Has anyone actually used this? Every time that logo pops up when I'm searching for supplies on Amazon I get reminded that I have no idea why I'd go for it. $6 shipping and wonky delivery times? Why? I can buy the same item get it shipped same day free.
Looks like if you use code pantryoct you get free shipping. I've never used prime pantry but we use subscribe and save for cat food.
@hollboll i read that as panty oct. No point to this story, just felt like sharing.
@DaveInSoCal that'd get you a very different discount.
@hollboll Same on the cat food though that only compounds the confusion as to why I'd bother with pantry.
@DaveInSoCal @hollboll hopefully it's a "clean" discount...
@hollboll I wish my dog food was on subscribe and save....mostly so I don't have to remember to reorder it. Although even at that it is hella convenient to have them deliver my 40lb bag of dog food to my door in 2 days
@chellemonkey It's definitely nice for litter too but they won't leave it at our door. They always deliver it to main office which makes it tough because I have to race home and get it before they close.
Wondering the same thing, thanks for asking. They keep giving me pantry credits for choosing slower shipping, but in have yet to use any.
@KDemo @drunkcat @hollboll Prime pantry is similar to your grocery store shopping, Basically they've assigned items a % of fill for the box, sometimes due to size sometimes due to weight. (if you buy soda it's really a big % but it's due to weight) Items aren't really in bulk it's made to get one of's like a 12 pack of soda instead of a case. Certain items have been moved to Pantry only (surge soda) from Amazon directly. Amazon does different coupons for pantry over the regular amazon shopping.
I've used it a few times to get some random items that are cheaper in pantry over regular amazon. It's usually smaller counts of kcups or small 12 oz. peanut butter. The boxes they come in have amazing handles.
@sohmageek - So you have order enough to fill the box before they'll ship?
@KDemo no, but if you order 4 things of soda it's over the weight, so you have to pay shipping for 2 boxes. Shipping is per box. It ships normal prime I believe. Usually it comes Ups/FedEx, occasionally it's sent USPS. :( If you complain about USPS delivering your pantry items if you live in an apartment complex like me they will generally put a note to ship UPS/FedEx instead of USPS (they have keys to deliver to my front door, USPS if it doesn't fit in the box and I don't get to the front of the building it gets sent to the PO and I have to pick it up)
@sohmageek How long is the delivery on average?
@DrunkCat I find it between my normal prime 2 day shipping and 5 day depending on what I buy. And I live in Vt where everything seems slow to get to me
@KDemo After 90 minutes in support with their reps, supposedly you can only use either 1 or 2 of those $5 vouchers per order, depending on which rep you talk to. So, it will cover shipping if you have 2 of them (and if it lets you do it).
@luvche21 I have been able to use 2 per order.
I've used it once:
Using slower shipping with Prime gave me a $5 voucher per time I used it. So I did it 6 times in a week or so for a $30 voucher, so I thought I'd give it a shot. After 90 minutes of chatting with reps, they actually honored the voucher they gave me. I got cereal, chips, cookies, coconut flakes, walnuts, etc. I also got free shipping by ordering overpriced cereal. It was pretty lame overall and I will never use it again.
However, it was kind of cool to get a big box of food delivered to my doorstep.
Everything was overpriced on top of having to (normally) pay $6 for shipping. I even checked prices with Walmart (the only grocery store that I know that has prices online), and they were more expensive every time.
@luvche21 This and your response to me above are helpful. I had some sale moisturizer and lip balm in my cart, I won't bother now. I think my credits were only $2 each IIRC. Thanks! And thanks @sohmageek.
@luvche21 I do find the items a bit more retail prices than discount prices when shopping in pantry. However some of the coupons make it really worth it. Or if you can't get an item in your area and this is the only way to get it (surge soda)
@sohmageek Surge is no bawls.
@DrunkCat agreed I was pissed when that stopped being offered with prime shipping. A long time ago (10 years I think) bawls pulled out of New England. I was able to get it at target in New York but it seems to have left their shelves too. I know one of he pa shops pulled it due to a better deal with red bull if they didn't carry bawls.
@sohmageek Couponing is a good point. I used some site (sortbyprime.com or something?) to find a couple coupons within Pantry. Even with that it still wasn't worth it overall. I don't do much specialty shopping anyway though, so for me that doesn't matter.
