Amazon upping cost of Prime

[ultimatebob]

Yup it's the curse of being a public company. My company makes $80bil/yr in revenue, $5bil straight profit, and we NEVER get raises or bonuses. Instead we are threatened with layoffs each of the last 10 years.

I used to work for that horrid company as well, and remember getting screwed over on bonuses and raises well.

I'm amazed that you're still there after all these years. Do they still let you work from home? I thought that they were trying to kill off that perk.

 

[ultimatebob]

how else will they be able to afford their fancy new HQ2?

Are you kidding? With all the tax perks that states are offering to get that HQ in their home town, that building will basically pay for itself in 3-5 years.

 

[ultimatebob]

I see that Amazon doesn't offer unlimited file storage with Prime anymore, but they do offer unlimited photo storage.

Has anyone found a cool way to convert their 50 TB of data files into .jpeg's to get around this limitation?

 

[KeithP]

No other store or place can delivery items you order online to you in 1 to 2 hours. Not even Best Buy with their same day delivery.

Certainly true. However, in my case, I have never needed such delivery...or most of the other add-on benefits.

To make matters worse, two day delivery used to result in delivery by mid day on the second day. Now, they only guarantee by 8 PM. I frequently get packages after 4 PM.

I wish there was an option for Prime Shipping only. I wouldn't even mind if it went 3-4 day delivery as along as the price was reasonable. But Prime is now a product on its own and Amazon will keep cramming features into it and raising prices from time to time. More power to them.

I just checked my Prime renewal date and it says it will renewal at $99 August 26th which seems to be outside the current price window. If it does renew at that rate, I will keep it. If it goes up, I will cancel and see if I can adjust to the slower shipping times.

-KeithP

 

[local]

I don't even need to consider keeping it or not. We get Amazon deliveries three to four times a week. I think of something I want I just pull out my phone, find it, hit order and it arrives two days later. (I don't live in a same day area.) It has almost completely replaced any other shopping I do, the next biggest for me would be Steam. On top of that Video is used constantly by at least two devices in my house at any given time and if Video isn't running Music is. They could probably raise the rate to $500 before I start seriously considering it.

Also we have had only one package not arrive in the last 8 years and that was a simple contact Amazon and another was sent out that day, it was a USPS screwup with the delivery.

 

[pcslookout]

Certainly true. However, in my case, I have never needed such delivery...or most of the other add-on benefits.

To make matters worse, two day delivery used to result in delivery by mid day on the second day. Now, they only guarantee by 8 PM. I frequently get packages after 4 PM.

I wish there was an option for Prime Shipping only. I wouldn't even mind if it went 3-4 day delivery as along as the price was reasonable. But Prime is now a product on its own and Amazon will keep cramming features into it and raising prices from time to time. More power to them.

I just checked my Prime renewal date and it says it will renewal at $99 August 26th which seems to be outside the current price window. If it does renew at that rate, I will keep it. If it goes up, I will cancel and see if I can adjust to the slower shipping times.

-KeithP

We get packages here after 4 pm too and it sucks but it is because of USPS delivering it unless it is on a Sunday. Anyway UPS and Fedex normally deliver a lot earlier here and no later than 2 pm if their late.

I keep telling Amazon give us a option to select which shipping carrier but they just won’t do it.

 

[pcslookout]

I don't even need to consider keeping it or not. We get Amazon deliveries three to four times a week. I think of something I want I just pull out my phone, find it, hit order and it arrives two days later. (I don't live in a same day area.) It has almost completely replaced any other shopping I do, the next biggest for me would be Steam. On top of that Video is used constantly by at least two devices in my house at any given time and if Video isn't running Music is. They could probably raise the rate to $500 before I start seriously considering it.

Also we have had only one package not arrive in the last 8 years and that was a simple contact Amazon and another was sent out that day, it was a USPS screwup with the delivery.

This is why I hate USPS and wish we could select shipping carrier.

 

[dasherHampton]

Definitely disappointing.

Not from a monetary perspective ($20 a year isn't a lot of money) but more from a psychological one. It really smacks of greed.

I might cancel but it won't be for a while. I was renewed in Feb. The shows are pretty redundant with other streaming services. I watch the odd new release like ST:Beyond but not much else.

 

[local]

This is why I hate USPS and wish we could select shipping carrier.

I love the USPS they give me millions of dollars of work a year, but that is another topic.

Every station is different. If you are serviced by a not so good one then I could see how you would think poorly of them.

 

[pcslookout]

Definitely disappointing.

Not from a monetary perspective ($20 a year isn't a lot of money) but more from a psychological one. It really smacks of greed.

I might cancel but it won't be for a while. I was renewed in Feb. The shows are pretty redundant with other streaming services. I watch the odd new release like ST:Beyond but not much else.

You do realize you can save tons of money to sign up for prime only when you need it right?

There a monthly Prime. Stock up cancel repeat

 

[dasherHampton]

I might look into that when my time's up.

