Amazon Pantry Shuts Down

Amazon has officially shut down its single large box service known as Pantry (also referred to as Prime Pantry) and shifted all the household goods it offered on to the main Amazon website instead.

Pantry launched back in 2014 and offered consumers a way to stock up on bulky, non-perishable household items including food, snacks, and cleaning products. There were some rules, though. A Pantry order had to fit within a single large box, with every item added to the order taking up a percentage of the space and then a set delivery fee of $5.99 paid. It therefore made sense to fill the box as best you could to offset the delivery cost. In 2018, a $5 subscription option was added for non-Prime members.

As to why Amazon decided to shut down the service, a spokeswoman explained in an email to Bloomberg that, "As part of our commitment to delivering the best possible customer experience, we have decided to transfer Amazon Pantry selection to the main Amazon.com store so customers can get everyday household products faster, without an extra subscription or purchase requirement."

A lot has happened since Pantry launched nearly seven years ago, which accounts for why Amazon questioned the continuing value of the service. We now have Amazon Fresh for grocery deliveries and Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market, which offers many of the same goods. Regular Pantry users can still buy all the same products direct from Amazon, but without the limit of a single box and many will now be saving $5 a month on the subscription they were paying to use it.

:story: PC Magazine