My Amazon Fresh Review: Los Angeles
Update 7/1: Amazon is now offering a free 30 day trial for Amazon Prime. If you don’t have Amazon Prime and you want to try out Amazon Fresh, this is a great option. Get on it! Click Here to signup and get your free 30 day trial.
Last weekend I was driving home on the 405 and I saw the new Amazon Fresh truck in the lane next to me. It had only been several days since they announced their new service in LA and Seattle so I was pretty excited to see their truck out and about. Later that night, I was on the Gluten Free Reddit board where I had asked if anyone knew where to get gluten-free donuts in Los Angeles. National Donut Day was a couple weeks ago and I have yet to find a place that makes gluten-free donuts (note: this was before Dunkin Donuts came out with their gluten-free donut news last week). A fellow Redditor recommended I try Fonuts in Los Angeles. When I looked at their site, I realized they were located across town and I didn’t really want to drive an hour to get them. After all, donuts aren’t good for you and not a necessary food. But then I saw that they delivered via Amazon fresh. Fonuts is part of the L.A. Spotlight program. Bingo! I’ve been meaning to try Amazon Fresh out since they announced they were expanding into Los Angeles . I figured seeing the truck on the freeway and being directed to the gluten-free donut shop was a sign that I needed to check out Amazon Fresh for myself.
Now, I am not a stranger to deliver a grocery services. There is a local market here in Manhattan Beach called Grow that my husband and I occasionally get groceries from. We also get a CSA produce box every other week. And we regularly order frozen paleo meals from Brian’s Bowls. We are also frequent Amazon Prime users. We order as much as we can from Amazon because it is just so convenient. Not going to lie, I’ve been known to buy dish soap on Amazon because it will get to our house faster than the time it would take me to go to the store and buy it. Ah, technology.
I placed my order for Amazon Fresh late on a Sunday night. It was around 1am and I never stay up that late but this night I did. I was told my order could be delivered by Tuesday afternoon at the earliest. I did not have to be present for the order which was a big plus. On Tuesday evening I arrived home to a porch full of goodies:
All of the refrigerated goods came in styrofoam containers packed with frozen Dasani water bottles. The water bottles were ours to keep. I thought that was a super awesome perk.
Here is everything that came inside our Amazon Fresh delivery order:
Here’s what was in our order:
- Applegate Roasted Turkey Breast
- Bananas
- 2 Avocados
- 1 Onion
- Garlic
- 2 Lbs ground turkey
- 1 lb Dark Roast, Intelligentsia
- Keurig K-Cup Coffee
- Half Dozen, Fonuts
The minimum order for the delivery service is $35 and all of the above came out to a total of $66.74. I did accidentally buy the wrong coffee for our Keurig maker. I love the Dark Magic K-Cups and I accidentally ordered the Double Black Diamond. I guess that’s what you get for ordering at 1am. I have contacted Amazon about returning this item but haven’t heard back yet.
Both the Fonuts and the Intelligentsia coffee were from the L.A. Spotlight products. The Fonuts came in a box of 6 assorted gluten-free donuts. This one was my favorite:
Here is what I loved about the Amazon Fresh delivery service:
- Convenience. I really enjoyed having the convenience of Amazon Prime applied to groceries and not just dry goods. It saved me time and money (due to no impulse buys).
- Free Water. The frozen Dasani Water bottles were a nice freebie. Well played, Amazon!
- Good Refrigeration. I purposely got meat to see how it would come refrigerated. It was nice and cold.
- Condition of Produce. The produce was not smushed and in perfect condition.
- LA Spotlight. Amazon has teamed up with restaurants, bakeries, and seafood shops all over LA to deliver unique experiences to your door. Being able to try new LA Spotlight items without having to drive to them (Fonuts) was a highlight for me.
On the flip side, here is what I did not like about the service:
- Packaging. I received two styrofoam coolers – one with dry ice and one with water bottles. Felt wasteful to me. If your delivery is unattended (which mine was) you have to wait until your next order to give them the reusable bags back.
- Fee: Amazon Fresh is currently available for a free 90 day trial basis for Amazon Prime Members. After that you will be charged $299 for the year. Yikes!
- Returns: I wasn’t able to find a clear return policy on their website and I contacted them about making a return and still have not heard back. (Update: See comment below where Paul from Amazon Fresh reaches out to me about my return. Talk about customer service!)
I really enjoyed using Amazon Fresh and plan on using it again during the 90 day trial period. After that, I will likely cancel my subscription. $299 is a hefty fee for online grocery delivery, and I’m not sure if its one we need that badly.
What about you? Have you tried Amazon Fresh? Have you ever used an at home grocery delivery service? Post in the comments and let me know.
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I’m super jealous!!! My zip code didn’t qualify. I agree that the $299 annual fee is way too steep but I am AmazonPrime and at least wanted to check it out. Thanks for the great review!!
Wow, they don’t deliver to Burbank? I’m surprised by that. Maybe they will open it up to your zip code too. I think you would like the experience!
They have to deliver to Burbank, that’s where i always see the trucks.
I know they have been adding areas so maybe Amazon Fresh delivers there now!
They deliver to burbank now – someone replied to a comment that was a year old.
Thanks for your review! I have to admit, when you tweeted you were going to go for Amazon Fresh, I was excited to see what you thought, and now I’m deffo interested! Not so sure about the $299/yr either. That, and I just see this as a supplement to my grocery shopping for now. I don’t think I’ll do this regularly since I still want to earn my grocery points (lol which translate to gas discounts).
