The company plans on doubling its same-day fulfillment centers in the coming years
August 2, 2023Image may be NSFW.
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One of the signature benefits of being a member of Amazon Prime is receiving your packages with two-day free shipping. However, in recent years, Amazon has upped the ante making it possible for Prime members to get their deliveries in one day, or in some cases, the same day.
The company has now announced plans are in the works to double the amount of same-day fulfillment centers, making it possible for even more shoppers to get their deliveries faster.
With more than 300 million items available with free Prime shipping and tens of millions of the most popular items available with free Same-Day or One-Day Delivery, we hit our fastest Prime speeds ever last quarter, wrote Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores.
So far this year, weve delivered more than 1.8 billion units to U.S. Prime members the same or next day nearly four times what we delivered at those speeds by this point in 2019. Same-Day Delivery is currently available on millions of items for customers across more than 90 U.S. metro areas, and we have plans to double the number of sites in the coming years.
Getting packages faster
Amazon explained that it has broken down the country into different regions, while utilizing an algorithm that predicts which parts of the country will be most likely to purchase certain products, and then works to get those items into fulfillment centers closest to those areas.
Same-Day facilities arent as big as traditional Amazon warehouses, and theyre designed specifically for packaging things and getting them onto trucks as quickly as possible. The company found that it takes 11 minutes at a Same-Day facility to package an order and get it onto the loading dock an hour less than the time at a traditional facility.
Additionally, this process comes with a lower price tag for shoppers and more safety for Amazon employees.
Its easy to assume the faster we deliver, the faster employees work but that couldnt be further from the truth, Herrington wrote. The speed improvements were making come primarily from placing products closer to customers.
The people picking, packing, and driving to your house are doing the exact same thing for orders that arrive the same day or next day as orders that used to take two or three days. Whats changed is the product is traveling fewer miles and experiencing fewer handoffs between the time you place an order and the time it gets to your door.
Utilizing Same-Day Delivery
Prime members can get millions of items delivered to their houses same-day in 90 major cities across the country. This catalog covers everything from household necessities andpet supplies to baby care items, food, and more.
Same-Day Delivery is free for Prime members on orders over $25 and will cost $2.99 for any orders under that minimum threshold. Those who dont have a Prime membership can get their items delivered same-day for $9.99.
Any item that is eligible for Same-Day Delivery will be flagged with a countdown timer. This lets you know how long you have to place the order to ensure it gets delivered that same day.