As of this week, Amazon has halted the Amazon Pantry service (also known as Prime Pantry), likely due to other popular options like Subscribe & Save as well as Amazon Fresh eliminating the need for it. The service allowed Amazon customers to place bulk orders of household essentials, specific to the size of the delivery box.

The service has undergone a couple revisions over the years. Back in 2014 when it originally launched, customers would pay a $6 shipping fee to send up to 4 cubic feet (or 45 pounds) of products to their home. Presumably, easier to send bottled water and other heavy items to your home rather than pick it up at the grocery store.

During 2018, Amazon altered how the service worked by offering a $5 monthly subscription fee. This let customers place an unlimited number of orders without paying additional fees. Of course, customers had to place orders at least $40 or more each time. That subscription fee was also on top of Amazon Prime’s year cost.

If you are an existing Prime Pantry customer, considering shifting over to Amazon’s subscribe and save model, which sends a monthly delivery of items to your home without having to schedule anything. We post the best deals on subscribe and save items here. Any product ordered under S&S can be cancelled at any time.

Amazon ends Prime Pantry service

Rolled out within the last couple weeks, Amazon is adding onto the existing set of Prime perks offered by the online retail giant. Most recently, Amazon added the Prime Reading section; a subset of books and magazines that can be read for free.

The collection of titles is roughly over 1,000 and will continue to be rotated out with new reading material from month to month. To access the content, you will have to utilize the Kindle app for iOS or Android. You can also read the material on Amazon’s line of Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets.

This is a separate perk from the Kindle Lending Library, which allows Kindle owners to check-out one book per month from a larger collection of titles. It’s also separate from the Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service; a $10-per-month option that is like a Netflix for books.

During late September, Amazon launched a new perk for the gaming community. Twitch Prime is a new service that can be joined once you link your Twitch account to your Prime account. Amazon will remove all ads from Twitch and give you a free channel subscription ever 30 days.

On top of that, Twitch users will get exclusive emotes and more chat colors when using the service. Amazon is also include in-game loot for specific games as well as early access to some titles, another add-on if you have any interest in those specific games.

Related: 30 Amazon Hacks & Prime Perks That Will Save You Time & Money

New Amazon Prime Perks: Free e-books & Twitch streaming perks

Heard all the hub-bub about Walmart’s Amazon Prime competitor called ShippingPass? Attempting to do to what Amazon did in terms of recruiting loyal consumers, Walmart is trying to lure in consumers with a 2-day shipping service on Walmart.com.

Here’s everything you need to know:

How much does ShippingPass cost?

At the moment, Walmart is offering a 30-day free trial of the service. At the end of the trial period, you will be charged $49 per year to remain a member. This membership has an automatic renewal function, thus you will be required to sign into your Walmart.com account and cancel prior to the renewal date.

What benefits does ShippingPass offer?

You get free 2-day shipping on all eligible items, which are mainly focused on bestselling items in the Baby, Clothing, Electronics and Health & Beauty categories. On all other items that Walmart specifically sells, you will receive free value shipping with a delivery date that’s usually in 4 to 6 business days. Be aware that items sold by third parties (Walmart Marketplace) or items with freight charges will not qualify at all.

How do I know if an item qualifies for free 2-Day shipping?

Walmart is adding a green ShippingPass logo on those product pages. You can find it underneath the price on a product page. For instance, look at the example on the right. If the logo is not present on the page and is sold by Walmart, expect to get free shipping.

How many items on Walmart.com qualify for 2-day shipping?

Walmart estimates about 1 million items are eligible for the 2-day shipping perk with ShippingPass (in addition to free value shipping on all other items that Walmart sells). Alternatively, Amazon offers Prime 2-day shipping service on roughly 30 million items.

Do I have to order by a certain time to get 2-day shipping?

Yes. You have to order by 11 a.m. Pacific Time in order to secure processing on the same day as the order. Otherwise, processing will likely occur the following day and you will receive the item in three days instead of two. Walmart is also specific on those being business days, thus holidays and weekends may push the order back even more. (Walmart specifically mentions they don’t deliver on Sundays.)

Did ShippingPass used to be different?

Yes. When Walmart started the beta for ShippingPass, the retailer offered 3-day shipping at a cost of $50 per year. Since then, they upgraded that offer to 2-day shipping and shaved $1 off the yearly subscription price.

Can I share my membership with family members?

No. Unlike Amazon Prime, you cannot share your ShippingPass membership with family members. Members of your immediate family would have to log onto your Walmart.com account in order to place an eligible ShippingPass order.

Do I need an invitation to join ShoppingPass?

Not anymore. With the wide launch of the free trial this week, Walmart is opening up ShippingPass to the public. You can sign up through the retail site as well as within the Walmart mobile application on iOS and Android.

Will Walmart prorate a refund of ShippingPass if I cancel?

According to the FAQ page, it doesn’t appear so. Amazon will do this for customers that cancel Prime, basically offering a prorated refund of the months that you won’t be using Prime. However, Walmart appears to keep your full yearly fee if you use the ShippingPass shipping perk on just one order (and simply allow the one-year subscription period to run out the clock). If you haven’t used it on any orders, Walmart will refund your subscription fee.

How does Walmart’s ShippingPass compare to Amazon Prime?

While ShippingPass is half the price of Amazon Prime, Walmart is still trailing Amazon significantly in terms of benefits. Focusing solely on the shipping benefit, the catalog of eligible items is less than 4% of what Amazon offers. In addition, Amazon finds ways to deliver on the weekend in many areas as well as offer same-day delivery in some areas or two-hour delivery in some large cities.

Outside of shipping, Amazon offers a vast array of additional benefits with a Prime subscription including access to Amazon Instant Video for a Netflix-like service, Prime Music streaming, unlimited photo storage, discounts on game preorders, early access to Lightning sales, access to the Kindle Lending Library and membership sharing within a household.

What is Walmart ShippingPass? 10 Things You Should Know

Just a heads up, Amazon has changed the sharing options of the Prime membership as of August 1, 2015.  Prior to August, Amazon Prime members could share their accounts with any four people that resided in the same household. The relationship didn’t matter, but the sharing was limited to the free 2-day shipping perk. That meant roommates, friends that lived together could take advantage of the shipping perk.

As of now, Amazon is limiting sharing to two adult accounts (primary and likely spouse) in the household and up to four children (non-accounts). The main caveat to sharing between the two adults is that all credit and debit cards associated with the accounts can be viewed by the other party and copied from one account to the other. That’s perfectly fine for spouses, but it can get trickier when roommates or other adult family members want to be linked to the main account.

FYI, this change currently isn’t retroactive. So you are splitting the cost of Amazon Prime among roommates, don’t make any changes to your account to continue the two-day shipping perk sharing. However, if you are signing up for a new account or making any changes to your current account, these restrictions will be enforced. It’s possible Amazon could also enforce these restrictions when a Prime membership is renewed.

Amazon has branded this policy shift as setting up an Amazon Household account. Access for children (up to four) doesn’t actually require an account for each child; it’s more for access to the media content libraries on Amazon Instant Video, Kindle Lending Library, etc… Those Prime perks will be shareable among the entire family as well as perks related to discounted baby items within the Amazon Mom program.

Amazon Prime just got harder to share with family, roommates