@sohmageek Fucking redbull. :(
Have ordered 5 or so Prime Pantry orders. Prices are slightly above retail. Think of it as a typical "order groceries online" getup and less of a "Amazon is a discount retailer" getup. When you compare to other online grocery services, pricing is about the same. Depending on where you live and how often you shop and what you buy, there may be savings in time for you. Some items are a very good deal. Some items are soso. Some items are awful and should not be bought online.
Too much hassle if you live in a competitive brick and mortar market. Would rather spend the energy snagging local loss-leaders since a lot of the stuff we'd normally get via Pantry is available cheaply, locally that way.
Love the reliable way Amazon delivers stuff but now that we pay Amazon sales tax in our state, all other things equal (already driving by the stores), we prefer to buy local when it is feasible.
I suppose it is nice of Amazon to allow you to trade the fast shipping you paid for with Prime for other services tho.
@RedOak To be fair... if you're an hour or so away from the grocery store it could be for you... (my grandparents live in the middle of no where and had to get hughes net to get internet...)
@sohmageek that would not be: "you live in a competitive brick and mortar market"
It is true many folks don't realize it costs anywhere from 20-60 cents/mile to drive their car depending on how you calculate. We even factor this in when evaluating whether it is worth driving a few extra miles to get the best gas price/deal in our market: SAMs, paid with our 5% cash back SAMs MC.
@RedOak - Buying local could benefit your community as well, depending on where you shop.
@RedOak Same here. Driving half an hour to save $5 isn't worth it - in vehicle cost or time lost.
@Thumperchick we're lucky where we live - plenty of nearby competition makes pantry look expensive.
@RedOak I have a hybrid SUV and installed a bluetooth OBDII device so I can monitor the actual cost per trip. I enter the price of gas, weight of the vehicle, and other factors and found that it takes about $1.60 to drive to Target and back and that is about 8 miles away.
I've used the OBDII information to change the way I drive. The car is 3 1/2 years old and I just broke 10,000 miles. If I need to go to a particular store, I plan to go there along with other stores in the same area. I will even postpone going there until I need more items to make it worthwhile.
@cengland0 That's cool. Been playing around with OBDII bus devices as well. You're putting less than a third of the miles on that vehicle per year vs. the average vehicle!
The price of the gas is just part of the cost to drive tho. Depending on how much of the cost you want to amortize you need to include vehicle depreciation, maintenance, insurance, etc... Those factors will make your low-miles driving look pretty expensive per mile vs. someone who drives a lot of miles. I'm wondering how vehicle weight is used in the cost/mile calculations?
The instantaneous MPG digital gauges on newer cars are pretty excellent educators in driving efficiency behavior. And after decades of driving cars, I've also found the way you drive a car (aggressively vs. smoothly) very noticeably impacts its durability.
@RedOak Just a comment about that instantaneous MPG gauge in the car, I have one of those too but it isn't really that accurate. One of my neighbors is a service manager at a huge dealership and tells me that it works by measuring the vacuum somewhere. It doesn't actually measure fuel consumption.
@cengland0 Take it from someone that learned this the hard way - tires dry rot when a vehicle is rarely driven. 5 - 6 years is about it, so stay safe and watch your tires for signs of aging, even with plenty of tread life. Thankfully no one was hurt, but our truck had a lot of damage when a tire disintegrated on the interstate.
@cengland0 yes, I'm aware instantaneous MPG readings are not very accurate. I worked for a global automotive company for 25 years. But as I said, the readouts are very useful in encouraging smooth, energy-saving driving.
That said, the average MPG calculations in our Hondas have even pretty accurate.
@cengland0 Is that with your phone, what model and what OBDII device? I've been looking to try to figure that out for me too... My car's instrument panel's MPG doesn't match my miles/gallons if you do the math out... (it's usually only off by .5-1 MPG and usually evens out after 3 fillups... but it's annoying) I've got an iPhone and a 2014 Prius V... Which needs the plastics in the front fixed to get better gas mileage again... but I don't think I can justify $1000-1500 on plastics to save 1-2 MPG, when my range is 40-52 MPG in the summer and 35-42 MPG in the winter (I guess it would really help in the winter though, but I doubt it.)...
I already overinflate the tires (44 PSI instead of 35, nothing crazy like 50-60's) and try to make sure I'm driving safely but in electric mode... (NOTE: I'm not one of the prius drivers that will stay at 39.5 on a 40 road to stay in electric, but I will try to slow down sooner to a red light so by the time I'd stop I'm hitting the gas again.)
@Pamtha the tire-age risk is certainly real and ignored by most, but the how the tires have been maintained, driven on, and exposed to the sun are more critical.
