Amazon Banana Stand Gives Free Fruit Downtown Wednesdays

Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. outside The Post

The delivery window, per Amazon, is every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. local time, at this office and at the Toronto one in Scotia Plaza, which launched the same day, and in both cities the courier is you. Vita Magazine puts the Vancouver pickup point outside the downtown office at 402 Dunsmuir Street and adds a phrase every online shopper knows, while supplies last, which on a sidewalk means the out-of-stock page is just the sidewalk.

Neither announcement says how many bananas make up a Wednesday's supply or whether the program has an end date, which makes this the rare Amazon listing with no 'Only 3 left in stock' to panic you into acting.

Banistas, dog treats and the original packaging

Amazon calls the people running the stand Banistas: baristas with one letter changed and the whole catalogue cut down to a single item. There is a second SKU, but it requires four legs, because the Banistas keep dog treats on hand for pups who tag along.

Amazon says the Banistas are trained to work as community ambassadors, turning the hand-off of one piece of fruit into a small social occasion, which means a person has been professionally prepared for a job the banana, being yellow and shaped like a grin, was already attempting on its own.

A free Wednesday stop before work

The terms, then: free, Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m., outside 402 Dunsmuir Street, while supplies last, with the last mile covered by you. For two people who both start work downtown, that is a free breakfast meeting where the only packaging either of you opens was designed by the banana.