Posted on 04/28/2018 1:28:24 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Free two-day shipping may be enticing, but it doesn’t necessarily justify the higher price tag for an Amazon Prime membership.
Amazon AMZN, +3.60% raised the annual fee for its Prime membership program for the first time since 2014 — but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s less of a bargain for most consumers.
The online retailer announced that it will hike the annual fee for a Prime membership in the U.S. by 20% to $119. The change comes as Amazon revealed that it now has more than 100 million people globally who are members of the program. In January, Amazon raised the price of monthly memberships from $10.99 to $12.99 per month. The price change will go into effect starting May 11 for new members and starting June 16 for existing members when they renew.
Amazon said that it was upping the price of a Prime membership to offset the costs the program incurs, thanks to free shipping and digital content streaming. “Since we increased the U.S. annual price of Prime four years ago both the value of Prime and the cost to offer it have increased significantly,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “We still believe that Prime is disproportionately more valuable than the fee.”
But consumers who are considering Prime—and those who are already members—will need to closely evaluate whether the membership is still worth it at the higher price. Ultimately, that decision will come down to how much benefit each individual consumer derives from the program, whose perks range from free two-day shipping on Amazon purchases to free online photo storage and free audiobooks from Audible.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
I save a ton on gasoline and don’t have to worry about crashing into an ILLEGAL alien on the drive over or get caught in a mass shooting at the mall.
Prime saves me money, time, and is safer than going to a B&M store with a limited inventory and bad customer service.
Not a fan of Bezos and the degenerate scumbags he subsidizes at the WP, but business is business.
Wouldn’t mind seeing him forced to sell off the WP though.
How do you check that? Can't find anything on Amazon that lets me see how much we've spent. I'm sure there are a lot of months where we spend over $1,000, and have been doing so for many years. I could look it up on our bank statements, but that would be a BIG pain in the neck!
Just go away a$$hole!!!
2 day shipping hardly ever happens anymore. Scam to claim it !!
I dunno, that’s $.32 a day every day of the year... Can I afford it? (Sheesh!)
At least you have some conscience, but you have picked up the libtard habit of name calling. And, I am not going away.
I have never NOT gotten a Prime item in two days from Amazon and I order from them a lot. Remember however that the items you buy must have the Prime checkmark next to them in order to get the 2-day shipping.
Any Prime item I order on a Friday now gets to my house by Sunday. I was amazed that they would deliver on a Sunday when that started a couple years back but they now do that as a matter of routine.
I know people like to hate on Amazon because Jeff Bezos is such a liberal and probably not a very nice person. But the company he built and the level of customer service that goes with it is simply amazing. I have never had a bad experience with them and when something does go wrong, they immediately overcompensate to make it right.
Same goes for Apple as well. Another amazing company with perfect customer service. I brought my four-year MacBook Pro to them a couple years ago and they replaced the entire display for me at no charge. It is now a six-year-old MacBook Pro and it works just as well as it did the day I bought it. I will never go back to a PC.
It does bother me that both companies are overrun with liberals at the top but I cannot deny that both companies deliver impeccable customer service and excellent product.
This was your first post to me....whose the libtard now....heal thine own self!!!! By the way a self professed little snowflake has nothing to do with my soul!!!
That's what I do. I'm don't use Prime and NEVER pay for shipping.
Several years ago I purchased a holster via Amazon.
The other day I received a question via Amazon, from someone wanting information on the holster.
When I tried to answer the question, I received a message, "This question has been removed."
I have often ordered products and got them the very next day!!!
I agree...it’s like “Sam’s Club”, or “BJ’s”...it’s worth the membership if you use it on a regular basis...but just for occasional purposes, I’ll pay the extra small amount for shipping.
I was looking at buying a Cessna 150 from a friend back in the ‘70’s, but I found that between hangar/tie down fees, insurance, maintenance, and fuel...I was much better off just renting a plane when I wanted fly. Unless you have a regular use for a plane, (and unless you’re rich and can afford it) owning a plane is a money pit...even a small one, like a 150,
I have found the same to be true with boats!!!!
I love both! Also, The Americans.
Original $79.00 was fine while I had a daughter living out of town. Shipping for birthday and holidays made it worth it. She moved back and now retailers have free ship to store. I dropped Prime. A lot of the BBC dramas we like to watch are free via DVDs at our local library.
The thugs have figured out all they have to do is follow UPS or USPS and wait for them to deliver a package to a doorstep and they know it's an Amazon package. They hop out of their car, take the package and resume following UPS/USPS. It's been a pretty well established pattern, they don't hit the same neighborhoods on a regular basis and the local pd is too undermanned to catch them (and the thugs know it.)
If I have to have a package shipped to an Amazon drop-spot and drive there to pick it up, it defeats the purpose of Amazon IMO. I also don't use Amazon Prime Video or Audio very much and can find other content elsewhere.
Yes I know I can purchase some Amazon system which will let the delivery person inside my front door to deliver the package "securely" and I'm not comfortable with that either.
Back to the brick and mortar stores I go.
I hate having to use it, but we live in a rural area and Amazon saves me money.
I can sometimes find the same products elsewhere, but typically the shipping costs eat up all the savings.
We pay through the nose at brick and mortar stores to get anything beyond normal staples.
Here’s an example. I needed a replacement bolt for my truck. m10-1.5, 25mm long. Had to be 10.9 strength, not 8.8. I checked Tractor Supply, Walmart, Advance Auto, Home Depot, Lowes locally. Nobody had it. Couple minutes on Amazon and I have a whole bag of them on the way. I wasted more time driving around looking for one than I’ll wait for Amazon to deliver it to my office.
How did I find how much I spent since 2010? Good question - I was looking in my account so I could update my credit card information - As I wandered around the account information I clicked on something that brought up the total. I did not note where I found this, I just thought it was interesting.
Looking at my account to see if I could find the answer I did see that under YOUR ORDERS you can call up year by year for orders where all your orders for the year are listed. It is not what I found earlier but it may help you.
“119???!! When did that happen??!?”
Hit the news this morning, I think, so probably yesterday or today.
And stark contrast to Netflix, Amazon charges for far too many programs and movies on Prime TV. Just another reason why I am considering discontinuing my Prime subscription.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.