
Amazon Restaurants - chrisan
https://primenow.amazon.com/restaurants
======
guelo
This is obviously part of Amazon's effort to build out their own delivery
network in order to muscle out fedex, ups, usps, etc. If their drivers aren't
delivering packages they can be delivering food. That makes their whole
delivery network stronger because it allows them to have more drivers employed
driving around town all the time. It's the same reason Uber got into food
delivery.

~~~
Finnucane
Does that mean your food delivery depends on the package delivery schedule?
"Sorry your pizza is cold but we had to deliver a TV first."

For myself, I usually prefer to just go and pick up myself; that's almost
always the fastest option.

~~~
byoung2
_For myself, I usually prefer to just go and pick up myself; that 's almost
always the fastest option._

For people with small kids, driving to pick up food can be a huge production,
with car seats, diaper bags, strollers, etc. Curbside pickup helps, but
delivery is so much easier, and sometimes just as fast.

~~~
monk_e_boy
Yeah, click for a delivery, bath the kids, read to them, put them to bed.
Crack open some beer and wait for the food.

When I cook it usually takes an hour or so. So getting food delivered frees up
that hour.

------
gthtjtkt
This is kind of terrifying after hearing so many life-ruining stories about
the rash decisions Amazon makes when dealing with 3rd party sellers ([1] from
last week, for example).

Everyone always says "Don't stake your livelihood on platforms you don't
control" (e.g. Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but what happens when one of
those platforms suddenly forces its way into your business? How can a
restaurant owner turn them down when all the short-sighted owners nearby are
happily signing up?

I'm imagining a day in the future where a restaurant goes broke because Amazon
had become a significant portion of their orders, but they suddenly got kicked
off the service after X number of complaints (happens to FBA sellers all the
time). By the time other restaurant owners realize how easily Amazon can
destroy their livelihood, they might be too dependent to voluntarily leave.
And then all the smug commenters from the last thread will be grateful for
another opportunity to say "Well the restaurants should've known better than
to sign up in the first place!"

[1]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/5gvgdl/using_a_amaz...](https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/5gvgdl/using_a_amazon_kindle_fire_destroyed_my/)

~~~
godzillabrennus
Is it such a bad thing for society if a business fails when transparency is
added to how they conduct their business? Yelp reviews are also intregal to
the success of a restaurant and similar complaints are lobbed at them for
destroying revenue at small companies. Have you ever gone to a restaurant that
is poorly ranked on yelp? I have. They tend to deserve the poor ratings.

This is a valuable service to the consumer and good restaurants will thrive
while bad ones will fail.

Also, any halfway decent owner/marketer knows you need to capture email
addresses for people you want to sell to. Never rely on social media alone.
Just use it to get them to give you an email.

~~~
anigbrowl
_Is it such a bad thing for society if a business fails when transparency is
added to how they conduct their business?_

That's a false premise, which assumes any and all complaints are made in good
faith. Some people are assholes and will leave a bad review because they
disliked the person who delivered a meal or any number of other spurious
reasons. You really sound like the sort of person who has never worked in any
other field than IT and has a naive and largely illusory view of business
conditions.

~~~
TeMPOraL
My SO has lots of experience working in businesses selling stuff on-line and
while negative comments "out of spite" happened rarely to her, what she often
told about is how dishonest employers made workers bribe people so that they
cancel/remove their negative reviews. Hearing the stories that I did from her,
I no longer treat lack of negative ratings / reviews as a strong quality
signal.

EDIT: Oh, and speaking of Amazon, Google and their automated bans, my SO's
company's work account got temporarily blocked by Google recently, apparently
for the sin of sending several files in quick succession to her boss' account.
Apparently "atypical usage" is grounds for a ban now. Fortunately, the account
was unlocked few hours later, and I didn't have to make fuss about it here on
HN...

------
ryaneager
I received a free $20 to Amazon Restaurants for buying something on cyber
Wednesday, didn't know that was a thing until I received the email. I used it
to order pizza from a local joint, because who doesn't like free pizza.

