Amazon upping cost of Prime

[lupi]

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17051031011&ref_=pe_2503690_282137480_pmwn_4.28_key

 

[snoopy7548]

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17051031011&ref_=pe_2503690_282137480_pmwn_4.28_key

I'm trying to think of a dead body in the trunk joke but for some reason I can't.

 

[madoka]

I realized a while ago how ingenious Amazon's Jedi mind trick on me was.

They offer $1 in free media credit for selecting no rush shipping. So I figured I don't need that book or DVD or whatever in two days and keep selecting it.

In the end, they're charging me $100 for fast shipping, which I then switch to no rush, thus effectively getting me to buy into their media ecosystem.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah but you have to share payment account. That's terrible too.

Yeah that's my problem with it too...I'm not giving anyone else access to my payment account lol, not even family.

 

[Kaido]

I realized a while ago how ingenious Amazon's Jedi mind trick on me was.

They offer $1 in free media credit for selecting no rush shipping. So I figured I don't need that book or DVD or whatever in two days and keep selecting it.

In the end, they're charging me $100 for fast shipping, which I then switch to no rush, thus effectively getting me to buy into their media ecosystem.

It's like self-checkout at the grocery store...convenient for you, but what's really happening is that YOU are now the unpaid checkout clerk, lol. The company has played you into doing their job for free! Haha.

 

[Kaido]

I really hope Walmart seizes this opportunity

I have previously been less than pleased with buying online from Walmart due to their weird shipping practices, but in the last few months they have improved substantially:

https://www.walmart.com/cp/free-shipping/1088989

1. No annual membership fee

2. Free 2-day shipping on select items over $35. They have a whole section for it:

https://www.walmart.com/browse/0?cat_id=0&facet=pickup_and_delivery:2-Day+Shipping

3. Free 3-5 day shipping on everything else. Free within 5 days isn't bad at all.

 

[Kaido]

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.

I think that's really what it boils down to: it's annoying to have a price hike, but the breakdown of $120 divided by 12 months is $10 a month, so the question is: do you buy enough stuff from Amazon on a monthly basis to make up for that? If you don't, or if you simply utilize the $35 minimum, then don't bother. Or if you don't use their other services & they're not relevant, that's another factor to consider.

I would be quite happy paying $79 for a Prime 2-day-shipping-only account. No other features like the music or photos or whatever.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

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

Ships free without Prime.

 

[pcslookout]

Ships free without Prime.

True but not within a few days I don't think.

 

[RossMAN]

Question for the Amazon Prime diehards what is your breaking point?

I think mine is > $149/yr = cancellation

 

[GagHalfrunt]

True but not within a few days I don't think.

It's a shed, not a vial of insulin.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It's like self-checkout at the grocery store...convenient for you, but what's really happening is that YOU are now the unpaid checkout clerk, lol. The company has played you into doing their job for free! Haha.

Which is fine. Plenty of times in life the incompetency of a check-out clerk has wasted my time more than simply doing it myself. Time is valueable - especially more valuable than a moron holding me up, so really I don't care if I'm doing their job as well. I do it better than them. The problem is Betty in front of me that takes 20 minutes to self-checkout with 3 items holding me up.

 

[Kaido]

Which is fine. Plenty of times in life the incompetency of a check-out clerk has wasted my time more than simply doing it myself. Time is valueable - especially more valuable than a moron holding me up, so really I don't care if I'm doing their job as well. I do it better than them. The problem is Betty in front of me that takes 20 minutes to self-checkout with 3 items holding me up.

Yup. They need to double up (at least) on the number of self-checkout lines. I'm typically using them to run in, grab something, and leave. A lot of times it's simply faster to use a clerked checkout line instead. #firstworldproblems lol

 

[Red Storm]

Question for the Amazon Prime diehards what is your breaking point?

I think mine is > $149/yr = cancellation

That's my number too.

 

[ultimatebob]

I wouldn't really want Prime at any price... I don't want to give my wife an excuse to buy more shit we don't really need from Amazon.

 

[purbeast0]

The 20% off video game pre-releases saves me probably $80/yr alone, so the $40 for same day shipping on a lot of items and one/two day delivery on everything else is more than worth it.

 

[local]

Question for the Amazon Prime diehards what is your breaking point?

I think mine is > $149/yr = cancellation

Somewhere between $500 and $1k/yr.

 

[iroast]

• Chase Amazon Visa = 5% off purchases @ amazon.com and @ Wholefoods, no foreign transaction fees, 2% cashback restaurants, etc.
• Disable auto renewal and jump on Prime only when there's a deal
• Prime video is good for cable cutters; I have it and Netflix.
• No rush shipping gives you $1 in digital content purchases/rentals. Nice if you can wait a few days longer than 2-day delivery. Convenience here is that you don't need to wait to amass $35 worth of junk.

 

[13Gigatons]

Somewhere between $500 and $1k/yr.

and people wonder how Jeff Bezos has $134 billion....

 

[local]

and people wonder how Jeff Bezos has $134 billion....

Because he has created a company that pretty much replaces every other retail store on the planet?

Honestly somewhere in that range is the break even point for me on cost.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I buy everything other than groceries from Amazon. Prime will continue to be money well spent.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Question for the Amazon Prime diehards what is your breaking point?

I think mine is > $149/yr = cancellation

Probably $250. 5% Amazon Visa rewards, 2 hr Delivery and they've made returns super easy with Amazon Lockers at Whole Foods which is a block away and an Amazon Store a mile away.

 

[Red Storm]

Probably $250. 5% Amazon Visa rewards, 2 hr Delivery and they've made returns super easy with Amazon Lockers at Whole Foods which is a block away and an Amazon Store a mile away.

You can make returns to lockers now? Sweet.

 

[Sonikku]

Though it may not be a popular opinion, I'm going to try to play devil's advocate for a second here and speculate that Amazon needed to hire twice as many guys to haul in all the extra buckets of cash they're now raking in, hence the need to raise sub prices to pay for them all.

 

[Kaido]

I buy everything other than groceries from Amazon. Prime will continue to be money well spent.

I buy an awful lot from Amazon. It's a convenience thing - I press a button on my phone & it shows up on my doorstep a couple days later for the asking price. I am curious to see if that trend continues in the future...not that I own absolutely everything I want right now, but I've outfitted my kitchen pretty well over the years, have a pretty fun TV setup, some some smarthome stuff going on, etc. Beyond that, it's mostly just topping off supplies like TP & canned tuna.

I've tried doing online shopping for groceries with stuff like grocery delivery, but I kind of like picking out my own produce & wandering around to get ideas (even though I typically go in with a shopping list) & seeing the new stuff on the shelves. Like tonight, I got Kettlecorn Oreos (not bad!), one of the new flavors of Oreos that just came out. Unless it popped up on the grocery delivery website, I don't think I would have ordered it (or known about it) otherwise.

I do like the trunk-fill service, like Walmart has. Order your crap, drive up, they put it in, drive home. No lines, no waiting, no wandering around the store. I know Amazon is working on their trunk-delivery service as well. Curious to see how all of this plays out in a few years...