When Amazon this month said that it would start offering same-day delivery for free, it seemed to make perfect sense. If you’ve got a new service that customers are reluctant to try, making it free is a good come-on.

The problem is the extensive restrictions on the service — for starters, it applies to a tiny segment of Amazon customers within a handful of markets — and the fact that those restrictions conflict with the scenarios where someone would want to use the service. As an example: You’re packing for an important overseas trip and suddenly realize you don’t have enough containers for liquids or you have the wrong power converter. If Amazon’s same-day Amazon delivery service could keep you from having to drive to a store, that would be terrific.

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