Amazon Prime Pantry- does anyone use it?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am a loyal Amazon shopper, Prime member, and lover of convenience, but I don’t understand how the Prime Pantry model works for the consumer.
I pay extra every month for my prime membership so I can order one or two things once in a while and not have to pay shipping. They show up in 2 days and I’m happy with my new toys.

Some items, however, are part of the Prime Pantry model. For this program, you do a bunch of shopping, like you would for a Target run, and put everything into what they call a pantry box. Each item counts for a percent of the pantry box and when that theoretical box is full they ship it. Great for Amazon, because you need to buy like 50 pounds of stuff and spend a lot of money before they process and ship.

At no point have I ever wanted enough Pantry eligible stuff to fill a box, and I shop there A LOT. Right now I want to order laundry detergent and hair conditioner. Each are available for $8 at the Prime Pantry price, but the items offered outside that program are more like $20. The retail value is $8, so the $20 price is unreasonable even if it included an allowance for packing and shipping. I’ll go to Target.com, thank you very much.

Have you used the pantry program? Does it work for you? Can you see a world where this is a reasonable model for a large segment of the Amazonian population?

ETA: yes, I understand I could wait all month and order everything at once. Even then, I couldn’t fill a box with the things offered in the Prime Pantry. There’s too much of what I order that isn’t part of the program, and only some things qualify. You can’t combine Pantry and non Pantry items for a bigger total.

2

I have used it a couple of times. I used it around Purim to order stuff for baking hamantaschen, because they had a few things I was having trouble finding, and I was also very busy at the time, so ordering bags of candy and the like for shlach manos was nice. It also happens to be one of the times I order name brand stuff (the candy I put in the Purim boxes), so the fact that I couldn’t buy generic wasn’t an issue.

They also have Scott toilet paper that is tube-free, which I like, so when I order from Prime Pantry, I stock up on it. It helps bring my box up to the total I need to get free shipping.

I ordered around Hanukkah too, because again, they had a lot of ingredients I couldn’t find locally (I didn’t waste time driving to a bunch of stores, just called around, so it’s possible I missed some places, but it didn’t really matter). I wanted, for example, to make my own hoisin sauce for the fried tofu we decided to make that year; I wanted low sugar sauce, and I turned to PP for some of the ingredients I would need.

It’s usually cheaper to go to the store than to order from PP, because when you go to the store, you can buy generic, and many PP things are marked up relative to discount stores like Walmart or Meijer; this is why I tend to use PP when my time is scarce. If my time is “cheap” so to speak, it’s better to go to the store, but if my time is “expensive,” then paying the extra money for PP is worth it.

All in all, I’d say I use PP maybe five times a year. But when I do, I order pretty big boxes with lots of stuff. I try to anticipate things I will need in the future that may be hard to find, or that I don’t by generic (eg, I have not found a generic dishwashing soap that works well, so I pay for Cascade). When I would buy a brand name anyway, the mark-up is not terribly significant. It’s only significant when you would buy generic in a store.

3

I don’t, but at the airport we’ve chatted with Alaskans who think it’s Og’s Gift. There are disabled/elderly people who like it, too.

4

As far as I can tell it doesn’t really save me any money and doesn’t save me my weekly grocery trip. Maybe I’m not doing it right. Granted I only tried it once, years ago. Maybe if I coupled it with weekly delivery of more perishable items.

5

We used it for cat litter; because jugs of it are pretty heavy, my wife decided that she just wouldn’t buy it (and, thus, insist that I should go buy it). Three jugs of Tidy Cat fill a Pantry carton to 99%, so that wound up being how we’d get it.

We had to have our cat put to sleep a few weeks ago, so, at least for now, we’re out of the Prime Pantry business.

6

I’ve used it a few times. I do not do “regular” grocery shopping, that is I do not go up and down the aisles with a cart. I tend to just stop when I need a few items. So with Prime Pantry I just look at what they have and buy things that I know we will eventually use. Like relish. I’ll buy a few jars of relish.

