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I think it was a product from a different era. When Prime Pantry launched, Amazon hadn't acquired Whole Foods, and they didn't have a story for last-mile delive

I think it was a product from a different era. When Prime Pantry launched, Amazon hadn't acquired Whole Foods, and they didn't have a story for last-mile delivery yet. So they had to ship your order from a warehouse, and the only way to do that profitably on low-margin grocery items was to batch them up into a large order in a box of uniform dimensions. The fact that they no longer need to do this speaks to how far Amazon's logistics have come over the last 7 years.

ubertoop 6y ago
Among the growing list of documentaries I would love to watch, but have yet to find, Amazon's logistlics solutions is one at the top. Would be very cool to get a deep look at how all the various types of orders are handled.
- bananaheel 6y ago
  This is more of a capturing of current state than a full blown documentary. I still learned a lot about amazon’s logistics. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk
  - ubertoop 6y ago
    This is great, thanks!
- lathiat 6y ago
  Wendover Productions - How Amazon's Super-Complex Shipping System Works (18m49s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk Would also suggest watching pretty much everything else on the channel.
  - dave5104 6y ago
    +1 for Wendover. Haven't seen the Amazon video myself yet, but the channel in general has a lot of videos that I think HN users would find interesting.
  - ubertoop 6y ago
    Awesome, thank you!
- spacemanmatt 6y ago
  The shipping companies guard their operations somewhat zealously. A lot of present company could learn a ton by being present as an engineer, but they keep even dedicated warehouse employees in a frustratingly low-information position.
rendaw 6y ago
This doesn't make sense to me. They've always had a solution to batching: minimum order size for free shipping. They've always had plenty of low margin items. When they launched pantry here a couple years ago suddenly stuff I was _already_ buying regularly on Amazon (pasta, tomato paste, olive oil) I was blocked from buying unless I signed up for pantry and filled a box.
pasttense01 6y ago
Prime Pantry covered the whole country--including rural America. Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh are only in parts of urban America--and doesn't service rural America at all.

ubertoop 6y ago

Among the growing list of documentaries I would love to watch, but have yet to find, Amazon's logistlics solutions is one at the top. Would be very cool to get a deep look at how all the various types of orders are handled.

bananaheel 6y ago
This is more of a capturing of current state than a full blown documentary. I still learned a lot about amazon’s logistics. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk
- ubertoop 6y ago
  This is great, thanks!
lathiat 6y ago
Wendover Productions - How Amazon's Super-Complex Shipping System Works (18m49s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qanMpnYsjk Would also suggest watching pretty much everything else on the channel.
- dave5104 6y ago
  +1 for Wendover. Haven't seen the Amazon video myself yet, but the channel in general has a lot of videos that I think HN users would find interesting.
- ubertoop 6y ago
  Awesome, thank you!
spacemanmatt 6y ago
The shipping companies guard their operations somewhat zealously. A lot of present company could learn a ton by being present as an engineer, but they keep even dedicated warehouse employees in a frustratingly low-information position.

rendaw 6y ago

This doesn't make sense to me. They've always had a solution to batching: minimum order size for free shipping. They've always had plenty of low margin items. When they launched pantry here a couple years ago suddenly stuff I was _already_ buying regularly on Amazon (pasta, tomato paste, olive oil) I was blocked from buying unless I signed up for pantry and filled a box.

pasttense01 6y ago

Prime Pantry covered the whole country--including rural America. Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh are only in parts of urban America--and doesn't service rural America at all.