […]
A tipping based approach is not a good long term solution for this. I don’t tip my postal carrier or UPS driver each day.
The tip is optional the reviewer may not have searched hard enough on how to opt out.
I do think it should be something you add on instead of having to remove but it takes 15 seconds of screen hunting to see the un-tip option.
My first and second prime now purchase have both been free delivery (two hour slot in my area)
My first order was a kindle fire for £50 (I had a £15 prime now first time code to make it £35)
Interestingly, the fire was out of stock for 2 weeks for the general amazon stock at a £35rrp but the higher price amazon prime now option was in stock (same exact device.)
My second time using prime now is for a all purpose universal tv remote (don’t judge me) The price is the same on amazon prime now as on the amazon site and there was no delivery fee at all.
I thought they made money by charging more but I just dont know.
Amazon prime free same day delivery was a game changer but if I can get the odd prime now delivery for free too, well I am really considering taking the plunge and paying for prime in January. Somehow i’m on my millionth free trial haha. Hope this helps people
I mentioned in the article that you can opt-out. I personally decided to tip. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
You don’t tip your Postal Carrier or UPS driver because A. There not allowed to accept tips and B. They earn a respectable salary along with benefits, paid vacation, etc.
Where as Amazon Flex delivery drivers work hard to get your item there fast without actually being employed by Amazon as they are private contracters so if they were to get hit by a car they do not have workers compensation or anything because they are not employed and than many other benefits that go along with being a Postal Carrier or U.P.S.
If you can’t manage to tip someone working hard to bring you your delivered items. You should just walk your fat ass to the store and get yourself.