I just sit and pick things until the box is full!

7

I have the same experience as the OP. I don’t plan far enough ahead, and the fact that so many things I buy aren’t Pantry available makes it not worth my time to try to optimize.

8

That sounds dangerous. I’d end up with $100 of relish and chili sauce and socks. Once I get going I don’t stop.

I might try it again and include kitty litter, but I never thought their prices were very impressive.

9

I think the walmart.com, target.com and Google Express are better alternatives.

10

How do they differ, PastTense?

11

See, but I really like knowing I’ll never want for relish.

12

Amazon recently changed the way Prime Pantry works. You don’t need to fill a box anymore.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/pantry/info/ref=amb_link_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=ZQC4XZMCHFG3F7F5QEJX&pf_rd_r=ZQC4XZMCHFG3F7F5QEJX&pf_rd_t=25301&pf_rd_p=8610c413-bdc4-47db-a1df-08173581f5cc&pf_rd_p=8610c413-bdc4-47db-a1df-08173581f5cc&pf_rd_i=Info-PantryMembershipPromo

There are a couple of different pricing options, a flat rate per order or a monthly fee.

13

Basically walmart.com, target.com and Google Express are free shipping with a certain minimum order instead of membership fees. Usually $35, but target.com is free shipping with Redcard (although for a lot of usual grocery store products there is a $25 minimum). Google Express varies with store usually $25 to $45–but right now seems to be running a temporary $15 minimum. Google Express has about 50 stores–and the stores vary in different regions.

The only thing to do is a price comparison among the sites for the specific products you want to buy. walmart.com is higher than Walmart stores for a lot of low priced grocery store items, but generally price matches Amazon. The stores on Google Express are selective about what products they offer there vs their stores or own websites—but can offer products on Google Express that they don’t offer on their own website (see bread from Target for example).

Could some Dopers do some price comparisons among these sites and report back results?

14

I wouldn’t use it if I were concerned with saving money, but from a convenience perspective it’s a-ok. I used it a few times when they had the shipping credits or “buy 5 products from this list to get free shipping.” But I haven’t used it in a while because it turns out I am cheap after all :slight_smile:

15

Whether these sites are useful depends on things like:

  1. Whether you live in a rural or urban area (small rural areas can have quite expensive goods).
  2. If you are disabled or can’t drive (hiring someone to do that is expensive).
  3. If you use mass transit (it is reasonable to carry one bag of perishables on mass transit–but not 3 bags including heavy canned goods).
  4. The value of your time.
16

We’ve used it a few times in the winter when we haven’t wanted to deal with the snow. As long as you’re not in a hurry it comes in handy.

Our local stores have started offering a service to gather and pack bags and bring them to the car. This is also huge help sometimes.

17

For those who aren’t Prime members, is there really a value to Prime Pantry, though, as opposed to just finding $35 worth of goods (or whatever the threshold for free shipping is)? I’m still trying to understand why I would want to fill a virtual box vs. meet a minimum spending level. What was wrong with that model that makes Prime Pantry better for the end user?

18

Sometimes Walmart.com is a great deal higher than the stores. A recent example was canned chicken broth–50 cents at the store, and $1.48 online.

19

Exactly. But if you go to Amazon they will very likely also be high (.99 is their cheapest). But if you go to Target you can still get their Market Pantry (the Target brand) chicken broth for .59/can for both the standard and reduced sodium varieties–with free 2 day shipping for a $25 total order with Redcard (or $35 without Redcard).

20

If you just look at Amazon the prices for lower priced grocery stuff is very high at Amazon–because the cost for shipping is built in. So you look at the chicken broth another poster discussed, the same Swanson chicken broth which is $.99 at Amazon Pantry is $2.83 each (in a case of 6) at Amazon.

But outside Amazon this same Swanson chicken broth is also $.99 at Target–and you don’t have to pay for the Pantry box or membership.