Amazon Prime might see a $20 to $40 price hike

[boomhower]

Keep it the same price and drop Amazon/Kindle from it and I'll be happy. They will be charging sales tax shortly which is fine. I just like the shipping feature. Best Buy is the closest electronics store at 30 miles and many other items are just a lot cheaper than local.

 

[ponyo]

I say do it. People are addicts. They might quit for a short period but they'll return.

 

[Jeff7]

They are considering a price hike. Doesn't mean it will happen.

Nice title though.

Really though, even at $99 a year, it is less than Netflix or Hulu and you get a ton of streaming content (not that I ever use any of it).

Not that you would want to. My experience with their complimentary offerings:

- The quality's not great. In the case of Star Trek TNG/Voyager/DS9, they (or maybe Paramount) didn't even properly deinterlace the video when they did the transfer, so you get interlacing artifacts after they've been through a compressor to squeeze them down for streaming.
- On around 30% of all videos, after watching around 20 minutes of something, it will stop and act like it's buffering, and then after maybe 15 seconds it shows an error that it can't find the server, or something along those lines. I need to Ctrl+F5 the page and then skip ahead to where it nodded off.
- It won't buffer very far ahead - you can't pause and let it buffer. It only takes in fairly small chunks of several seconds of video at a time. The gerbil that is my Internet connection prefers slow and steady. It will sometimes give a really nice sprint, after which it trips over its own tail and falls eye-first onto a sharp rock.

 

[deerslayer]

while that would suck, i easily blow through $100 worth of shipping charges every year.

Me too. I'm 20 minutes from the nearest retailer, and 45 minutes from any kind of electronics store, so the amount I save in gas and shipping covers the cost of the membership.

I did all my Christmas shopping on Amazon this year. Not having to go Christmas shopping with the masses is worth $100 a year to me alone.

 

[slag]

The thing I hate most about amazon prime is the "free shipping that isn't free shipping". They tout it as free 2nd day shipping, but eligible prime items are ALWAYS more than the same item from another retailer. ALWAYS on any item I buy, the item is 5 to 10 bucks more than the same item from another seller not participating in prime. That means the shipping isn't free, its just passed on by a higher priced item.

 

[cmdrdredd]

$20 increase may be ok for me...I've made up the difference in shipping. However, that depends on how much I order from Amazon in the future. A couple local places have matched Amazon pricing on some electronics so I haven't ordered any big ticket items from them. Just small things. I'll decide when it comes to it.

You're supposed to file any interstate commerce, which includes online purchases, on your state tax return anyway.

FL has no State tax to file.

Sales tax is the killer but you're willing to waste gas money on going to go get items? DERP.

Depends on your area I guess, I have 5 Best Buy stores (who sometimes match Amazon), a high end specialty electronics store, two compUSA stores, 3 lowes, 4 home depots, 6 walmarts, 3 targets, 2 sports authority stores, a dicks sporting goods, 4 shopping malls, and a bass pro shop within 20-30minutes. I'm pretty well set if I want something.

 

[gorcorps]

Sounds fair

Netflix costs $96 a year, just spread to monthly payments. I get good use out of it. I could stomach $100, but I'd prefer an option to pay monthly if I could.

 

[sixone]

Sounds fair

Netflix costs $96 a year, just spread to monthly payments. I get good use out of it. I could stomach $100, but I'd prefer an option to pay monthly if I could.

I'd sign up for AP if they offered a monthly option. Since they don't, I've been thinking about it for a few months. Will probably keep thinking, for the foreseeable future.

 

[BudAshes]

I don't mind a hike but they need to dump amazon streaming. It sucks and I feel like I'm wasting money on a garbage feature. Also, for those complaining about sales tax... move to Oregon?

 

[Nintendesert]

You make it seem like people have to drive 100 miles to go to the store. Best Buy, Kroger, Target, Staples, Walmart, and Home Depot are within a 5 mile radius of my home.

So? Your time, your gas and you still pay tax.

 

[cmdrdredd]

So? Your time, your gas and you still pay tax.

I can walk to my walmart or home depot and back in about 10 minutes. No gas.

 

[xanis]

I'd stomach a $20 price hike, but $40 would be my "nope" threshold. I definitely get my money's worth out of Prime at the moment; I order a ton of stuff that's at least as expensive or cheaper than in the local B&Ms, and it arrives in two days or less. Not having to take time out of my day to hit the stores is worth the price.

 

[BudAshes]

I can walk to my walmart or home depot and back in about 10 minutes. No gas.

Just steal a shopping and throw it in the the neighbors yard afterward?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Just steal a shopping and throw it in the the neighbors yard afterward?

Nah...I'm talking about the stuff I'd order off Amazon but can get easily enough here. I wouldn't be buying Lumber or groceries from Amazon.

 

[Red Storm]

I've been using my university .edu account to get free Prime since forever ago. It continues to work so I don't bother asking why that email address still works.

 

[NFS4]

So? Your time, your gas and you still pay tax.