Ordering was interesting, they didn't have the pizza I wanted listed under the
pre-made options, so I had to make my own, but there was no option to do half
and half and adding additional topping had a confusing interface. The menus do
not seem to be optimized for each restaurant the way Doordash is, and you must
click on an item to see the price.

Also the food wasn't kept in a thermal bag, like pizza delivery does, so it
wasn't piping hot when I received it and the delivery members don't have
distinct shirts. I probably won't use it ever again since I prefer Doordash,
and one of my friends brother in laws is a cofounder/CTO so I feel a false tie
to it.

~~~
khazhou
None of my friends' brother-in-laws are cofounders at Doordash, so I'm less
attached :-)

But this is a great example of the lack of customer lock-in. Even the
slightest improvement over Doordash, and I'd easily switch to Amazon or just
bounce between the two. There's a thai restaurant just a bit out of Doordash
range -- that would do it. Pictures on the menus -- that would do it. A "re-
order" button -- that would do it.

I like DD, but all I think of it is: "I order food and it gets here."

~~~
dvdhsu
Right -- I think this is a problem for many recent startups like Doordash,
Postmates, and even Uber. Their pitch to investors that this was a land grab
-- whoever conquers the two-sided marketplace first dominates it and extracts
profits later on. And so they need mountains of money to build up both sides
of the marketplace.

But it turns out that there's no switching cost on either side of the
marketplace: you or I happily switch between both depending on which drivers
are closer, and an Uber driver can just open their Lyft app if Uber is slowing
down. You'd happily switch from Doordash if Caviar had better photos, and a
restaurant can delivery via both Doordash and Caviar.

I think Uber might be able to get out of this by saying "growth / users ->
investment -> self driving cars", but I'm not sure what Doordash or Postmates
plans to do about it.

------
kt9
When I first saw amazon restaurants (almost a year ago) I thought... meh! Why
would I use this... order via phone and then wait an hour. I could order by
phone call and go pick it up faster.

Turns out now we use it so much and I've found that the value is that I can
order by phone when I leave work and by the time I get home the food will be
arriving at my door.

The real value to me is that I can order dinner! They've had a few hiccups in
the early days but now its pretty solid!

~~~
koolba
> Turns out now we use it so much and I've found that the value is that I can
> order by phone when I leave work and by the time I get home the food will be
> arriving at my door.

Does "order by phone" mean mobile app or calling in an order? I would guess
app but with Alexa and the other speech recognition tech they have, voice
orders doesn't sound that far off either.

~~~
kt9
Order by phone with amazon restaurants means using the amazon prime now app or
the amazon app.

------
lux
Interesting that I'm seeing this for the first time on the same day that local
food delivery company SkipTheDishes was sold to Just Eat for $110M
([http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/skip-the-dishes-
sold...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/skip-the-dishes-
sold-1.3897958)).

Skip is very popular here in Winnipeg since this is where they're
headquartered, but always seemed like the underdog in the overall market.
Wondering what will become of Skip, and how Just Eat and the others will keep
duking it out from here now that Amazon is in the ring too.

~~~
chaosmachine
Skip was so much better than Just Eat, too. Skip has Uber-style live GPS
tracking, Just Eat seemed to be stuck in the dark ages.

~~~
GordonS
Do you mean GPS tracking of your takeaway delivery?

I've never understood why someone would want to be glued to their phone/tablet
watching every move their pizza makes. Seriously, just _why_ would you
possibly care what street it's currently on?

~~~
nitrogen
It seems like a violation of the privacy of other customers, too. Everywhere
your food stops you can surmise there was another delivery.

~~~
dx034
At least Uber Eats only seems to show it when you're up next. The driver often
starts appearing not at the restaurant but somewhere else.

In cities this shouldn't be easy to track anyway. And then you could also jsut
follow the Uber bike. Don't think that the fact that someone ordered food is
private (what they ordered might be).

------
SallySwanSmith
Amazon restaurants is hardly new. My first order was over a year ago. Is there
something else new that I'm missing?

~~~
chrisan
Sorry, I had never heard of it before. From the news[1] I saw it was new in a
city dear to me. Mods can delete the post, my bad!

[1]:
[http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/12/15/...](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/12/15/amazon-
starts-free-restaurant-food-delivery-for-prime-members-in-central-ohio.html)

~~~
jsheard
Your post is currently #2 on the front page... apparently a lot of people had
no idea this existed.

