Amazon India is killing free Prime shipping of groceries by moving it all to Pantry

Amazon seems to be slowing removing grocery items from regular Prime and making them available through Pantry. I might be mistaken but a lot of products that were easily available to order directly through Prime nowadays only seem to be listed under Pantry.

This was not a big issue because Pantry orders were free for Prime users. But they no longer are. You have to create a box with value of Rs. 599 to get the Pantry delivery free. Otherwise you pay Rs. 20. This is more than what you need to order from Amazon regular to get a free delivery afaik.

There is another thing. Pantry boxes are supposed to have a uniform size. When you add products, you are told that x% of the box is now full. You get an idea on how many boxes would arrive at your place for the products you are ordering.

I wanted to order a certain product that was only in stock under Pantry. To get free delivery, I checked with mom and added a few more products. Crossed Rs. 599. The box was barely 20% full. I paid.

I got the delivery today and the box is much smaller than what it should be. It seems like a regular box that they would have used for a regular delivery without Pantry.

This kind of sends an impression that eventually groceries and maybe more articles might end up becoming Pantry exclusive. Rendering Prime useless for such purchases (unless you are willing to pay Rs. 20 per box for home delivery).

This is my personal experience right now. Nishant has ordered a Pantry box which is also partially filled. Would be fun to see what sized box he gets for his delivery. I suggested him to use Pantry for the product he wanted to buy because of the larger box filled with air pouches to better protect the grocery item being shipped. He got a messed up package during a non-pantry delivery from Amazon recently because package was all crushed up during shipping.

 

[waterloo_sunset]

Amazon.in: Pantry FAQs

 

[Sai]

Forgot about this. It was a much smaller box than what I expected so Sushubh was right. They are using different boxes as per orders. My pantry box was just 22% full and the box that I got was 80% full.

If they send a box which is 78% empty they will have to use shit load of cushioning. Still, by the time it reaches customer, it would have looked like it has gone through nuclear apocalypse.

 

[Sushubh]

that's the thing. as a customer, what is the use of pantry to me? Amazon saves money on packaging and delivering multiple items in one box. next day delivery is one benefit but they failed to deliver next day to nishant. earlier prime users had free shipping on all orders. now have to collect items worth 599 rupees otherwise it costs me rs. 20. more and more products are only available through pantry nowadays. they have turned it into a loophole to charge for shipping from prime customers.

even worse is the fact that i cannot filter out pantry products from Amazon Prime listings. amazon bundle them both even though they go into separate carts. so shopping becomes even more messier as i have to always check if a product is excluded from pantry or not.

 

[waterloo_sunset]

i guess it has something to do with the fact that a lot of grocery items are low value and they would probably end up losing money if they were to ship them out individually

 

[Sushubh]

which brings me back to the question again. what is the point of prime if i cannot get free delivery on products under rs. 599. grocery products are one of the few product types that you would order regularly that would cost below rs. 599. i renewed my prime on october 1. one more year to see if Amazon is intentionally removing products from prime while moving them to pantry. prime would soon cost 1000 bucks. it might end up becoming another flipkart first type fiasco for me personally.

 

[Deep Saha]

Do I need to fill the box to exactly 100% before placing my order?
You can fill the virtual Pantry box as much as you would like before placing your order. Your box use rate i.e. percentage of space used in the box will get reflected as you progress. This way, you can always add more products based on your needs. You can check out at any time, regardless of the order size. Your order will be delivered to you in an appropriate sized box based on your order size in terms of weight and dimensions.

If I do not fill the box to 100%, will I be shipped a huge box with my small items in it?
Amazon Pantry boxes come in different sizes. The smallest Pantry box can hold weight of up to 4 kg (1-4 products) and the largest box can hold weight of up to 15 kg (15-20 products) . Your order will be packaged in a right sized box so that we can deliver all the products ordered by you together.

they already mentioned box will be according to the items ordered.

 

[igloo]

I have a diff problem with half products available in prime & half in pantry.
599 is not a big deal with diapers.

 

[Sushubh]

yup. even if they allow me to filter out pantry products from prime filtered search results, i would be ok with it. pantry and prime have different carts. having unified results is crazy stupid.

 

[Deep Saha]

every thing in India tends to go sideways after few years

 

[Sushubh]

i visit my local market multiple times every day. it would not be a big issue for me to dump Amazon for groceries if things remain like this. it's really annoying that i want to order natural care tea and i find that the quantity i want is only available through pantry. if it is not intentional, i am not sure what amazon is trying to do. these days they offer more discount if you have 3+ products on subscriptions. i find it hard to believe that they are happy offering more discount on subscription of the same product but have issues shipping it to me at mrp.