Amazon opens online grocery back up to more customers

From CNET: Amazon said it's removed its waitlist for online grocery deliveries and pickup in most cities, a change that will allow more customers to get their food delivered to their homes during the coronavirus crisis.

The e-commerce heavyweight a month ago said new Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods customers would have to sign up for an invitation to use these online services and would be notified when they can shop. The change, it had said, was necessary to respond to "unprecedented" demand, as well as restricted capacity due to social distancing measures. The company had said it would work to increase its capacity and invite new customers every week.

"We've removed the invite list in most cities, and more than 80% of eligible Prime members are able to shop without requesting an invitation," an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement late Tuesday. "We continue inviting new customers every week."

The change comes just after Amazon earlier Tuesday confirmed it was speeding up its delivery times, following long delays, and was able to manage more goods coming into its warehouses. All these changes point to Amazon now slowly moving back to more normal operations, after it struggled to respond to a surge in customer orders and add in 150 new safety protocols for its workers during the pandemic.

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