Amazons marketing people have some explaining to do :)

~~~
JorgeGT
I guess many people outside the US, like me, are discovering this. Which is
understandable, given they have no reason to market this to me.

------
Animats
So far, Amazon is just delivering for others. But perhaps they'll get into
preparing food as well. Unlike Google, Facebook, GrubHub, Postmates, and
Doordash, Amazon is willing to build physical infrastructure and hire people.
Amazon could set up a large scale centralized catering operation like LSG Sky
Chefs, which makes airline meals. For high-density metro areas, this could
work quite well.

Amazon could probably beat out the low-end guys simply by using vehicles and
containers capable of keeping the hot stuff hot and the cold stuff cold.

~~~
petra
I actually think the end goal for Amazon isn't making the food themselves(in a
centralized operation), but creating a platform , across the US , where such
businesses can operate and compete strongly , while owning the very cheap
delivery network to corporate offices(and the network effects that come with
it), and the customer relationship.

And the next step, is using that network to deliver chilled meals employees
will take home(in an isolated container). At low enough price point, and high
quality(which munchery seem to do) this could replace many dinners,a very big
business , while also offering a disruptive attack on Walmart, and restaurants
in general.

------
untog
Interesting - it appears that Amazon handles the delivery part, theoretically
freeing restaurants up from having to worry about that side of the business.
Makes sense, though I wonder what % of costs delivery drivers really are (and,
of course, what % Amazon is charging)

Either way, Seamless/Grubhub have turned to utter garbage since their merger.
I'm happily using Delivery, but much like Uber/Lyft, these are commodity
businesses that I can switch between at zero cost to myself. So I'll give
Amazon a try too.

~~~
thoughtpalette
Cavier and DoorDash have been way superior to Grubhub in Chicago lately.
Better selections, faster delivery (anecdotal). I've also had Amazon deliver
when they were beta testing with $10 off, definitely worth it.

There's also Sprig, Fooda and some other food delivery services I've left out.

------
Androider
Amazon Prime Now has a $10 minimum, free delivery, and no markup allowed on
the restaurant menus in New York. For me, that makes it the best service
available hands down, and actually starts to change my behavior as a customer.

If it doesn't cost any more than what I'd pay in person schlepping to the
restaurant, the psychological barrier to ordering on a whim is virtually
eliminated. It also has that Uber-esque impersonality to it: the delivery guy
doesn't wait around after dropping of your food in your typical managed NY
apartment building (literally racing down when I get the call, I've never been
able to spot them), since they're tipped up front. In fact, the last service I
can remember that was such a no-brainer improvement when introduced, was Uber
X.

That's not sustainable you might say. But members do pay $99/year for Prime,
which isn't a whole lot since it does so much, but is increasingly a larger
part where Amazon makes their margin from.

~~~
voltagex_
>But members do pay $99/year for Prime, which isn't a whole lot since it does
so much

What do you get out of Prime? I don't have it in Australia (although there's
rumblings that Amazon might be starting here) and I thought it was just faster
delivery and video.

------
cavisne
One differentiation with amazon restaurants is at least in my market they
don't mark up food prices (like door dash and kindof postmates) and they don't
charge for delivery.

Uber eats is the best of these I've found, but it's a pain meeting at the
curb.

Amazon restaurants has by far the worst drivers though, I think compounded by
tipping before they deliver, and no ratings system

~~~
TulliusCicero
> One differentiation with amazon restaurants is at least in my market they
> don't mark up food prices (like door dash and kindof postmates) and they
> don't charge for delivery.

That can't possibly be sustainable over the long run.

~~~
zdean
I'm sure they still get a cut of the price from the restaurant. No delivery
and no markup just means the restaurant keeps less of the revenue to
themselves.