So tires that have been driven under inflated or on a car parked outside in intense sun-states will age a lot faster than properly maintained tires on a car that has been garaged at home and at the office and located in a more temperate state.
General American laziness in automotive maintenance lead to the industry 5-year tire life recommendations.
@cengland0 I've also since getting the hybrid been putting more miles on my car... I moved closer to work so it's 3.5 miles to work... but Daycare is on the other side of town. (switching daycare wouldn't be cost effective compared to the price and value we get at this daycare) But... I end up putting about 18-20 miles a day for my work-home commute. I've had the car a little over a year and put 11K miles already.
@sohmageek I work from home so my commute every day is from my bedroom to my office with a stop in the kitchen for coffee. I drive to the gym 6 days a week and do some shopping once a week but that's about it.
Regarding the device, there are a lot of knock offs out there so I would get the original direct from the company. Use the OBD2 ELM327 device. http://www.bafxpro.com/obdreader/ If you decide to get it elsewhere, be sure they have a good return policy. My research shows that the kockoffs are missing a lot of components and many do not work. It was $23.99 when I bought mine and Amazon had it for the same price so there was no reason for me to take a chance of getting one that didn't work.
Regarding the software, you can use Torque but it is not as good as the paid version Torque Pro. Highly recommend the pro version. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.prowl.torque
@cengland0 just gonna throw fuelly.com out there for the people who like statistics about driving and mpg.
Here's my dashboard:
@djslack I stopped using it about 6 months ago... but it was one of the tools I was using.
@cengland0 any suggestion for iOS users? That or a cheap android phone for wifi only use for it? Looks like one of the cheapest ones from Tmobile directly is the LG optimus F6 ($80) I'd prefer not to pay $80, but having the LTE band 2 could mean I could use it as a Hotspot for where I had service (Using a phone on the family plan I have (10 GB of data for $20 + tax a month) is cheaper than buying a hotspot...)
@sohmageek Not an expert with iPhones but doing a quick search revealed Engine Link, that at a quick glance, looks similar. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/engine-link-obd-ii-vehicle/id591557194?mt=8
The Hardware should be the same because it's bluetooth and should be able to connect to any bluetooth enabled phone or tablet. There are comments where people specifically state it works with the ELM327 scanner.
@sohmageek 0.5-1 MPG car computer accuracy is not bad for a system that cannot see the actual pump gallons added to your tank.
While manually tracking and calculating is required if you want higher accuracy (gotta have the actual gallons added number), your car computer readings are still very useful to indicate efficiency and hint whether something is not functioning correctly. For example to alert you something needs attention whether it be your (or family member's) driving habits or a vehicle maintenance issue.
@RedOak when I noticed I was hitting the normal mileage for my car (40-44 was what it's rated at) it made me realize I needed to check air pressure. Yup in 9 months the tires were back to 32. But I suspect it had more to do with the shop I took it into didn't say they checked the air pressure. But I suspect they did. I really get pissed when they add windshield wiper fluid then charge you for it. Unless it's cheaper than the brand I prefer to use don't do it! (I like the rain-x fluid which is about 2-3/gallon. When they put the blue shit in and charge me 3.25/gallon I want to scream.)
@RedOak @Cengland0 do you guys full tank then run it down or put $5-10 here and there or kee at a certain level before filling up. I find the "best" mpg is the last 4 gallons (technically should still have 2 in the tank when I fill up, but I don't count on them being there) of my tank. Which makes sense less weight... Yes this is from doing the paper math of fill up 5 gal or fill up 9 gal (11 gal tank/bladder)
@sohmageek yah, I hate that washer fluid charge as well. I got into a habit of filling it prior to maintenance visits.
Then we found a great local garage that does all the fluids for their flat oil change/maintenance package price.
You're smart to hawk the tire pressure for tire longevity, not just fuel economy. Even tho we have a big air compressor in the garage I don't check often enough.
Good thinking on not driving around with a full tank of gas. But that's one where we go with convenience (fewer runs to SAMs) and fill up. We do run it down below a 1/4 tank tho. Gas weighs about 6 lbs/gallon so depending on the car/person that's like hauling around another person.
I used to keep more "just in case stuff" in the cars as well but cut back to save haul-around weight. That Nissan/Infinity emergency tool/booster cable kit sold by Meh last year sits in all our cars.
Shoulda-coulda's don't count but we should have spun this into a separate thread! ;-)
@RedOak yeah. Just a bit. But oh well.