Do you not have a car? If so, does your car stay parked in the garage 24-7? What's the point in having a car if you don't drive to work, run errands, etc.?

You do know there is this thing called stopping by the store on the way home from work?

 

[radhak]

FL has no State tax to file.

FL has no Income Tax. You are supposed to file sales tax for online purchases. Check here http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/

I can walk to my walmart or home depot and back in about 10 minutes. No gas.

If you do that, you are really doing good : saving on gas, and getting great exercise.
Do you really walk to Walmart and Home Depot and carry back your purchases?

I'd sign up for AP if they offered a monthly option. Since they don't, I've been thinking about it for a few months. Will probably keep thinking, for the foreseeable future.

The Amazon Prime Video is only an add-on benefit of Prime membership. The real thing has to be their free shipping. If you don't purchase enough from Amazon to justify that free shipping, then that membership may not make sense.

As pointed out, a bunch of 'prime eligible' items sell at higher prices, even when compared to the same items available on Amazon from other vendors, and should be avoided. Sometimes those others are cheaper even when you add the shipping; but of course, they'd take 5-7 days, or more, while Prime is generally 2 days, and nowadays I'm seeing them deliver the very next day ! So if you are in a hurry, you could opt for the higher price and save on expedited shipping.

For me, just one or two orders a year have justified Prime membership. This year, it was the Brother Color Laser MFC9330CDW. Generally around $400, for one particular day it dropped to $242 and I grabbed it. Without Prime membership the shipping on that day was deemed $140 (they frequently disallow 'free shipping' for deeply discounted items), which would have brought the net cost to the same as local stores'.

So just that single purchase gave me enough savings to fuel my annual membership! I guess I'll be okay with some increase to the membership rates, at least for now.

 

[Ns1]

Do you not have a car? If so, does your car stay parked in the garage 24-7? What's the point in having a car if you don't drive to work, run errands, etc.?

You do know there is this thing called stopping by the store on the way home from work?

The point is to drive as little as possible to waste the least amount of time/gas as possible. I COULD spend a dollar on gas and 15 minutes of my life to go to the store. Or I can click 6 buttons and get the item delivered to my door in 2 days (and lately it's usually 1 day).

 

[NFS4]

The point is to drive as little as possible to waste the least amount of time/gas as possible. I COULD spend a dollar on gas and 15 minutes of my life to go to the store. Or I can click 6 buttons and get the item delivered to my door in 2 days (and lately it's usually 1 day).

And my point is, if I have to go to the grocery store in the first place, might as well get the best deals I can while I'm there. And more often than not, the deals are better and I don't have to wait for one specific day, once a month to get items at a decent price (unless I do 20% S&S with 5 items or more, Amazon prices on household/food items are nowhere in the ballpark).

Or do you not buy milk, eggs, fresh fruit/veggies, fresh meat, etc?

But the bottom line is, people will just adjust to whatever best fits their lifestyle. For my needs, Amazon isn't the "holy grail" anymore in comparison to B&M stores.

 

[Ns1]

Or do you not buy milk, eggs, fresh fruit/veggies, fresh meat, etc?

Sure do. But they don't sell everything else that I buy from AMZ, and they most certainly don't deliver to my door with 15% off.

But the bottom line is, people will just adjust to whatever best fits their lifestyle. For my needs, Amazon isn't the "holy grail" anymore in comparison to B&M stores.

Fair enough

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Split the difference and make it $30.

 

[cbrsurfr]

$20 is not enough for me to care. It's still well worth the value for all you get. I think I've averaged about 60 orders per year for the last few years.

Turbo Tax bought through Amazon is offering a 10% bonus on $100 increments of tax refunds converted to Amazon GC. My tax burden was way lower than expected so my refund was way higher - I converted a portion - $1100 into Amazon credit for $1210.

 

[cmdrdredd]

If you do that, you are really doing good : saving on gas, and getting great exercise.
Do you really walk to Walmart and Home Depot and carry back your purchases?

I don't think it'll be long before I get taxed from Amazon.

I do sometimes just walk. It's literally across the street. For small things I'll do it...like quick runs for small parts and hardware.

 

[blurredvision]

I had a hard time paying the $80 to renew this last year. If they hike it at all, I will likely cancel and just learn patience when it takes an extra week to get stuff to my door. No big deal I guess. I don't use the streaming or Kindle features enough to miss it if it's gone.

 

[sjwaste]

I'd pay it. Amazon saves me a ton of time, and the price comes out right for me when factoring in subscribe and save and amazon mom. Every month, paper towels, toilet paper, diapers, dishwasher detergent and a bunch of other shit that we predictably consume just show up on my doorstep. I've priced it against Walmart, and it comes out about the same - except Amazon saves me on the sales tax and a trip to the store.

It adds up if you're two working professionals trying to maximize the "free" part of your free time. I could probably save $10-20 on the consumables every month if I really tried, but I value the convenience.

I do also use Prime video, though. There are a ton of old TV series that I'd just never seen. Slowly making my way through all of Star Trek, for instance.