I wonder if Amazon will rethink that price point based on customer feedback. One can hope. Let me know how your delivery in the morning goes!
I didn’t know there was a free trial for Prime members — now I really need to try this! PLUS – OMG – I LOVE Fonuts so that is AMAZING!!!
Yeah girl, try it out! See if they deliver to your zip code. The Fonuts were dangerously good!
Hi Lindsay, I work at AmazonFresh and I came across this awesome write-up you posted. Thanks for the great review! Makes all of us here very happy to hear that folks are enjoying the service.
I did check in with our Customer Service team and it looks like they set you up with a return for that coffee you didn’t need. Just wanted to double check and make sure the email came through for you. (It looks like they sent it Wed at around 11:30.) If for some reason that didn’t come through, please do get back in touch. You can call or email us from here: https://fresh.amazon.com/contact
Thanks again and enjoy those fonuts!
Check out that awesome Amazon customer service! Way to keep an eye out… 🙂
Paul, Thanks so much for replying to my post and looking into my customer service issue. I really appreciate it! I looked through my email and I did not receive anything from Amazon Fresh. I will send you a direct message so we can get this sorted out ASAP.
Thanks for the superb customer service!
Lindsay
Just saw the truck for it the other day in my area and as I’m already a prime member I’ll probably sign up for the 90 free trial. The $299 membership fee is steep, but it’s actually more like a $220 fee since that includes regular prime membership which is normally $79 anyhow. Somehow when it’s closer to the $200 mark, it seems a little closer to what is reasonable, especially since the pricing they have on their items seems to be very reasonable. Just compared their boneless skinless chicken breasts to what vons charges and amazon is $2 cheaper/lb.
What I think will happen is the same thing that happened when i first tried prime. I thought prime was kind of expensive when i first signed up for it, but they were offering a free trial for prime too – been a prime member for a couple years now and the yearly fee doesn’t seem so bad now. I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen with amazon fresh.
Yeah I’m not keen on all the plastic bags and styrofoam they use to pack the food. They take the reusable bags back, but don’t think they take back the styrofoam, right?
I am not sure on the styrofoam. I haven’t ordered consistently enough to keep the styrofoam around so I just put it in the recycle bin (and shiver while doing it. hate waste like that).
Yup, not keen on plastic bags they include but they do take the styrofoam back. You can set them at your next order (dilapidated and all) and they pick up the reusable bags and modular styrofoam box. 🙂
I hate to be the voice of dissent, but I have the trial membership right now, and I’m not impressed. The concept is great, but the price point is a problem. I’m not talking about the $300 annual fee–I can rationalize that as the convenience charge. I’m talking about the prices of the groceries themselves. My wife and I try to eat grass-fed and organic. Granted, that ups the charge anywhere, but a search for grass-fed ground beef on Amazon Fresh brings up an option from The Huntington Meats priced at $9.99/lb. To put this in perspective, we currently pay about $6.50/lb at Trader Joe’s for grass-fed ground beef. Even worse, I went to The Huntington Meats last weekend and asked how much a pound of grass-fed ground beef was. Their reply? $7.00. Amazon is selling the same product for $9.99; that’s about 30% higher than the price at the store. If users are made to pay a $300 annual fee for the service, they should not be subject to up-charges. If you’re money-conscious, this is not the service for you. They don’t have groceries at the price point of Trader Joe’s or other cost-effective stores. Plus, the $35 fee per order is off-putting. I really wanted to order a piece of fish from Santa Monica Seafood recently, but I didn’t need $35 worth, and I didn’t need to jack up my grocery charges with other items just to meet the order minimum, especially given that those items would be much cheaper elsewhere. I love the concept of Amazon Fresh, but it’s just not a smart option right now. I really hope they work on their pricing. If they start offering competitive prices, I’m in. Until then, the convenience just isn’t worth the cost.
Gary,
I hear you on the annual price point. I think the $35 minimum is reasonable considering what it takes to deliver food (especially perishables) to your doorstep. My free trial is up next month and I’m not sure I will purchase the annual package – I just don’t think the fee will pay for itself over time for me and my husband’s needs when we already have Amazon Prime (which I think is the best thing ever).
Lindsay
Hi Everyone,
If you signed up for a free trial of Amazon Fresh around the time I posted this, it is probably going to expire soon. So if you don’t want to pay the full $299 go check up on that.
Lindsay
You are so responsible! Good on you.
I look out for my peeps 🙂
So much waste! I just received my order which included the water bottles, modular boxes and loads of plastic bags inside the amazon bags. I can’t help but feel irritated about what to do with all of this. We’re currently under the free trial so it makes sense why they charge the fee. All of this packing must cost them an arm and a leg. I think I would rather go to the store. It will certainly help me save on the groceries themselves (they’re cheaper in store), avoid the membership fee, and bring back peace of mind by avoiding the ten pounds of plastic and styrofoam.
I found that a little annoying as well. I think they could have put more items in each bag as well. On the flip side, you can just put all the styrofoam and plastic bags in the cooler bags and they’ll take them back (and i assume re-use them).
That’s what I did; at the time of my trial, I found information on their website on how to return the styrofoam and bags so that it can be reused. I kept some bags, but returned all the styrofoam containers (they are modular and can be taken apart to fit several pieces in one bag). Also, I believe Los Angeles “recycles” styrofoam waste now.
Will dry goods groceries still be available under the Prime Membership.Amazon Fresh is only for only meats, vegetables,fruit…dinners,right?
Hi Sue! Yes, I believe they are.