Amazon is upping the ante on its already aggressive shipping times.
According to a blog post from the e-commerce giant, it will now start delivering same-day packages ordered in select cities within just a few hours.
The pilot program is now live in four US cities, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando and Dallas, and is applicable for three million items sold through Amazon’s platform. The pilot program’s new delivery schedule can be seen below.
“Up to 3 million items across dozens of categories that are marked ‘Today by’ can now be ordered for delivery throughout the day all with the goal of giving Prime members the most convenient shopping experience in retail while saving them time and money. Members can also order as late as midnight and have their orders on their doorstep the next morning before heading out for the day by selecting the ‘Overnight by 8am’ delivery option. If a customer selects to have their order delivered overnight, drivers will arrive between 4:30am-8am, which is noted on the product detail page and again at checkout.”
The faster shipping does not apply to all purchases, but that’s not surprising since neither does its current one-day shipping. Reuters notes that the mini-warehouses are much smaller than the e-retailer’s other facilities. Still, they will stock about 100,000 products and be located closer to the cities.
Amazon also said it is planning on expanding the program to other locations later this year but did not have anything more specific such as timelines or a potential list of candidate cities. It said that additional same-day orders (up to 3 million) will pass through the warehouses as well.
The faster deliver time will be free on orders of $35 or more and will cost $2.99 for orders below that total.
If packages delivered almost instantly to your door wasn’t enough of a promise, Amazon is taking its pledge a step further by also claiming that the venture will actually reduce the company’s environmental footprint.
