Comment by philwelch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by philwelch | Hacker News Reader

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Prime Now and Amazon Fresh seem very different to me. I use Prime Now as a faster version of Amazon.com--if I do something stupid like move apartments and forget to buy a shower curtain until after the shops are closed, I can put in a Prime Now order for first thing in the morning. My wife uses Prime Now as a slower and more cost-effective version of goPuff sometimes.

Amazon Fresh, in contrast, is my primary source of groceries. Unlike Instacart, prices are consistently reasonable, the website actually knows what's in inventory so I don't have to make backup plans for everything I'm trying to get, and when I buy frozen foods, I get handy chunks of dry ice that I can use to make homemade smoke machines. Amazon Fresh is the first service I've ever used--and this includes previous incarnations of Amazon Fresh--that makes me seriously wonder whether I will ever make a trip to the grocery store again.

Can you clarify what you mean by "prices are consistently reasonable"? We do try to publish precisely what business model we are operating with pretty prominently on our storefront (e.g., if we have price parity with the store, or have a markup).

(engineer @ Instacart)

It's been a couple years since I've used Instacart, but I remember Costco deliveries being consistently expensive enough that I was better off going to the store myself unless I was literally crippled (which I was at the time).

since then, we've formally partnered with Costco and have adopted their online pricing model (still more expensive than the store, but not by very much): http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Costco-debuts-new-gro...

Fresh isn't available in my area, and my understanding is that they've recently been withdrawing from some regions, not expanding. The subscription fee is also not attractive for something I expect to use maybe once or twice a month.

Do you only buy groceries once or twice a month, or are you expecting that you wouldn't use Fresh as your primary grocery store?

I had the same expectation for years, but I'm really pleasantly surprised by Fresh these days--and I was outspokenly critical of it at first. I was a regular Costco shopper previously, so I don't mind paying a membership charge if I'm going to actually use it.

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