Amazon expands one-hour Prime Now delivery service

Members need to download the Prime Now app to use the service. Customers buying online from those companies can place an order and within minutes, run down to the store and pick it up. Amazon is here to help.

Startups including Drizly and Minibar are focused on building businesses exclusively around same-day delivery of alcohol. For one-hour deliveries, the cost is $7.99. The convenience will obviously be hugely popular, but Amazon may find themselves competing with other alcohol delivery services.

How this fits into Amazon’s strategySelf-pickup options fit into Amazon’s long-term strategy of reducing its dependence on human workers and automating the entire process with machines. By the end of a year ago, that number had soared to 10,000. The app also lets users track the location of their courier when a delivery is on its way. GeekWire also said that several drivers confirmed that they are handling restaurant deliveries. Those are the same complaints that Uber faces – Amazon treats its drivers, who are essentially full-time employees, as contractors.

Amazon has nibbled around the edges of restaurant delivery in the past. In a thread on Reddit posted this week that’s gathering a lot of attention, the initial commenter griped about Amazon’s “pricing getting a little ridiculous”, explaining, “Most of the stuff I’m trying to buy, from clothes to food, is way overpriced, sometimes marked up 100%”.

Amazon.com said on Tuesday it will begin delivering wine, beer and spirits to U.S. customers for the first time as part of its speedy delivery service, Prime Now.

It’s no surprise that Amazon has decided to give its hometown a little something extra with its service at launch, despite coming to the city eight months after its debut in New York City.