------
rm_-rf_slash
A few years ago when I began to use Grubhub more exclusively to order food, I
realized that I was effectively being shut out from other establishments that
weren't on Grubhub, simply because I hadn't checked to look at what was
nearby, and because the options on Grubhub were usually good enough on their
own. It was "post-Google," in a way.

I imagine this effect would be even more pronounced with "the everything
store" encompassing an ever-larger portion of total commerce.

~~~
burntwater
I intentionally shut out a restaurant that didn't have online ordering. I like
their food, one sandwich in particular was a favorite, but they had a nearby
competitor I liked just as much that DID have online ordering.

I'm hard-of-hearing, so online ordering is a godsend compared to the old days
of calling up a fast speaking, often accented person with terrible background
noise. So if the choice is between calling one restaurant, or ordering online
from a different restaurant, I will always pick the online ordering.

The restaurant without online ordering eventually closed, despite the fact the
neighborhood has really boomed, and I'm sure no small part of it is because of
their refusal to do online ordering.

------
oldbuzzard
Meh. I have prime and keep getting $10 off coupons but here in Minneapolis I
don't see anywhere I want to order from. Bitesquad has places that I order
from every now and then. If Amazon had a decent network they might entice me
in to becoming a restaurants customer... but as it is, it is like the crappy
prime video selection.

------
harigov
This is a great opportunity for some restaurants to outsource cooking. Just
provide a place for people to sit, eat and chat with some alcohol options. One
can order food an hour before arriving and eat at the restaurant. The
advantage is that folks can order from any number of cuisines. This can still
be cost effective in the long run when kitchens can be bigger and in the
outskirts and the premium place in the city is reserved only to sit customers.

~~~
dave5104
That doesn't sound like a great idea. When I order take out, I have certain
expectations, like the food may not be totally hot, or it'll be a little soggy
after sitting in a bag and traveling for awhile. But that's the price I pay
for getting to sit on my couch.

If I'm going to a sit down restaurant, I'm making the effort to leave my
couch, so I want the food to be a higher quality. Trucking in potentially
cheaper lukewarm soggy food doesn't feel like it can be made up for with just
ambiance of the new place I'm sitting.

~~~
harigov
Depends. It has its own pros and there are definite cons. I don't know how
much time me and my friends spend picking a restaurant/cuisine. Everyone wants
something different. It is hard to pick a place when you have more than a
certain number of folks. I can totally see people who are going there for
socializing, rather than just for eating, having fun at this place. Also, keep
in mind that this would be a full size bar as well.

------
koolba
So how much longer till they combine this with drone delivery?

The thrill of having a pizza arrive by drone could justify a hefty premium for
a kids birthday party.

~~~
ne0n
Realistically, pizzas are a pretty poorly shaped thing for a drone to carry
since it would block all of the propellers and it would definitely be way more
effort to keep warm. Self driving cars are probably perfect for this, though.
In California, self driving cars are classified as neighborhood vehicles which
can't go over 25 which is probably fine for restaurant delivery.

~~~
koolba
Land vehicles do have a size advantage that can be used for en route baking:
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/inside-
si...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/inside-silicon-
valley-s-robot-pizzeria)

I would really like to see the air delivery though. Maybe a calzone or
stromboli would be more viable.

~~~
Pfhreak
I believe the concept has been tested with burritos:
[http://www.darwinaerospace.com/burritobomber](http://www.darwinaerospace.com/burritobomber)

~~~
koolba
What a wonderful future we live in!

------
kin
While my first order was close to a year ago, what I have to say about this
and all the other food delivery services (Postmates, UberEats, Grubhub) is
that I typically have a hard time meeting delivery minimums or straight up
find the delivery fee too expensive to justify an order.

So far, I've only ever used Amazon when I have a coupon. It would be cool if I
could accumulate Amazon restaurant credit as an option when I choose No Rush
Shipping or have some form of loyalty/rewards system. Else, I'm just going to
choose whatever is cheapest, even if slightly less convenient. And that's just
me. Other users' loyalty could be even more elusive I'm sure.

------
kldavenport
So far it looks to have a better web and mobile interface than postmates and
grubhub.

~~~
dawnerd
They also don't charge a ton in "service fees" and have inflated menu prices.
Nothing but good experiences with Amazon delivering food (except this one time
where the driver had never seen an apartment building before...)

------
Balgair
So, Amazon is having some issues with retailers trying to sell you some gadget
that really isn't what you thought you were going to get. Like a USB stick
that says it's 256GB, but is actual 2 Mb. The 'reviews' of these shadier
products are shilled out or just 'bots and amazon is trying to get these types
of things off their market.

So, what happens when this happens to these restaurants? Like, say I 'open' up
a restaurant inside of my apartment. Maybe I list the address as some other
place, or I just risk the local health inspector showing up unannounced. But I
only sell via Amazon, and I get some friends and family to write reviews of my
kitchen, or maybe I just pay some 'bots to do it too. Amazon has problems
already with that fly-by-night operation, how are they going to combat it?

For reference, this was an issue with GrubHub last year:

[http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Seamless-Restaurant-
Gru...](http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Seamless-Restaurant-Grubhub-Fake-
Eatery-Unregulated-Kitchen-Investigation-I-Team-New-York-City-344708652.html)

[http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/11/grubhub-seamless-ghost-
res...](http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/11/grubhub-seamless-ghost-restaurant-
investigation.html)

~~~
mahyarm
They streetview your business and check if you have a previous presence
elsewhere? During your first transaction from a schlub the delivery driver
will drive to your fake address, see that there is nothing there and you wont
even get money since there would be nothing to pick up.

~~~
Balgair
Well, it wasn't a problem for the GrubHub drivers, so one can assume that at
least some of the Amazon ones won't have an issue either.

------
sytelus
Assume that on average,

* delivery time = 30 minutes

* minimum wage + minor benefits = $10/hr

* cost of vehicle, gas and other logistics = $5/hr

...then they must charge $10 per delivery. If you squeeze and wiggle may be
you can bring this down to $7 or so likely not considering downtimes in
between peak hours. I thought this was the reason why most door-to-door
delivery services eventually failed or switched to catering. What is the new
business innovation here?

~~~
morsch
The places I order from (in urban Europe) have been around for years. Delivery
is usually free.

30 minutes delivery time per order seems way too high, I'd expect 10 minutes
or less per order. They don't deliver just one order at a time. That said I'm
sure margins are razor thin and the drivers get paid like shit.

------
CodeSheikh
Amazon is moving forward with a GREAT momentum to dominate consumer market and
extends its monopoly. It is not Amazon vs small businesses anymore. Amazon is
in a ferocious battle right now with big players in various domains (Google,
Walmart, Apple etc). So far it is turning out to be beneficial for an average
middle-class consumer who conveniently gets to purchase cheap products and
services. The way Amazon has extended its tentacles deep into TV content
(Netflix vs Prime Video), produce (FreshDirect vs Amazon Fresh), Amazon Basics
and Amazon elements, Alexa in home automation, e-readers, Spotify vs Amazon
Prime Music, Rackspace vs AWS cloud, (failed) cellphones venture, and now
Seamless vs Amazon Restaurants. Is it becoming more possible for Amazon to
either acquire FedEx/UPS or create its own shipping company? I mean why not?
This seems like a missing piece of puzzle.

~~~
losteric
> Is it becoming more possible fore Amazon to ... create its own shipping
> company?

It's not just possible, it's already in the works.

Back in March Amazon announced plans to lease 20 Boeing 767s. Their first
plane flew at an airfair in Seattle a few months ago. Recently they've been
showing off their long-haul Prime semitrucks around Seattle.

Factor in Amazon Logistics (last-mile Fedex/ups/usps alternative) and Amazon
Fresh (last-mile food delivery)... it's happening. I think we can expect big
plays in 2017.

* they also have their drone thing... I think that's just a moonshot hype project.

------
mfonda
Amazon Restaurants is a great service which has been around for some time now,
at least here in Seattle. I use it pretty much exclusively now instead of
other similar services I've used in the past. The minimum order is much lower
($20 instead of $30 or $40 a lot of other services add), there's no delivery
fees, and your driver is tracked via GPS with guaranteed delivery windows, so
you have a much better idea of when you're order will actually arrive. There's
also a better selection of restaurants than other services.

