Want free Amazon Fresh delivery? You’ll now have to spend a lot more money. Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s grocery pickup and delivery service for Amazon Prime members, offering a wider variety of products than what you may find at your typical grocery store. On the Amazon Fresh website, you’ll be able to place an order for pick up at an Amazon Fresh location or have it delivered directly to you.
Previously, free delivery was offered on orders of $35 or more ($50 in New York City). However, your order will now have to be a minimum of $150 to qualify for free delivery from Amazon Fresh. When you consider the cost of an Amazon Prime membership is already $139 a year, this new change has upset many consumers, especially those who don’t really plan on spending $150 worth of groceries at one time and will now have to pay delivery fees.
Additionally, if you fail to meet the $150 threshold to receive free delivery, starting February 28, there will be new service fees incurred. Previously, if you didn’t meet the $35 spending requirement, you’d be charged $4.99 for delivery. Here are the new fees you’ll have to pay if your order minimum doesn’t reach $150.
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Orders of $100-$150: $3.95
Orders $50-$100: $6.95
Orders under $50: $9.95
However, if you live in an area with a delivery window of six hours, you could receive a reduction in these fees, and one-hour grocery pickup at Amazon Fresh stores will remain free.
Through this price hike, Amazon intends on keeping grocery prices low and covering costs to be able to provide a high-quality grocery delivery service, but it does seem to decrease the value of the service and overall Amazon Prime membership.
The price of a Prime membership went up last year, going from $119 to $139, a 17% price increase. As the price of their membership increases, you’d likely expect Amazon to add more benefits for Prime members, not get rid of them. For instance, Amazon recently announced it will stop supporting Amazon Drive by the end of December 2023. Amazon Drive is a cloud service, offered to Prime members, that gives users 5 GB of storage space for free.
Additionally, Amazon’s music subscription service will also increase in price later this month. Starting February 21, 2023, the Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan will increase from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. The student version of the plan will also be raised from $4.99 a month to $5.99 a month.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Amazon Prime, check out Walmart+, a similar service offering free shipping on thousands of products, including groceries, electronics, toys and furniture. It's cheaper than Amazon Prime, costing only $98 annually or $12 a month, and the recent addition of Paramount Plus — giving you streaming options — through the service can really help it stand up to Prime Video.
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