Amazon Amazon announced Instant Pickup in August 2017, offering instant purchasing much like a vending machine. It started with five Pickup locations and announced plans to expand. Amazon has now quietly ended the program, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Amazon is still keeping and expanding the Pickup locations, which now have the same functionality without the instant offering. A year ago, Amazon debuted a new way to pick up items within minutes of ordering them, calling it Instant Pickup.