For a few years now, I’ve been on the fence about Amazon Prime. Typically I place 2 or 3 orders a month on Amazon, so it is certainly something that I use enough to be a premium member.
Allow me to backtrack a minute to make sure everyone is on the same page. For those who aren’t familiar with Amazon Prime, it’s Amazon’s premium service costing $79 a year. What do you get for that? Free two-day shipping (on what seems to be most Amazon items) and free movie streaming from Amazon’s library, and the ability to borrow one Kindle book at a time from the Kindle store.
That’s three very different benefits. I’ve been on the fence, because I’ve got more than enough boobtube information stored on my HDHomeRun Prime DVR. I also have so many books that I’ve had to give them away, 90% of which I haven’t read. Finally, I typically place my orders in $25 chunks, which brings me free shipping, anyway.
In the last few months, I’ve noticed that we are placing more and more orders through Amazon. Little Man needs his baby wipes and these Pampers Sensitive Wipes are a great deal. I even became an “Amazon Mom” (Amazon setting back gender-equality 20 years with that one) which saves an additional 20% when I subscribe.
The biggest thing for me is being able to place smaller orders, not having to get to that $25 mark, and getting the items in two-days. Waiting a week is fine for longer-term purchases, but getting things dropped off to our door in two-days is perfect for busy lifestyle. One of the first things I ordered was this Google Nexus 7 Case. With the short wait, I won’t be tempted to pay the high prices at Staples. I don’t know if we’ll using the video streaming. I’ll let my wife have the Kindle book, but like me, she’s got enough paper books to read.
With the increased Amazon use, I’ve been waiting for that additional kick in the behind to make Amazon Prime worth signing up. Amazon Prime is a little like Apple iPads, there’s rarely a discount – until now. From now until August 25th, you can get a $10 gift card back on your Amazon Prime membership. That’s not exactly big bucks back, but psychologically, it feels good to get a deal.
The big downside to Amazon Prime (except for the $6.58 a month price naturally) is that there’s also the increased risk of buying things that I didn’t need because it is so quick and easy. That said, everyone I know who has gone Amazon Prime has not gone back… and they rave about it.
So what about you? Are you an Amazon Prime member? What are your impressions on the service? Let me know in the comments.
We did the trial account a year or so ago. It was an OK deal. The free streaming is a subset of the Amazon streaming. Eventually, we just decided that NetFlix made more sense.
We usually just buy in $25 chunks to avoid the shipping fees.
Meh, I did it when it was free for a year as a college student. Not a big deal for me, as I live in the same state (in fact 20 miles) from a distribution warehouse. I get my stuff in two days normally so it was not a huge deal. The other benefits are not big ones as I don’t have a kindle or read a kindle, nor do I stream media outside of netflix.
Biggest thing, if you buy stuff, see if you can subscribe and save, or just buy it in lumps to get the $25 free shipping. Finally, do you really need XYZ stuff that quickly that you cannot wait a week or two to order it to get the free shipping. Lastly, I never found myself saying “I am buying this because of the free shipping” I found myself saying “I am buying this and I am getting free shipping” Big difference in my mind.
The baby wipes are the big time sensitive thing. I can wait a few extra days for ear-buds or even the Nexus 7 case. Two-day shipping gives me the freedom to not have to run to the store for something the meantime.
I have a couple of friends who live in San Francisco and the options of buying things isn’t exactly as easy as driving to a Wal-Mart or Target. Prime is really nice for them.
I love the prime membership. I find myself spending less and less time in brick and mortar stores since my son arrived. (He’s now 21 months.) I love the two day shipping and the fact that I don’t pay shipping when I buy something small like sippy cups. Subscribe and save is great too. Add 5 things and receive a 20% discount on already low prices. There isn’t room in my shopping cart for toilet paper and paper towels with a toddler in the back. Now I get it shipped very few months.
If Amazon were smart they would give it away. I’ve spend more on my free month of prime than I have in the past two years. Not because I am buying more things, I just love the two day shipping so choose to buy from Amazon.
We’ve been Prime members for about a year, and do like it a lot. We only use the shipping. The streaming doesn’t work on the TV, so we’d have to watch it on computers or iPads. My wife gets eBooks from the library.
We do buy from Amazon (even) more than we used to, and we do buy smaller items. Overall, it’s great, but I do feel a little bit of guilt over the extra packaging involved. Not exactly green.
Dave, I would hope that Amazon has done the testing and math to figure out if giving Prime for free is advantageous to them. Maybe they like the Costco model where they get that yearly membership fee.
Jason, we try to reuse the packaging for selling stuff on Ebay and recycle the rest. It’s not ideal, but there are probably worse things.
I probably should have noted in the article that I have to trick Amazon to get it to play on my Nexus 7. The trick is to download Firefox and an old version of Flash and run it in a browser. I haven’t tried it yet. We’ll see how it works.
Don’t forget that Prime can be shared with up to four people. Our trial just ran out and my sister added us to her account. Split five ways, Prime only costs ~$16 per household. When combined with Amazon Mom, the $20 I will give my sister will more than pay for itself.
I didn’t realize that Prime could be shared with more people. I have to look into that.
I had Prime for two years. One via Amazon Mom (I also bristle at the nomenclature) and then again right now when they sent me an offer of a $70 coupon code (so even though the code didn’t work like I expected, when making the decision I thought I was paying $9 for the year).
Our membership is expiring soon and I don’t think we will be renewing it. It’s not that hard to batch up purchases so they pass the $25 threshold. And the streaming is not as nearly good as Netflix IMHO. For one thing, since Amazon also has non-free streaming, I find it a little harder to find things I want to watch that are free, vs Netflix where if they have it, it’s free.
90% of people do seem to thing it’s sliced bread but I guess I tend to be in that last 10% on a lot of things.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but I don’t understand how the term Amazon Mom sets gender equality back. The Amazons are believed to have been a community of strong, self-reliant women.
Where’s the Amazon Dad program?
Amazon.com was named after the river (which was named after the women you mentioned), but the company itself doesn’t associate itself with those women.
I also saw in this month’s Money Magazine that you are only supposed to be able to share Amazon Prime with four members of the same household (if Money is correct).
@Lazy Man
Sharing Amazon prime is a little unclear. Their policy states that you can “share shipping benefits with up to four additional family members living in the same household or up to four coworkers,” (an odd combination). However, Amazon lets you share with other account holders at different addresses. It seems like an relatively simple fix if they only wanted you to share with people at a single address.
Unfortunately, my wife learned today that if you want Amazon Mom, you have to pay for a full-blown Prime account, which isn’t cost effective for us. Also noteworthy is that Prime Instant Video and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library can’t be shared.
I understand the origins of Amazon.com’s name, but I was thinking you were saying that is set women’s progress back somehow. But you appear to be saying that it isn’t fair to men.
@uclalien Gender equality goes both ways, so yes, there are Dads (including me and LazyMan) who would prefer to think of ourselves as just as much a part of caregiving as Moms. Furthermore by equating “Caregiver” with “Mom” it enforces a 1-to-1 link, which is to say, not only should Amazon Dads be offended, but so should Moms that they are shoehorned into that role.
Also note, the discount is only good for new members (technically, “eligible for a Free Trial”)