Amazon has launched a same-day delivery service right here the UK.
The retail giant already offered the ability to pick up parcels from local shops via its Pick-Up Location initiative, but now it's offered the ability to speed that process up.
It's now possible to order a parcel before 11:45 in the morning and pick it up later that day from 4pm, though naturally the pick-up time will be limited by the opening hours of the cooperating shops.
For the new initiative, Amazon has partnered with newspaper and magazine distributor Smiths News to deliver parcels to some 500 newsagents and shops around the UK, all of which will carry the 'Pass my Parcel' branding to distinguish them. Amazon will also utilise the lockers it has been installing at train stations.
Customers who order items before 7:45pm will also be able to pick them up from 6:30am the next morning in what Amazon is calling its Express Morning service.
Amazon's new same-day delivery service will be free for Prime subscribers until the end of the year, and will cost £4.99 per delivery for non-members - though this too is only "for a limited time."
"This is our fastest pick-up service yet," said Christopher North, Managing Director of Amazon.co.uk Ltd. "We know that Prime customers love fast delivery and the convenience to pick up their order at a time and place that suits them best. This new service brings together both of those great benefits."
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