Amazon will soon start adding a small fee for Prime members using its In-Garage Delivery option unless the delivery is made on the customer’s designated Amazon Day.
In-Garage Delivery does what it says on the tin, with the delivery person placing the package in a more secure location that’s out of view of porch pirates, while also protecting it from bad weather.
In a message sent to customers this week, the online shopping giant said that on October 4, the free option for In-Garage Delivery will be changing to Amazon Day with Key Delivery.
It means that each time you request a garage drop-off on a day that isn’t your designated Amazon Day for deliveries, you’ll be charged a $1.99 fee.
Amazon suggests that if you want a free garage drop-off, then simply save all of your orders for delivery on the same day each week, which would be your designated Amazon Day.
If your delivery is more urgent and you don’t want to pay extra — and you’re days away from your free Amazon Day — then you’ll have to make do with having the package dropped outside your door if no one is in to receive it. In some cases, you can also designate a particular drop-off spot for the package that’s less exposed than the front door — so long as it’s not inside the garage.
Never heard of Amazon’s in-garage delivery option? Here’s how it works: When a delivery driver arrives at your address, they scan your package to request one-time access to your garage, which has to be a compatible smart-home model. Amazon Key then verifies the package and driver’s location before opening the garage door. The delivery driver then places your package inside your garage, exits, and taps a button in their delivery app to close the garage door.
The change comes hot on the heels of another delivery-related price adjustment by Amazon that saw it increase the minimum purchase cost for free shipping for non-Prime members to $35 in a number of markets. Before the hike, non-Prime customers only had to spend $25 to qualify for free shipping, so the extra $10 is a notable increase.
The extra fees come as Amazon looks at ways to increase revenue and cut costs during challenging economic times. Since the start of the year, the company has also laid off around 27,000 workers, equal to about 8% of its corporate workforce.
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