That said, the UI isn't quite as user friendly. It feels bolted on top of
Prime Now, so you don't really have a typical menu, a regular shopping cart is
used and shared with Prime Now which just feels a bit off. I think it would
feel much nicer if they built a website specific to food ordering instead of
trying to shoehorn it into Prime Now.

~~~
sumoboy
Hybrid car + amazon + uber + lyft + no education other than reading a gps map
= lifetime job for drivers. Just like broadband, just need to figure out that
last mile for these services.

~~~
kmonsen
Lifetime might be a bit strong. Quite likely these jobs will not exist in 10
years due to automation.

------
dajohnson89
Why does Northern Virginia get coverage, but not D.C.? I don't really
understand the logic there.

~~~
blakes
I assume it isn't a logic issue, more likely a logistical issue.

~~~
dajohnson89
Clever turn of phrase. My question stands -- what are the logistical reasons
for serving a suburban area but not its urban counterpart? All of the other
areas being served by AR are urban cores. Mind you, northern VA is not the
only suburb of DC.

I should add that Amazon did this with Amazon locker as well. Northern VA got
coverage well before DC. My suspicion is some kind of incentive that VA is
providing to Amazon, the same one that attracted Amazon to build its huge us-
east data center in VA.

I was going to suggest that No VA is more affluent than DC, but in that case
they shouldn't be in Baltimore.

------
rajathagasthya
They advertise Bay Area as one of the regions they deliver, yet it's not
available in the South Bay. I wonder what's the logistics overhead to make it
available elsewhere in the Bay Area where you already have a Prime Now
delivery network.

~~~
Diederich
Seems to be available in Mountain View.

~~~
rajathagasthya
Not available in San Jose or Santa Clara area though.

------
wwalser
I like DoorDash and I hoped that they would end up winning in this space but
it seems unlikely when their two competitors have other things that the supply
side (delivery people) can do if food deliveries aren't needed. Amazon is
likely re-using prime instant delivery and Uber is transparently using their
drivers to deliver food.

It's kind of like competing with Amazon or Google for cloud infrastructure.
Very few companies need all of those machines or that tech, they have no use
for it other than renting to people. Amazon and Google on the other hand
already needed that tech. They are essentially renting their own excess.

------
kozikow
I wanted to order food just for myself. I didn't due to minimal 20.00 USD
price.

If I am with a group of people we can go to restaurant anyway. On the other
hand, eating out alone is awkward, so ordering online becomes more attractive.

------
chinathrow
Once you realize that you can't buy shit anymore without some simple platforms
get a huge cut/fee in the middle: rental cars, hotel bookings, flights, meals,
everything else... oh I forgot: taxi rides!

------
tigershark
I am really missing something here. If I click the link it brings me to my
Amazon application and I don't see anything new. My first order with Amazon
restaurant was at the beginning of September. So I guess that I am missing
something? Amazon restaurant is three months old and the useless link that
just brings me to their app doesn't really help me to shed any light.

------
kriro
I'm curious...are there restaurants (or I guess kitchens) that are delivery
only? If the infrastructure works well you could have strongly automated
kitchen in a warehouse type of setups and deliver via Amazon. Guess the
branding/word of mouth could be a problem but that might be solvable with
money (free stuff, hope people like and recommend it)

------
pk0020
As much as I love Uber...I don't feel bullish that they will beat out amazon
and their network of vendors/merchants. Uber might go the way of replicating
the last mile as a service model that amazon is exploring with their prime now
networks, but I'm not sure how Uber will scale this late game since it's not a
real core competency.

------
kriro
Interesting. This probably makes a couple of food delivery companies rather
nervous.

Are they delivering 24/7 or at least in the evening? A killer feature for
normal amazon would be delivery at a time where people are home from work
instead of during working hours...not sure why this isn't a thing yet.

