Amazon’s one-hour booze delivery has a hangover
Source: New York Post
By James Covert
December 10, 2015
Amazon’s new booze delivery service had a little trouble getting out of bed on its first day.
The Seattle-based Web giant said Thursday it is rolling out on-demand delivery of beer, wine and spirits for its Prime Now customers in Manhattan.
According to a release, Amazon’s mobile app-based Prime Now service will offer one-hour alcohol deliveries from local stores from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.
But when a reviewer got up at 6 a.m. to order a six-pack of Stella Artois (and a can of Boddington’s Pale Ale to meet the minimum $15 delivery requirement), the app said the one-hour service was “Unavailable” for his Manhattan ZIP code in the East 70s.
Prime Now said it could deliver the beer between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. for free – in other words, within a window of two to four hours, not within two hours as advertised.
As it turns out, Amazon isn’t really in a position to make good on its promise to deliver booze in an hour.
The Web giant doesn’t have a liquor license in New York City; instead, it has teamed up with local retailers – with different operating hours – to deliver orders on its behalf. Some of those retailers, for instance, don’t open until 10 a.m.
This means it’s up to first-time users to read the “fine print” – or look up the retailers’ individual hours within Amazon’s app – to figure out how fast they can get their booze delivered.
CEO Jeff Bezos can’t afford to slip on a launch like this. He’s elbowing into a crowded market for booze delivery apps in New York, which already include Minibar, Thirstie and Swill.
Amazon’s supposed two-hour delivery is free. For customers with an emergency who qualify for it (whoever they are, wherever they are), Prime Now’s one-hour deliveries are advertised at $7.99.
Amazon also announced Thursday that Prime Now is launching one-hour delivery of items from Eataly, Mario Batali’s epicurean emporium in the Flatiron District.
Hope Mario wasn’t out too late last night.