Amazon Prime Pantry delivers groceries 45 Pounds for $5.99

Photo(Truman Lewis @ ConsumerAffairs) The day wouldn't be complete without Amazon expanding into some new market segment. Today it's home delivery of groceries.

Amazon is announcing something called Prime Pantry, which will let Amazon Prime customers order as many groceries and household items as can be stuffed into a 45-pound box. Unlike other Prime services, there will be a delivery charge -- a flat $5.99, regardless of how full the box is.

PhotoHow do you know when the box is full? A little icon shows you how full your box is as you add items. 

But, you say, you can already order all kinds of grocery and household items from Amazon. Yes, you can, and many of them qualify for free two-day shipping for Prime members.

But many other items aren't currently offered under Prime -- like soda, bottled water or canned foods, simply because they're too heavy to ship for nothing.

It's not quite clear whether Amazon has added a raft of new products or if it is simply offering a more economical way to ship bulkier items. But unless you're heavily into body-building, there's nothing wrong with letting someone else lug cartons of soft drinks, bottled water and laundry detergent from the curb to your front door.  

On the negative side, we tried to put together a test order but the selection was so limited that we couldn't find 45 pounds worth of anything we wanted. In the sorely lacking department: iced tea in big bottles, coffee beans that aren't Starbucks, big bottles of decent olive oil, snack bars from somebody other than Kashi and so on.

Maybe the selection will improve with time but for now it's very white bread, so to speak.