Amazon Will Try Prime In Poor, Minority Neighborhoods

(RTTNews) - Amazon.com Inc. intends to bring its free same-day delivery to the Bronx and Chicago's South Side areas.

The online retailer's plans comes after severe criticism were raised that the company unfairly left out some predominantly black and Hispanic areas from its Prime service.

An analysis done by Bloomberg revealed that Amazon's service showed varying degrees of racial disparities in the 21 cities where its Prime delivery is available.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush had termed the implementation of same-day delivery service for the company's Prime members "disparate and, seemingly, discriminatory."

Amazon said that several factors determine the availability of same-day delivery, such as the total number of Prime members and fulfillment center locations.

Amazon Prime membership, which costs $99 a year, gives customers free same-day service among other services.