Amazon’s Whole Foods Will Charge for Delivery Beginning Oct. 25

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s Whole Foods Market is implementing a grocery delivery fee across the U.S., rolling back a perk the retailer had offered for paying Prime members since it began offering home delivery from the organic grocer.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Wall Street Titans Warn of the Next Big Risks for Investors

• The Country That Makes Breakfast for the World Is Plagued by Fire, Frost and Drought

• The Unstoppable Appeal of Highway Expansion

• HSBC Bets Big on China as Pressure Mounts in London

• Why the Gaza Strip May Be the City of the Future

Shoppers who want home delivery from Whole Foods will be charged a $9.95 service fee on their orders beginning Oct. 25, a Whole Foods spokesperson said on Friday. Whole Foods started testing the delivery fee in several markets beginning in August.

“Growth of delivery drives operating costs that we do not want to shift to product prices,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Amazon, which bought the Austin, Texas-based grocer in 2017, spent the following years adding grocery delivery from Whole Foods stores. That service was offered at no charge to members of Amazon’s Prime program, which costs $119 a year in the U.S., on orders exceeding $35.

Two-hour delivery remains free for shoppers using Amazon’s Fresh grocery service.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• ‘Most Americans Today Believe the Stock Market Is Rigged, and They’re Right’

• A Tiny Piece of Plastic Is Helping Farmers Use Far Less Water

• The Energy Future Needs Cleaner Batteries

• Evergrande Debt Crisis Is Financial Stress Test No One Wanted

• Microsoft and an Army of Tiny Telecoms Are Part of a Plan to Wire Rural America

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.