One of Amazon’s community banana stands in Seattl.e (Photo by SDOT Photos)
A team of “banistas” will be passing out some potassium to morning commuters outside Union Station on July 11. There won’t be money in this banana stand, though, because the fruit will be free, courtesy of Amazon.
The company mans two permanent community banana stands in Seattle, where employees hand out thousands of bananas a day (they’ve distributed more than 1.7 million since starting in 2015).
Jeff Bezos is now sending his team to the other, better Washington for a temporary installation on the company’s annual “Prime Day” (think Black Friday for people who subscribe to Amazon). It will be followed by a series of “special policy sessions” and other events around the Hill. We’re mostly in it for the free bananas.
Learn more about the Seattle stands in this cheerful marketing video. Says one dude: “My favorite thing about the banana stand is the unlimited supply of bananas.”
Evidently it’s not all rainbows and bananas though; apparently it’s now hard to find the fruit at nearby grocery stores and neighboring businesses don’t love the banana freeloaders.
The D.C. banana stand will be set up from 7:30 – 10:30 a.m. on July 11, outside of Union Station.
Rachel Sadon