Amazon suspends Prime Pantry to handle its backlog of orders
If you’re looking to order food online while you’re holed up at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak, you won’t be able to do so through Amazon’s Prime Pantry for now. The company has paused new orders through the service, which offers household and non-perishable pantry items, for now as it fulfills its backlog.
The Prime Pantry website has a notice that reads “Pantry is temporarily closed. We are busy restocking.” It’s not accepting new orders because of high order volumes. For now, you can’t add items that are listed as “Ships & Sold from Pantry” to your cart. However, Amazon said people who are waiting on recent Prime Pantry orders will receive them.
It’s not clear when Amazon will reopen the service, but it’s “working with our partners to get these items back in stock as quickly as possible.” Prime Pantry is a bit of a niche option, as you can still order food from Amazon via Amazon Fresh, Prime Now, Whole Foods and the grocery and household category, all of which have a broad range of items. But, as CNBC reports, Amazon is also warning Prime Now shoppers that there’s limited delivery availability in some areas.
The company said last week it would temporarily hire 100,000 people to stay on top of a coronavirus-related surge in demand. But it’s still straining to keep up, and many Prime deliveries have been delayed.
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