Amazon’s push to cut its delivery costs could mean more money in the pockets of its customers.
The online retail giant is offering select Prime customers $10 to pick up a purchase, rather than have it shipped to their home, Reuters reports.
Customers who place an order of $25 or more will receive the incentive if they opt to pick it up at a nearby Kohl’s, Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh store. It’s unclear if the money is a rebate to their order or an Amazon credit.
Amazon did not respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
The move comes as Amazon has been going through a round of belt-tightening in recent months. After laying off 18,000 employees in January, it cut another 9,000 jobs in late March. The company rose to prominence on fast, free shipping, but as it has transitioned to its own fleet of vehicles, that has increased its costs. And attempts to get a drone shipping program up and running have suffered repeated setbacks.
To help cover those costs, the company raised the price of its Amazon Prime subscription last year from $109 to $139. It has also raised minimum order demands on free grocery delivery and pushes alternative (typically slower) shipping options to customers at check-out, usually offering a token credit on digital downloads, such as Kindle books.
At the same time, it has also begun charging some customers for returns.
