You know about pizza delivery. You probably even know about bacon delivery. And, obviously, you know about everything Amazon. But what about booze? Birth control pills? Pancakes? We live in marvelous times. You can park it on the couch, put your feet in fluffy slippers, and wrap your hands around a smart phone summoning all the marvels of life to you. Here's how.
1. Prescriptions
Where is the joy in picking up prescriptions? Nowhere. Skip it. Especially those maintenance drugs you take regularly. Walgreens will deliver those for free. So will CVS, Walmart, and Kaiser Permanente. If the baby has an ear infection, though, you probably want to use Instacart to get that prescription picked up and delivered ASAP. This service, where someone shops for you and delivers it to your house, works with CVS. If you pay $99 a year, after a free trial, deliveries are free. Otherwise, you pay a small fee for each delivery.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. Birth control
Sure, you could go the traditional drugstore route here. But this way you get presents! The Pill Club does all forms of birth control, prescribes online (in 35 states), and delivers your pill pack (or whatever you use) on a reliable schedule. And the company partners with companies that want you to try their products, so they throw a present in — chocolate, stickers, health-care products — every month.
3. Booze
You are deep into a days-long Netflix binge and you — gasp! — run out of beer. What to do? If you're lucky enough to live somewhere served by an on-demand booze delivery service, get out your phone, STAT! Drizly partners with local retailers to deliver spirits, wine, and beer directly to people in more than 100 cities. Based on where you are and the stores nearby, it creates an online store of booze you can have brought to you. Minibar Delivery delivers alcohol in 30-60 minutes to more than 50 markets and ships wine from select vineyards in a few days. Saucey provides on-demand alcohol-delivery in 30 minutes or less to the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Sacramento, and Oakland areas.
4. Pancakes
I'm not even kidding about this. If you get a craving in the middle of the night for pancakes — or a burger, pancakes, fries, and a grilled cheese sandwich — Denny's on Demand will bring it. This is probably something none of us should know about. There is even an app, so all you have to do is reach for your phone and tap. This one promises to be a lifesaver for road trips. (Caveat: There is a $5 charge and not all locations participate.)
5. Printer ink
You spent an hour polishing it. Now it's time to print your resume. Until you get the dreaded "Out of ink" message. And there goes your hopes for a new future. Nah, HP solved this one for you. The right printer will keep tabs on your ink so you never have to think about it or run out. The printer orders its own refills when you're running low. All you do is pay for the subscription (they range from free to $10 a month, depending on how much you print), check the mail, and install the new cartridge when it arrives.
6. Ice cream
I know. This seems impossible. But I've done it and I am here to tell you this is very, very dangerous. If you live in an area served by Amazon Prime Now, you can place an order for groceries to be delivered directly to you in a couple of hours. Those groceries travel in refrigerated trucks so if you find yourself a few dollars short of the $35 minimum for free delivery, throw in some ice cream.
'It may not be surprising that creative work is used without permission'
5 simple items to help make your airplane seat more comfortable
How safe are cruise ships in storms?
