Amazon upping cost of Prime

[dud]

Last I checked it was back down to $25 for free "super saver" shipping. They have bounced that around several times in the last few years. Think it was as high as $45? I can't remember ever paying for shipping at Amazon, doubt I ever have.

Thanks for posting this. My wife pointed this out as well. Our Prime membership comes up for renal next month and the decision to cancel has been made. We are prepping for retirement and trying to slash expenses wherever we can.

In a recent Washington Post article, Brian T. Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer stated: “The value of Prime to customers has never been greater”. I cannot agree. The price we pay is for ALL services bundled together when, in reality, we are using only one. I am paying for but not using the remainder. I see no value in that at all.

 

[Brainonska511]

I've used video occasionally and order in spurts. Probably enough to make it worth the $100 for the year. When it expires next March, I'm inclined to not renew... I just don't use the other services enough to make it seem worth it.

 

[umbrella39]

Wasn't worth it to me the last time they raised the price and I haven't looked back since. I still use Amazon. I still get free shipping. If after 2 or 3 days I notice they are just sitting on my shipment I complain and they ship it immediately. For free...

 

[13Gigatons]

I placed 2 orders in 2017...and that was with 3rd party sellers. I am interested in Prime Video but they won't let you get that without a cc.

I went back to buying things locally because I like being able to return things to stores right away if needed and it feels good supporting local shops.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Why are people bitching?

That's $119 a YEAR. It's like $10 a month. I guess it depends on how much you shop on Amazon. I shop a Amazon a ton. $119 is still worth it to me.

You're obviously just not a business person and simply fail at mathematics.

Image paying 20% more at the grocery store starting tomorrow - and you currently pay $200 in groceries each time for your family. Now it's $240 every time. Do you think a 20% increase in revenue when you're already making fat profits sounds reasonable? What I'm saying is that this wouldn't fly in any other industry. 2-5% is reasonable - 20% is ridiculous.

I really hope Walmart seizes this opportunity and makes an equivalent and busts their balls for this.

 

[madoka]

I'm averaging 400 orders per year. They'd have to triple the cost for me to reconsider Prime.

 

[Noah Abrams]

What is sleazy about Amazon is that when you do their regular free shipping, they hold your order for at least 5-6 days before it ships. Has happened so many times. And they keep trying to push Prime to you, the never ending nagging and trial offers. So this is a deliberate holding of order to make you sign up for Prime.

I have no use or interest in Prime. And what they do with regular free shipping, I wouldn’t sign up for Prime even if were $25 annually.

 

[ultimatebob]

For me, the only thing worthwhile in Amazon Prime other than the free faster shipping (2 day my ass, it usually took 3), was watching The Grand Tour.

That's not worth $120 a year, though.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'm averaging 400 orders per year. They'd have to triple the cost for me to reconsider Prime.

Wow... You're building a life sized model of your McLaren out of Lego, aren't you?

 

[Viper GTS]

You're obviously just not a business person and simply fail at mathematics.

Image paying 20% more at the grocery store starting tomorrow - and you currently pay $200 in groceries each time for your family. Now it's $240 every time. Do you think a 20% increase in revenue when you're already making fat profits sounds reasonable? What I'm saying is that this wouldn't fly in any other industry. 2-5% is reasonable - 20% is ridiculous.

I really hope Walmart seizes this opportunity and makes an equivalent and busts their balls for this.

You are terrible at analogies. Prime is a tiny fraction of their revenue, this is more like a single item increasing in price. The $20 increase is literally 0.1% of what I spent last year at Amazon and Whole Foods. And I'm not even close to Madoka levels.

Also - Walmart did try something. They called it Shipping pass and it failed miserably. They replaced it with free two day shipping on $35. You can see in the news these last couple days how much that is hurting Amazon. You can also ship to store as well but I'd pay $120 a year simply to avoid ever having to go to Walmart so that doesn't really do much for me.

Viper GTS

 

[snoopy7548]

I forgot that I also use Prime Music at work all the time, and I also have an Alexa so that's pretty nice for streaming free music. I have a huge music collection but sometimes it's nice to just click a button or say, "Echo, play 90's hip hop" and you've got instant music. Still worth it for me.

In esquared's link (https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-prime-20-benefits-every-member-gets/) it mentions you can also get free PC games each month when you sign up on Twitch. I never knew about it but that is certainly a plus. Granted, you're not getting the latest AAA titles, but there seem to be some decent ones.

 

[pcslookout]

While I don't agree with the 20% increase and think they are greedy and Bezos already makes too much, I do use it enough to justify it at an additional $1.67 a month. I recently ordered a 7'x10' storage shed with free prime freight shipping that would have normally cost me $200. I place 1 to 2 orders a week after checking for best price. I also found a Amazon Fire Stick at a hotel and was able to reset it and add it to my account.

