Walmart is canning a premium online ordering service and expanding its free shipping on various items instead:
Walmart announced free two-day shipping to home and stores on more than two million items, without a membership fee. The new offer is available starting at 8 a.m. EST today. With this announcement, Walmart has also lowered the minimum purchase required for free shipping to home to $35, from $50. Items being shipped to stores continue to have no price threshold.*
[...] Walmart's free two-day shipping will be available on the items customers shop the most, including household essentials such as baby necessities, pet products, food, like cereal and peanut butter, cleaning supplies and beauty favorites, as well as top electronics and toys.
[...] *Freight and marketplace are not included. Program is available in the contiguous United States.
Walmart recently bought Jet.com, an online e-commerce company with "an attractive brand with proven appeal, especially with Millennials, the first generation of true digital natives".
Meanwhile, Amazon is expanding its digital advertising business (before potential customers realize the scale of online ad fraud) and ordering the production of anime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 01 2017, @04:38AM
Seconded. I actually called customer service and asked about it the last time I ordered something sold by Amazon and was basically told as much. Such a shame, Amazon used to be so good at shipping. Now I try to buy from other sellers preferentially, even when I buy on Amazon, just to avoid the problem.