Amazon Offering Select Shoppers $10 to Pick Up Their Orders

Amazon.com is offering some customers an incentive to pick up their orders in-store rather than have it delivered to a home address as shipping costs soar, Reuters first reported Monday. The e-commerce giant sent emails to a number of Amazon Prime subscribers promising them $10 if they picked up any of their orders worth at least $25 at certain stores like Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, or Kohl's. A spokesperson for Amazon told Business Insider that the $10 pickup promotion is a "long-running program as a benefit to customers who want to try a convenient and secure offering to pick up their packages."

Total Retail's Take: Retailers have been cutting back on offering free shipping and returns to combat the increasing prices demanded from delivery companies. Strategic changes being introduced by retailers include raising the order threshold for qualifying for free shipping, reducing the speed of delivery, adding fees for faster shipping, and raising the prices of subscriptions that include free shipping.

In fact, Amazon started charging a fee for some returns made at UPS Stores last month. Other retailers that have decided to charge customers in some fashion for product returns include Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, DSW, J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, REI, Zara, among others. As costs increase, expect to see more retailers finding ways to protect their bottom lines by passing off some of the burden to consumers.