Amazon Fresh, Amazon’s grocery delivery service, has announced that they are raising the amount to get free delivery from, get this, $35 to $150. That’s not a typo. We’re including the full text of the announcement, but the bottom line is that if you don’t spend at least $150 on your Amazon Fresh order, you’re going to incur a delivery fee (they are calling it a “service fee”) of as much as $9.95. And that’s on top of the tip you give to the delivery driver. The change takes effect on February 28, 2023.
It has always been the case, since the inception of the Amazon Fresh program, that if you were an Amazon Prime member you would get free delivery of Amazon Fresh orders so long as you spent $35.00 or more. Even with the 2022 increase in fuel and other costs, it’s hard to justify increasing the minimum order required in order to get free delivery by 428%!
Likewise, increasing the actual delivery fee (which, again, Amazon calls a “service fee”, for whatever reason… a rose by any other name, and all that) by 250% (the “service fee” for orders under $35.00 which has always been $3.95 will now be $9.95) feels usurious, and while the service fee decreases in increments until you get to the $150 threshold we have to emphasize again that this is a more than 400% jump in how much you have to spend to get free delivery of your Amazon Fresh order (again, currently spending $35.00 gets you free delivery, come March 1st you’ll have to spend $150.00 to get free delivery).
It seems that Amazon is just one of many online businesses, or businesses with a large online component, to start jacking up their fees, or reducing their benefits. Yesterday, for example, we told you about how Starbucks is raising the number of rewards points required for certain perks.
So if you are someone who uses or has used the Amazon Fresh Delivery service, will this impact if/how/when you still use the service?
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And with all of this going on, can changing the “free delivery as a benefit of Amazon Prime” be far behind?
Here’s Amazon’s announcement of the increases in the Amazon Fresh delivery pricing.
Changes to Your Prime Grocery Benefits for Amazon Fresh Grocery Delivery
Dear Prime Member,
We are writing to let you know about upcoming changes to Prime grocery delivery benefits from Amazon Fresh. Starting Feb. 28, 2023, Amazon Fresh delivery orders under $150 will incur a service fee. Prime members will continue to receive free grocery delivery on orders more than $150. Delivery charges will be $3.95 for orders $100-$150, $6.95 for orders $50-$100, and $9.95 for orders under $50. This service fee will help keep prices low in our online and physical grocery stores as we better cover grocery delivery costs and continue to enable offering a consistent, fast, and high-quality delivery experience.
We will continue to offer convenient two-hour delivery windows for all orders, and customers in some areas will be able to select a longer, six-hour delivery window for a reduced fee. We will also keep evolving our Amazon Fresh grocery service, testing and adding more delivery options, and increasing selection of low-priced foods for customers to enjoy.
As a Prime member, you continue to enjoy a wide range of shopping, savings, and entertainment benefits, including fast, free delivery on millions of items, unlimited streaming of movies and series with Prime Video, ad-free listening of 100 million songs and millions of podcast episodes with Amazon Music, prescription medications as low as $1 per month and free two-day shipping from Amazon Pharmacy, access to unlimited eligible generic prescription medications for only $5 per month (including free shipping) with RxPass from Amazon Pharmacy, free ultrafast Fresh grocery delivery on orders over $150 (and delivery charges between $3.95 to $9.95 for orders less than $150), in-store savings on select groceries at Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market stores across the U.S., unlimited photo storage with Amazon Photos, free gaming benefits with Prime Gaming, more than 3,000 books and magazines with Prime Reading, Buy with Prime, which offers Prime shopping benefits like fast, free delivery, a seamless checkout experience, and easy returns on online stores beyond Amazon.com, and exclusive deals and shopping events like Prime Day. Prime members can also enjoy a free, one-year Grubhub+ membership trial valued at $9.99 per month, offering unlimited $0 delivery fees on orders over $12.
If you have questions about the Amazon Fresh delivery service fee or options for free delivery, you can learn more here.
Sincerely,
Amazon Prime
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This is going to be harmful to the folks relying on delivery work because I think a lot of people are you to rebel against this kind of outrageous increase. And I’ve no doubt this is going to hurt Amazon in the long run.