How much did it weigh ?

My last item weighed 60 pounds and was delivered Fedex overnight.

 

[pcslookout]

You are terrible at analogies. Prime is a tiny fraction of their revenue, this is more like a single item increasing in price. The $20 increase is literally 0.1% of what I spent last year at Amazon and Whole Foods. And I'm not even close to Madoka levels.

Also - Walmart did try something. They called it Shipping pass and it failed miserably. They replaced it with free two day shipping on $35. You can see in the news these last couple days how much that is hurting Amazon. You can also ship to store as well but I'd pay $120 a year simply to avoid ever having to go to Walmart so that doesn't really do much for me.

Viper GTS

Yep Walmart even refunded me the $99 for it! Way to go Walmart but yes it did fail.

I use to order one bar of soap with free shipping worked quite well.

 

[Anubis]

one of my first ever orders with prime was something that weighed close to 300 lbs

i had it delivered next day which was a Saturday

that was like 9 years ago

i think im still net positive from that one shipment alone

 

[pcslookout]

one of my first ever orders with prime was something that weighed close to 300 lbs

i had it delivered next day which was a Saturday

that was like 9 years ago

i think im still net positive from that one shipment alone

What was it ?

 

[Anubis]

What was it ?

a solid wood desk

i didnt need it text day but the option was there for like 4$ extra and i was like "lets see if this actually works"

 

[ponyo]

What is sleazy about Amazon is that when you do their regular free shipping, they hold your order for at least 5-6 days before it ships. Has happened so many times. And they keep trying to push Prime to you, the never ending nagging and trial offers. So this is a deliberate holding of order to make you sign up for Prime.

I have no use or interest in Prime. And what they do with regular free shipping, I wouldn’t sign up for Prime even if were $25 annually.

Amazon is pretty much unusable without Prime. Amazon with Prime is the best internet retailer with fast 2 day shipping. Amazon without Prime is the worst retailer with like 10 day shipping. If you don't have Prime, it's best to order from third party sellers on Amazon. They don't throttle like Amazon.

 

[pcslookout]

Amazon is pretty much unusable without Prime. Amazon with Prime is the best internet retailer with fast 2 day shipping. Amazon without Prime is the worst retailer with like 10 day shipping. If you don't have Prime, it's best to order from third party sellers on Amazon. They don't throttle like Amazon.

Then you don't get Amazon refund policy I don't think when ordering from third party sellers.

 

[WilliamM2]

Then you don't get Amazon refund policy I don't think when ordering from third party sellers.

Yes, you get Amazon's a full return policy from third party sellers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537802

And they ship much faster than Amazon, because Amazon holds them to higher standards than themselves.

 

[Lanyap]

How much did it weigh ?

My last item weighed 60 pounds and was delivered Fedex overnight.

600+ pounds.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q3LDDU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Noah Abrams]

If you don’t like an item (not defective) and want to return it, does Amazon pay the return shipping?

 

[Muse]

You're obviously just not a business person and simply fail at mathematics.

Image paying 20% more at the grocery store starting tomorrow - and you currently pay $200 in groceries each time for your family. Now it's $240 every time. Do you think a 20% increase in revenue when you're already making fat profits sounds reasonable? What I'm saying is that this wouldn't fly in any other industry. 2-5% is reasonable - 20% is ridiculous.

I really hope Walmart seizes this opportunity and makes an equivalent and busts their balls for this.

Well, I have a degree in mathematics, so I feel some confidence in saying that your analysis on this doesn't compute. It's not a 20% tax on your orders, it's a 20% increase on the one-time-per-year license that gives you XYZ privileges at Amazon, a major one being free "2 day" shipping, which I presume is on everything except 3rd party offerings. So, the efficacy of this depends (as far as the free shipping is concerned) on how much stuff you order over the year, how much the shipping would be without Prime.

Of course, Walmart is observing all this. They and Amazon have been playing out their minimum entry into free shipping for a while now... it goes up and down, the other responds, etc. I don't think Walmart has a pay-for-free-shipping scenario going on, however.

 

[Muse]

Amazon is pretty much unusable without Prime. Amazon with Prime is the best internet retailer with fast 2 day shipping. Amazon without Prime is the worst retailer with like 10 day shipping. If you don't have Prime, it's best to order from third party sellers on Amazon. They don't throttle like Amazon.

Mostly it depends how much stuff you buy. If you order from them twice a week, yeah. If every 2-3 months, not really.

 

[JEDI]

kinda sucks but at least they've been adding stuff to prime to increase the value proposition.

like?

 

[Ns1]

Already posted that info upthread