Some Alberta residents who shell out $79-a-year for Amazon Prime are now getting better bang for their buck.
The online retailer announced Tuesday it has expanded its free one-day delivery service to members shipping to Calgary and Edmonton. Orders placed before 4 p.m. on qualifying item over $25 will now arrive the next day by 9 p.m., including on Saturdays and Sundays.
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The Seattle-based company said the option is available on over half a million products, including household items, clothes, cosmetics, movies and electronics. Items that are eligible for one-day delivery will be marked with a “Prime Free One-Day” icon. Users can also narrow down their one-day options using a filter.
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In Canada, an annual Amazon Prime subscription costs $79 per year after a 30-day free trial. It includes limited two-day shipping on some items; same-day and one-day delivery for Toronto and Vancouver; and one-day delivery for Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal. The subscription also includes a access to some digital games, digital photo storage on Amazon Drive — a similar service to Google Drive or Dropbox — and early access to deals.
As of late 2016, Canadian customers also have access to Amazon original TV content. The Amazon Prime Video — albeit with limited in content — move into the Canadian market came once the Rogers-Shaw streaming partnership Shomi was shut down last fall after struggling to compete with Netflix.
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While Canadians are getting more for their money, the options available are a far cry from the benefits American customers receive.
While Americans pay $20 more for their annual subscription, the $99-a-year comes with everything available to Canadians, plus unlimited streaming of non-Amazon movies and TV shows, including content from premium cable channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz.
The American subscription also includes unlimited access to thousands of digital books and magazines, and access to original content on Amazon’s Audible service.
There’s no word on if or when Amazon will make additional services available to Canadians.
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