------
celticninja
This must be worrying for JustEat who just purchased HungryHouse. Amazon
getting in on your business is never great.

~~~
wwalser
Interesting when companies have different names in different countries. It's
called Delivery Hero in Australia. I suspect it's a UK based company which
eventually got large enough to buy a similar AU based company and just kept
the name in order to maintain an already established brand.

Unilever has like 8 different ice cream brands in different countries all
sharing the same logo and mostly selling the same products.

~~~
celticninja
I think Just Eat came first in the UK and was actually pitched on Dragons Den
and they have subsequently bought other similar ventures, retained the brand
identity of their acquisitions and I assume centralised everything else, I
didn't know thet had branched out internationally.

------
giacomolaw
This is awesome! Interesting to see Amazon is really branching out with drones
and all that.

------
mournit
So Amazon now has 5 services to order food from: Prime Now, Prime Pantry,
Amazon Fresh, Amazon Restaurants, and regular Amazon. Did I miss anything?

I can't say I'm having an easy time keeping track of which service to use for
what.

~~~
codecamper
My general rule of thumb is to use Prime Now for jelly bellys, Amazon Fresh
for salads, Restaurants for vindaloo, or regular Amazon for bizzare chinese
candies shipped direct. Also I'm enjoying Amazon dark web for crack.

------
mundo
So, how does this make money? Other than the Prime membership, I don't see any
reference to fees on either the customer or restaurant side. Is this a freebie
land grab?

~~~
petra
They charge fees from the restaurants.

------
rglover
Cool, but soon enough: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-
iCkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU)

------
bg0
So this link is just sending me to the amazon restaurants page which has been
around for about a year where I live.

Can someone explain the point of this post?

~~~
usaphp
Probably a lot of people did not know about this service, hence they upvoted
it.

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nodamage
They seem to be pushing this hard here in Seattle. This past week they've sent
me two coupons for $20 off my entire order.

------
partycoder
This has been around for a while. I wish there was a better integration with
the Amazon Echo.

The benefit is that the delivery fee is included into your Amazon Prime plan.

Now, in my opinion, Sprig is a much more affordable everyday meal option when
you get the membership. There's also Doordash, GrubHub, EAT24, UberEATS,
Postmates... etc. You'll find some restaurants are not available in some apps.

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ramon
I can imagine the day I will need an Amazon account in order to enter my house
:)

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wineisfine
As a consumer I couldn't be more then delighted by the Amazon (customer)
service.

However, when I read how they threat their employees: it sounds horrible.

Let's hope they never get to the tipping point that they can threat
Restaurants, like their employees.

That said: I like it that they try out new things and don't care about
failing.

~~~
ChadMoran
As a Software Engineer with Amazon I have only great things to say.

EDIT: I've been at Amazon over 5 years.

~~~
untog
Of course, you're valuable. A company is much more interesting to assess
according to how they treat less valued workers, like warehouse staff. Amazon
does not rate highly in that regard.

~~~
ChadMoran
Lots of my friends work in CS and they love their jobs.

~~~
qntty
He's referring to warehouse staff.

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airesQ
So Deliveroo for the US?

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nerfhammer
"Amazon is eating the world" gets a new meaning today

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heisnotanalien
Will there just be one company in the future called Amazon?

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BHSPitMonkey
Question for the HN mods (and community): At what point is a post like this
not simply an advertisement? This isn't a link to a press release, an article,
a blog post, etc. that discusses the project, and this isn't even new (I've
been getting snail mail ads for this for a month or two).

Should big companies just start linking directly to things they want us to buy
on HN, with no context? Is that encouraged here?

~~~
euphoria83
Since this is a community that cares equally about new ventures and
technology, a direct pointer to a new venture makes sense. The community is
getting introduced to the venture directly and is free to click around to
understand more.

------
tomc1985
Oh look, Amazon chases another venture like a dog that smells food. So stupid
how everyone's always trying to take over the world...

~~~
boardmad
You guys have no clue...pizzas turning up piping hot, food within 10mins. Here
in the UK we have Justeat and bloody Uber psycho moped riders. I regularly
visit and order in my local indian restaurant and hear online bookings coming
in on the phone with between an hour and 90mins delivery time. Talk about
#firstworldproblems

