Costco is teaming up with Instacart to offer a one-hour prescription-delivery service

• Costco is teaming up with Instacart to offer a one-hour prescription-delivery service.
• The news was first reported by CNBC's Christina Farr on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Instacart confirmed CNBC's report in an email to Business Insider.
• This service is currently being piloted in California and Washington. Costco members in those states can order their prescriptions via the Instacart app and have them sent out free if they spend over $35.
• This new service puts Costco in prime position to compete with Amazon, which recently acquired online prescription-delivery startup Pillpack.
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Costco is offering a new perk for its members in Washington and California.

According to a new report from CNBC's Christina Farr, the warehouse chain has partnered with Instacart to offer a one-hour prescription-delivery service. A spokesperson for Instacart confirmed the news in an email to Business Insider.

Costco members in those states will be able to order their prescriptions via the app and have them sent out free in an hour if they spend over $35. For anything below that amount, there's a delivery charge that varies depending on how speedy you want the delivery to be, according to CNBC.

Instacart already offers a delivery service for Costco groceries. In this case, workers would collect the items a customer has ordered on the app and then drop these without any questions asked. But with prescriptions, customers will be required to show their ID to confirm their identity before receiving an order. Moreover, any workers that deliver medication have to have passed HIPAA certification training, according to an Instacart spokesperson.

A representative for Costco did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

This new service would put Costco in prime position to compete with Amazon, which recently acquired online prescription-delivery startup Pillpack for $1 billion.

Costco is known as one of the few retailers that has successfully managed to stave off the threat of Amazon, despite the fact that shoppers say it lags behind from an e-commerce perspective. Experts say that it's the other benefits Costco offers - cheap gas and deals on vacations and cars - that help keep customers loyal, as well as its bargain prices.

By adding more services such as prescription delivery, Costco encourages members to continue to stay loyal to the store.