 

[rh71]

I used to work for that horrid company as well, and remember getting screwed over on bonuses and raises well.

I'm amazed that you're still there after all these years. Do they still let you work from home? I thought that they were trying to kill off that perk.

Yup most are still at home and it's the only perk still worth staying for. It has helped me see my kids through their childhood and kept us from needing childcare, ever. Frankly I'm surprised our group hasn't been outsourced, but we did just lose a contract so we'll see.

 

[rh71]

This is why I hate USPS and wish we could select shipping carrier.

Next to Amazon's own delivery, USPS would be my choice. UPS and Fedex deliver way later. USPS is very consistent here.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

You do realize you can save tons of money to sign up for prime only when you need it right?

There a monthly Prime. Stock up cancel repeat

Why bother? If you're placing larger orders infrequently you're going to get free shipping anyway and nothing is a "must have it tomorrow" priority. Save even more money, skip Prime entirely and wait an extra day or two for delivery.

 

[Ns1]

nothing is a "must have it tomorrow" priority

it is when you use amazon as a replacement for going to stores.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

it is when you use amazon as a replacement for going to stores.

Not if you're shopping occasionally and placing large, infrequent orders.

 

[Ns1]

Fair

 

[paperfist]

$20 won't kill me and I didn't even see if it was grandfathered in.

I share my prime with 2 other people.

Some of the free books have been good.

I like prime music as it has stuff my Apple Music doesn't have.

My only complaint is the last 10 things I bought had their shipping rescheduled.

 

[eng2d2]

Be careful with amazon when you cancel prime because few years down they will start charging you againeven if you did not sign up for it. They will put that charge on your card. Happen to me twice and I cancelled a long time ago. It is very sneaky.

 

[dud]

Be careful with amazon when you cancel prime because few years down they will start charging you againeven if you did not sign up for it. They will put that charge on your card. Happen to me twice and I cancelled a long time ago. It is very sneaky.

Thanks for the warning. It does not look good for keeping Prime. The wife had a problem justifying $99/year ... when I told her they were jacking it to $129 she mentioned going back to filling the cart to $35 to get free (but not 2-day) shipping. Looks like I am going be saving some more money ...

 

[MrSquished]

my prime renews on June 6 so I just make the cut at $99 but I'd probably still do it at $119 for now.

 

[nakedfrog]

Some of this is new, some of this is not so new but has been updated with more stuff. Prime reload was the most interesting one for me if you don't have an amazon credit card.

• Prime Now: Free 2-hour delivery available on an enhanced grocery selection including select Whole Foods 365 products, meat, and alcohol in select cities. Now delivering in over 30 cities nationwide.
  
  
• Amazon Restaurants: Delivery from restaurants now available in more than 25 cities across the US, including Brooklyn, Oakland, Orlando, Phoenix, San Jose and Washington, D.C.

• Prime Photos: Prime Photos offers free unlimited photo storage for Prime members. Now use just your voice to view photos on Fire TV and Echo Show.
  
  
• Prime Video: New original movies including The Big Sick, and TV series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Sneaky Pete, have been added to Prime. Stream at no extra cost.
  
  
• Prime Music: Alexa is now available in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android. Listen to over two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations, always ad-free and on-demand.

• Woot.com: Amazon Prime members now get free standard shipping on all Woot! orders and free express shipping on all Shirt.Woot orders. Try Amazon's coolest (and only) daily deal site now.
  
  
• Prime Reload: Get 2% rewards every time you reload your Amazon.com Gift Card Balance with your checking account. No fees or interest. Your Gift Card Balance never expires.

Oh yeah, don't forget that you can get monthly free games from Twitch too.

 

[Ns1]

huh, interesting

Free in-game loot every month, plus exclusives and surprises
You'll get characters, vehicles, skins, virtual currency and boosts, free games, plus surprises and exclusives.

Ad-free viewing plus a free channel subscription every 30 days
Support your favorite streamer, plus get exclusive emotes, more chat colors, and crown yourself with the chat badge of royalty.

 

[allisolm]

Did not know this, but apparently you can now get packages delivered into the trunk of your car in certain cities. What could possibly go wrong? Anyone done it?

http://money.cnn.com/video/technolo...age-in-car-delivery-trunk.cnnmoney/index.html

 

[Kwatt]

I'm on the old "everyone in the family emails me links to the shit they want" plan. Whatever....

I'm in the same plan.
I keep the 5% cash credit with the Amazon card (I have enough to pay for a year of Prime now). The things that aren't needed in 2 days I check for a $1 video credit. I have $15 worth in video credit in the last 6 weeks. Usually $5-6 a month. When I order something and check the 6-8 day shipping for a video credit and then have to order something for fast delivery they put it all together anyway.

Also, going in to a store was something I have not cared for in awhile. And for at least the next for 4 months I would have to use crutches or a wheel chair. I'll be keeping it for now. Currently paid through Feb. 2019


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