Technology

Here’s What You Need to Know Now That Google Express is in Town

NYT

By Erin Connolly

October 15, 2014

1 minute to read

Just in time for the holidays, Google Express has arrived in Boston making it one of seven cities to get same-day deliveries for online orders.

Google Express teamed up with 16 stores including Stop & Shop, Barnes & Noble, Guitar Center, Whole Foods, and Payless to offer free, quick delivery. Customers pay either $95 a year or $10 per month, and there’s a free trial to test it out for three months.

If you’re an avid online shopper, or just kind of lazy, this may be worth trying out. In any event, here’s what you need to know about the service.

You can sign up for Express membership, which costs $95 per year or $10 per month orders and comes with same day delivery for free (although there’s an additional $3 fee for orders under $15).

You can use the service without a membership. If you would prefer to shop order-by-order, you can. If you want something delivered the same day, it will run you $4.99 per order, and $7.99 for orders under $15. If you shop online frequently, the $10 a month might be a better option than paying the standard delivery rate each time.

You’ll have to use a Google Wallet account. This is basically just a fancy name for providing Google with your billing address and credit or debit card number.

The orders are delivered via Prius sedans or Ford Transit Vans with the Google Express logo of a parachute on the side.

This all comes, of course, with a giant Amazon-shaped elephant lurking in the back of the room.

Currently, Amazon’s Prime service charges $99 per year for members to get free two-day shipping on their orders. For same-day shipping, members pay $5.99. Right now, that’s a little pricier than Google’s service.

While Amazon offers shipping pretty much everywhere, Google Express is available in San Francisco, Peninsula & San Jose, West Los Angeles, Manhattan, Chicago, Washington D.C., and (of course) in Boston.