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Desperately need something in a hurry and no shops have it? You can now order items from Amazon and have them in your hands just a few hours later with a new same-day collection service.
The new same-day collection option is called “Pass My Parcel”, and allows you to collect an item you’ve bought from a nearby shop after 4pm, as long as you placed the order before 11.45am. It’s free if you already pay for Amazon Prime, although only until the end of the year; for everyone else the service costs £5 for each order.
When your item arrives at the collection point you get a notification email, and all you have to do is front up with a code to identify your item.
The service is possible thanks to a deal between Amazon and newspaper and magazine distributor Smiths News. More than 500 newsagents and convenience stores are turned into collection points, joining the existing network of Collect+ shops and Amazon lockers, found in such handy locations as shopping centres and train stations.
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With Pass My Parcel, your order is technically available until midnight, but in practise that depends what time the shop in question shuts for the evening.
Alternatively, if you place an order up to 7.45pm then it will be available for collection the next morning with an Express Morning Collection option. Those orders will arrive at your collection point no later than 9am, so you can pick them up on your way to work. That option also costs £5, or it’s free for Amazon Prime subscribers.
