Online retailer Amazon said Thursday it will start delivering orders to Prime members in metro Denver within a five-hour window on select items, speeding up a same-day delivery option available locally since March 2020.
“With this new service, up to 3 million items across more than a dozen categories marked ‘Today by’ and ‘Overnight by’ can now be ordered for delivery throughout the day,” said Amazon spokeswoman Nikki Wheeler in an email.
Qualifying orders made between 5 and 10 a.m., for example, should arrive between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., according to Amazon. Those made from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. should arrive between 2 and 6 p.m. Midnight to 5 a.m. shoppers won’t receive a five-hour window — who wants to hear delivery van doors slamming in the wee hours of the morning? But those packages should start to land between 7 and 11 a.m.
Items with shorter delivery times include commonly ordered ones in categories like baby; beauty and health; kitchen and dining; electronics and pet supplies. But the items go beyond consumables and include things like Belgian waffle irons, Vitamix blenders, Google Nest thermostats, Fitbit smartwatches and the Exploding Minions card game.
Amazon has invested heavily in adding smaller buildings dispersed deeper into neighborhoods that serve as “mini-fulfillment” centers. Getting more products closer to customers allows for a shorter time gap between a click on an order and a package landing on the porch.
Faster delivery times are free to Prime members on orders of $35 or more and cost $2.99 on orders under $35. For all other customers, the added speed will cost $12.99 per order.
Denver is one of 21 cities where Amazon offers same-day delivery services. Most one-day delivery orders have a Dec. 23 cut-off to arrive in time for Christmas. But the same-day delivery items can be ordered on Dec. 24.
