Amazon offers same-day delivery to select cities

Amazon.com on Thursday announced that customers looking to get their packages sooner will have a couple new options available to them.

Amazon customers placing deliveries within the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Las Vegas, and Seattle, as well as "some surrounding areas," will now be able to receive shipments on the same day they place an order. The service will be coming to Chicago, Indianapolis, and Phoenix "in the coming months."

Amazon said "thousands of items" are available now to customers living in those cities. The new option, called Local Express Delivery, will have varied pricing that depends on the type of product purchased. Amazon Prime members--customers who pay $79 per year to receive unlimited two-day shipping from the online retailer--will need to pay $5.99 per item for the service.

In order to get an item on the same day it's ordered, customers will need to buy products prior to their city's cutoff time. For example, New York customers will need to order a product by 10 a.m. ET, while Seattle customers can purchase products by 1 p.m. PT. The other cities' cutoff times vary within that range. According to Amazon, it will list the cutoff times on each eligible product's detail page.

Amazon's Local Express Delivery charges.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Saturday delivery added to the mix
Amazon also expanded its Saturday Delivery options. Orders placed before a city's cutoff time will be delivered on Saturday when the customer chooses the Two-Day Shipping option. Amazon Prime customers will be able to receive shipments on Saturday for no additional charge. All other customers will need to pay the shipping rates applicable at the time of purchase.

Amazon will also offer customers the opportunity for Saturday delivery on overnight shipping. Once again, orders need to be placed before the site's cutoff time. Non-Prime customers will need to pay $3 on top of standard overnight shipping rates, while Prime members will be charged $6.99 to have items they order on a Friday delivered the next day.

Unlike Local Express Delivery, which is available only in select cities, Amazon's Saturday delivery is now available anywhere. Prior to this announcement, an Amazon representative told me in a phone conversation, Saturday delivery is available to Amazon Prime customers for the same $6.99 rate. Other customers need to wait until Monday.

Amazon's shipping upgrade might not be great for all its customers. In fact, JPMorgan Chase analyst Imran Khan wrote that the company's new Local Express Delivery option might benefit Prime members most.

"Amazon Prime subscribers can get same-day delivery for $6 per item," Khan wrote in a note to clients. "Purchasers who are not Prime subscribers will be charged $15+ per shipment (depending on category), making the service less economical."

That said, Khan did say that it could help Amazon increase order frequency: "When Amazon introduced Prime, it raised the order frequency for Prime shoppers--and we think the new delivery option could be one more lever for increasing order frequency."

[hutwarmer]

if i need it that bad, i will go to target.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Same day delivery if you get your order in by 1 PM? That's pretty damned impressive. So it costs $18 or so for shipping. If I'm 30 miles away on some job site and need that special part/relay/gizmo, my time and fuel spent to go drive a 60 mile round trip would be more expensive than shipping. <br /> <br />I wonder if they are going to have their own delivery vehicles or use taxi cabs? Don't think they can use UPS/FedEx for this level of service.

[sharmajunior]

I think UPS and Fedex have same day local delivery as I have done it myself. I used to live near a UPS warehouse and sometimes I dropped off packages at around 9 in the morning and they were either delivered the same or the next day. <br /> <br />Heck, my laptop came back the same day it was shipped from repair.

[skybum1979]

This is a company called AirNet Systems, Inc. that provides that level of service. <br /><br />http://www.airnet.com

[MyRightEye]

Been a Prime member for 2 years. I noticed this changed yesterday and have already ordered 2 items that will arrive Sat to my home address. Amazon is the classic example of good and true capitalism. Treat your customers right, and they'll keep coming back. I try not to shop anywhere else. I refuse to ever buy from buy.com again.

[hutwarmer]

what are you driving? <br /> <br />and as far as the cost of your time goes, what about the time you are sitting around doing nothing waiting for your part to arrive. if your customer is paying you by the hour, do you really think they want you sitting around doing nothing? you are also assuming that the delivery time is during normal business hours.

[Vegaman_Dan]

When I'm managing a team on site, I can't take the time to leave the site to go parts or whatever components. It's worth my time to continue work on site on other areas and let Amazon send the parts to me.

What? LA is not big enough to deserve this service??????

[bob_allama]

Um, you deserve to have your traffic situation resolved first. Otherwise the poor courier who was dispatched at 1pm won't get to you until 7pm.

[mrbofus]

@bob_allama: it's not like traffic in New York or Boston is that much better than Los Angeles or San Francisco.

[bob_allama]

Sorry, I'm still bitter about a recent fight with LA traffic which I lost. Besides, the other cities mentioned have alternate methods of transportation which work well... and please don't give me the "LA has a subway" line.

[najaboy]

Perhaps if they had a distribution center there... <br /> <br />Size of the city has abolutely zilch to do with it.

[techie_guy4]

This kind of service should be giving to remote areas where commute is difficult/not economical to get stuff.. In cities it doesn't make any sense at all.. only for lazy lazy ppl who want to sit at home and wait for package.. i would rather go to cvs/target/safeway etc etc instead of 15$+ for shipping .. huh...

[trenium]

It makes complete sense, theres somethings that are much cheaper on amazon than a retail store, you don't pay tax on amazon for most states, and you get your item the same day. It shouldn't be available for "Remote areas" because thats not economical for the delivery driver, and having to drive 60 miles per delivery isn't efficient enough for them to make money.

[born_yesterday]

Amazon, I don't need your same day, one-day or two-day delivery services. I just want you to ship my order in a timely fashion, not wait until week later to ship the order. That is the ONLY thing I want.

[CharlesWDavis]

I didn't read where that you HAD to buy from Amazon or even that you had to opt for expedited shipping. They still offer the standard shipping. If you want to go to the local stores, they will be very glad to provide the product. <br /><br />Believe me, there are a large number of busy people that will be willing to pay the price for that service.