@RedOak do you have a link to that meh item. I can't remember seeing that
@sohmageek I lost my mehginity on it. 10 bucks each. Got 3 of them. Better than expected in some ways (booster cables, case) and worse in others (fairly crappy other stuff). But a nice deal.
https://meh.com/deals/luxurious-emergency-roadside-kit
@sohmageek It is probably more efficient to drive around with less gas but it's less convenient for me. I can tell the difference in performance and gas mileage when the tank is full versus almost empty but I don't like it going less than a 1/4 tank so I'll fill it all the way up. I don't mind pay a little extra for the convenience of fewer trips to the gas station.
@cengland0 @RedOak see on a full tank I get 420-500 miles (10-11 gals at 40-55 mpg) I just filled up yesterday and reset the trip meters. It looks like it had been almost 1000 miles since my last full fillup that will lay me (typically) 2 weeks. (I was pretty close to my "empty" it took 9 gallons) my thing now is get the gas before "winter blends" also I like the whole less gass in the tank better mileage. (Plus when I do it I've been putting $10 or 5 gallons which is putting me pretty darn close to full anyway. Gas prices are about $2.22 right now here) In the manual it had a list of gas brands that work best with my car. I have not been using the cheapest gas anymore as I've noticed 2-5 mpg lost on their gas. I tend to only use Exxon/Mobil & Shell. I prefer Shell but it's usually $.10 more without any real returns in gas mileage. (Plus up until recently my Exxon credit card was getting me 1% off.)
@sohmageek From what I heard, the brand of gas shouldn't make any difference. The specific companies all use the same gas but might put different additives in it. I used to only by Shell gas but now that I'm wiser, I get the cheapest gas, usually at Sams Club or BJ's Warehouse. I never make a special trip, I just fill it up the next time I'm there and notice I'm running low. I only need to fill it up every 6 weeks or so with the little bit of driving that I do.
Now it's a different story for my lawn mower, edger, and trimmer. I only put non-ethanol gas in those things. It's nearly $4/gallon but worth it because there is less maintenance on the equipment. Good friends own a small engine repair center and they tell me all the carbs that get damaged due to ethanol and that is a major source of their income :) I think it's worse for engines that do not get used daily so the gas just sits there.
@sohmageek two factors might make the full tank vs less than half full thing an issue:
(1) that weight difference will impact a lighter vehicle more since it is a higher percentage of the total vehicle weight.
(2) in a high MPG vehicle, you'll be carrying around that extra weight for more miles.
So I'd probably determine what range vs. convenience (frequency of gas stops) balance you want and fill to a level according to that desire.
A side issue: in humid and high temperature swing locations, keeping the tank full minimizes condensation (water) getting mixed with your fuel. Perhaps more critical for a car that will sit for a long period of time.
@sohmageek Agreed with @cengland0. Until someone shows me controlled, scientific testing proving otherwise, any respectable brand fuel will yield the same MPG.
My uncle used to run Middle East oil exploration for a major oil company. He laughed when asked what brand is best? He puts the cheapest brand in his cars.
"Respectable" means from a station that sells a lot of fuel (so it isn't sitting) and appears to be decently maintained. The additives added before the depot loads the trucks might vary a bit, but not enough to yield measurable, repeatable MPG differences.
In our area the fuel deal is most often SAMs gas charged to a SAMs MasterCard (5% cash back on SAMs or any free-standing gas station).
@cengland0 for older lawn equipment or generators we also strive to avoid ethanol mix gas. One way is to get gas from a marina (crazy expensive).
We also live fairly close to a car company tech center. There is a very low alcohol mix (2-4%) station nearby. And there are tons of folks in the area who own classic cars (And don't want them ruined.)
Or use the PureGas app. It strives to show you where you can find alcohol free gas. Tougher and tougher!
@RedOak Forgot to mention my generators. I use the same non-ethanol gas in those too. I'm even told by my small engine repair experts to make sure you start those generators once a month to avoid it gumming up. Stabilizer helps but doesn't prevent from gaskets and other rubber/plastic items rotting with the ethanol.
Since I live a couple miles from the east coast, we have a couple marina-style gas stations that sell the ethanol free gas. It is expensive but I haven't had to maintain any of my equipment since I transitioned to it. Prior to using it, I ended up replacing my lawn equipment every 5 years. Sometimes the carb costs $60-$80 and there is no warranty for the parts. I was buying new mowers for $150 and get a 2 year warranty. Nice to not having to buy one for such a long time.
Some good generators run on propane or natural gas. You can fill up your tank and leave it there for several decades and the gas doesn't go bad.