Last week, I placed my first order with Amazon Prime Pantry. As a bargain shopper (and borderline cheapskate), I’ve been skeptically keeping my distance. But after trying it, I’m pretty impressed and think I’ll try it again from time to time.
Here’s what I noticed, what I didn’t like, and what I DID like.
What I noticed:
Not everything is a good deal.
In fact, many things aren’t. But some things are great deals (here’s a link where you can browse everything they have on sale), and some of those great deals even have coupons with them.
I really like coupons. 🙂Â
The toothbrushes were my favorite deal. It was a 6-pack of Colgate toothbrushes, for $3.75, with a $1.25 coupon. That’s a GREAT deal for an item we use a relatively large quantity of, on a regular basis.
What I didn’t like:
I didn’t like that there was a list of “qualifying” items that I had to pick from, in order to receive the free shipping. (Otherwise, it would have been a $5.99 fee, which definitely encouraged me to go ahead and find 1 or 2 other things we needed, since I figured I was gonna spend that $5.99 either way.)
Toward the end, it felt like I ended up rummaging, trying to find SOMETHING useful to buy.
What I DID like:
I like that in the end I *did* find plenty of items, at good prices, to make it worthwhile to place the order. These were things we’d have ended up buying anyway, elsewhere, and most likely for higher prices.
Most of these items pictured had a coupon, so the prices don’t reflect the actual price paid:
IN THE COMMENTS, please share:Â Do you order groceries and toiletries online? Have you used Amazon or do you use another site?
Thanks for the review! I am an Amazon Prime member, and I got a prime pantry credit by choosing slower shipping on an order recently, but haven’t felt like digging through the deals to find stuff that’s worth it yet. I think it could be, like you say, on items you’re going to buy anyway, and I did see a few things as I was looking that made it worth it too. I also like that it can just arrive at my door, no store shopping needed! Maybe as it catches on they’ll be able to offer more items & better deals too.
I can only have organic due to health issues, so I order a lot of groceries/toiletries through http://www.thrivemarket.com. Thrive Market is like an online Costco health-food store. They have free shipping for orders over $49, frequent free gifts with orders over a certain amount, and donate free memberships to families in need to make healthy food accessible to them, too.
I use Amazon religiously, because I hate going to town. 😀 I’ve found with shopping online (Amazon or Azure Standard), that the more you use it, the more useful it becomes. Prime Pantry has a LOT of stuff and that’s increasing, and the more I use it the more I find I don’t have to scramble to find things to fill the box. And yes, if you choose slower shipping on some (non-Pantry) orders, then it offers a $5 Pantry credit, which is your shipping right there (almost). For me, it’s entirely worth learning the ins and outs of online shopping– it’s not as an additional resource to real stores, but as a substitute, which saves me gas (we’re half an hour out) and HOURS of loading up kids and hauling them around. Taking that into account, since I literally never go to the store anymore (DH picks up the three items we buy in town, still), the price differences can be a little higher and still save me money.
Good to know. I use Prime so I’ll be on the lookout for that “slower shipping” credit thing. Haven’t seen that yet.
I usually place an order on Vitacost every few months for some soaps and pantry items. I haven’t tried Amazon pantry yet, though I order through prime all the time. I think the main holdup is how much time it takes to wade through things. I feel like I’m wasting my time trying to figure it out/get enough in my cart when there are more pressing things to do. Though perhaps if I did the work it would be worth it since I’m sure it would get easier the more I did it.
It’s true; their system isn’t very efficient. I feel like if there was a list with checkboxes next to supplies, instead of having to go into a separate page for each item, that could be easier. I need to play around with it and see if there’s a more efficient way to shop than what I did this last time.
I use Amazon Prime Pantry because I currently don’t have a car making it difficult to buy everything I need in one trip while walking.I love it and I can always find something useful that qualifies for the free shipping. We have more food in the house thanks we did when we had a car and we don’t have to carry it in the house.I can get heavy laundry detergent delivered and it costs about the same as the store.
It’s great to have this option for times like that. I seriously am contemplating dropping my Costco membership and transferring my use of their supplies to Amazon. The main “awesome deal” thing I buy at Costco is their Kirkland brand laundry detergent, b/c it’s such an excellent deal. So I’ll look into the prices on Amazon.
Thanks for weighing in!
Wow what a scam post just to make money linking your referral code to click bait people. Amazon prime has been around for a long time and your just now learning about about trying to make money from other people by clicking your links.
Hmm well I’m sorry you feel that way, but no… I actually *did* just try Prime Pantry for the first time (even if it’s been around for a while, I’ve not tried it because– as I said– I’ve been skeptical). Until I saw a friend share the deal on toothbrushes, I had never considered that there could be really GOOD deals available there.
So I tried it.
Then I decided, hmm, I have this collection of readers who are busy moms like me who want to save money… so, I’ll write about it.
Pretty straightforward.
I’ve been blogging for over 10 years now and if I wanted to “click bait” people I’d have changed my blogging style long ago, to nonsense titles and pointing everyone to income-generating links. I’d be signing up for affiliate programs right and left and prodding people to sign up for courses here, there, and everywhere so I could earn a buck.
As it is, I promote things I believe can help moms who have similar goals to mine. Amazon Prime & Amazon Pantry *can* be part of that strategic approach to motherhood, and so I wrote about it. Hope that helps clear things up.
~Jess