Let me preface this post by saying that I’m huge fan of Amazon. I’ve been a Prime member since (almost) the very beginning. I’ll have to do the math, but I think it accounts for the vast majority of my non-food related purchases. And we all know that Amazon is already trying to take over the food space with Amazon Prime Now Restaurants and Amazon Go, both of which I’m avidly rooting for. So, yeah, I’m a fanboy.

But lately I’ve been a little confused about Amazon Prime’s shipping options. We all know that Prime offers free two-day shipping. But there are some new options that can be a little confusing. So I thought I’d organize my thoughts here in hopes it could all of us understand. Keep in mind, if you don’t have Prime, most of this won’t apply to you.

Free Same-Day Home Delivery

I’m guessing some of us have already experienced this glorious perk of Prime. You order something from the office, when you get home it’s there on your doorstep. But there are a couple things to keep in mind:

• It’s not offered on every Prime item. It’s a subset of Prime items you’ll have to look for.
• For Same Day, order before noon. After noon, it becomes One Day delivery.
• You have to spend at least $35 on qualifying items (yep, even if you have Prime).
• If you don’t spend the $35 limit, you can still get it same day, but it’ll cost extra (~$5.99).

Keep an eye out for the ‘FREE Same Day’ option when shopping and checking out.

Free Same-Day Pickup: Amazon@Cincinnati

Amazon opened a brick and mortar place right near UC. It’s called: Amazon@Cincinati. No you can’t go shopping there, its main purpose is to pick things up. Here’s the gist:

• Again, it’s not offered on every Prime item.
• Again, for Same Day, order before noon. After noon, it becomes One Day delivery.
• You don’t need to spend a certain amount. Major Key.
• No worrying about missed deliveries or stolen packages.
• You can return stuff here.

I experienced this for the first time last night. I ordered the Wii Component Cable pictured above. I could see it was eligible for Same Day delivery, but I had to spend $35 to get it. Or I could have waited the standard two days prime shipping to get it home delivered. I went with Option #3: Pick it up that night. It was a neat, efficient experience. Here’s how it worked:

• I ordered in the morning.
• I received an email around 5:30 PM that my item was ready for pickup.
• I went to Amazon@Cincinnati.
• Clicked a button in the email letting Amazon know I had arrived. A barcode appeared.
• Scanned the barcode at the locker bank (there are 5 banks, each containing several lockers).
• A locker popped open specifically containing my package.
• I left.

The amount of time I was actually in the store was ~1 minute. There were two employees inside to assist if needed, but you really don’t have to talk to anyone. I loved it.

Free 2-Hour Delivery: Prime Now

OK, this is probably the most confusing, lesser known one of the bunch. To use Prime Now, you have to go to different website to do the shopping. Offerings are based on your location, and product choice is extremely limited. Some areas offer things like perishable groceries (milk, eggs, cheese) and restaurant foods. It’s specific, but interesting. Let’s say you spilled coffee on your shirt at the office. You could order a new shirt and some lunch before your next meeting.

• Minimum order amount is $20.
• You have multiple 2-hour window options for delivery time.
• There is a ‘Within One Hour’ for an additional $7.99.
• Tipping defaulted to $5 and is recommended, but not required.
• You can modify your tip up to 24 hours after delivery.

Delivery Options

Tipping Options

So… yeah there are a lot of things to consider when you’re ordering from Amazon. Hope this helps.