Amazon is now delivering booze to your door, if you live in the right city

Amazon will deliver booze to your door, at least in Seattle

(Image credit: Twitter/@geekwire)

published 26 August 2015

On Tuesday, Amazon gave tipplers one more reason to consider its $99-a-year Amazon Prime service. The online marketplace rolled out its Prime Now rapid-home-delivery option in its hometown, Seattle, and added beer, wine, and liquor to the list of deliverable items. It has been delivering alcohol in London since June, but Seattle is the first —and, as of now, only — U.S. city where you can get Amazon to do your liquor shopping for you.

Amazon says it will consider adding alcohol to its Prime Now offerings in other cities, so cross your fingers drinkers in New York, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Indianapolis.

How does booze delivery work? You order on a smartphone app, and you can have the alcohol delivered within an hour for $7.99, or if you can wait up to two hours, it's free (assuming you are a Prime member). Cost-wise, "Amazon Prime Now's price for a 750ml bottle of Absolute Vodka, including state taxes, was almost exactly the same as the price of the same bottle at the neighborhood liquor store," said Todd Bishop at GeekWire, where they tested out the service on Tuesday. They ponied up for the one-hour delivery and were happy with the results: "Thirty-four minutes later, we were pouring screwdrivers in the break room."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox