Seattleites, booze has never been more convenient. …for some of us.
Amazon just launched—for the first time ever in the U.S.—Prime Now, alcohol-style, which can bring a bottle of wine or a pack of beer to your doorstep in under an hour.
It’s more than just a booze service. Prime Now lets you pick from more than 2,500 items for one- or two-hour delivery. Offerings include all sorts of alcohol, of course, but also other last-minute things like snacks, cleaning products, party supplies, and even a few electronics.
- Paper towels? Got ‘em.
- Dog food? Got that, too.
- How about a Fitbit? You betcha.
You need an Amazon Prime membership to use Prime Now (don’t we all have those already?) and the free Prime Now app. Then you make a minimum order of $20 between 8 a.m. and midnight, and you can pick from a $7.99 one-hour delivery or a free two-hour delivery. While you wait, you can track your delivery’s progress on the app.
A note on those one- and two-hour deliveries: Amazon has two-hour delivery windows that begin at 8 a.m. and end at midnight. If you order at 11:00 a.m., for instance, Amazon will deliver your order in the noon to 2 p.m. window.
So how are the prices? Pretty good, actually. According to our research, we couldn’t find much difference between grocery store prices and Prime Now prices. Amazon’s new service does automatically add an optional 20 percent tip, but you can change or remove that at will.
In the ever-worsening traffic around here, Prime Now seems pretty darn convenient. It even brands itself with the slogan, “No lines. No traffic. No worries.”
But! (there’s always a but, isn’t there?)
Prime Now doesn’t reach throughout Seattle. If you’re in Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, or northeast Seattle, you’re in luck. Try out a spontaneous at-home happy hour! (and invite us!) But if you live south of Belltown or north of Ballard, it looks like the grocery store will be your friend a while longer.
This is just the start, though. Prime Now promises to expand to many new neighborhoods in the future. We’re hoping for West Seattle.
Prime Now currently services these zip codes: 98004, 98005, 98006, 98007, 98008, 98015, 98027, 98033, 98034, 98039, 98040, 98052, 98073, 98083, 98101, 98102, 98103, 98104, 98105, 98107, 98109, 98111, 98112, 98113, 98114, 98115, 98117, 98119, 98121, 98122, 98127, 98139, 98154, 98161, 98164, 98165, 98175, 98181, 98194, 98195
Prime Now isn’t a totally new service—it first rolled out in Manhattan last December, and it expanded to more than a dozen other cities before reaching Seattle. But the booze? That’s new. We’re the first U.S. city to enjoy one-hour bottle service in the privacy of our own homes.
Have you tried Amazon Now yet? If you have, let us know on Facebook about your experience.
