Amazon expands Prime Now to two new cities

The online retailer’s ultra-fast delivery service will now be available in Baltimore and Miami.    Online shoppers in select Baltimore and Miami zip codes can now receive their Amazon purchases in one hour thanks to the retailer’s expansion of its Prime Now service to those cities.
   At a time when other retailers are trying to figure out how to compete with same-day service, Amazon is pushing the envelope further.
   The ultra-fast delivery option started out for Prime members in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Prime is a premium Amazon membership which provides free two-day shipping for many items, plus unlimited access to streaming video and a huge music library, and unlimited photo storage in Amazon’s Cloud Drive, for $99 a year.
   Amazon said popular items for rush delivery include water, paper towels and toys.
   The company also said Prime Now will soon expand to more zip codes in Baltimore and Miami. Prime Now is available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Two-hour delivery is free and one-hour delivery costs $7.99.