Amazon Prime Shipping: Prime Changed My Buying Habits, But Is the Cost Worth It?

[Julio Franco]

Amazon pioneered the idea of expedited shipping of online purchases with the launch of Amazon Prime in 2005. The buying club offered customers free two-day shipping on eligible purchases in exchange for a flat annual fee of $79. The program seemed unsustainable at first but over time, Amazon has proven its worth exponentially.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1679-amazon-prime-cost-analysis/

 

[Badvok]

I wish I had the time to do the same analysis on my Prime usage. Here in the UK it is actually next day delivery which is pretty good, I've ordered something at 10pm and got it the next morning. I also make use of Prime Video so it would perhaps be harder to work out the value I get.
(Amazon customer since 2003.)

 

[fps4ever]

I don't need anything in one day so I don't pay any extra shipping fees for that. 2 day is fine. You also have to take into consideration that most items on amazon are about as cheap as you can find them anywhere else, with exceptions of course. I watch what I buy and find the best deals and never felt the need to order anything just to use my membership? I've watched a few prime movies so that helps a little I guess as well. That being said once it reaches $120+ I'm going to have to rethink the membership cost. With Walmart, Jet, Chewy, etc. competition is getting much better without yearly membership costs.

 

[gigantor21]

I ended up cancelling Prime this year because I simply didn't order enough to justify the costs. That there are almost never good deals on stuff I actually want, and their courier service is terrible, didn't help much.

 

[G0DofPaiN]

I think there is something wrong with this article on Chrome android, the screen flashes white constantly at the top of the page.

 

[Jeff Re]

After their delivery service started and was HORRIBLE along with an atrocious customer service experience when I was trying to help them, I cancelled and haven't looked back.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

While prime has been fantastic for computer repair, between a far larger selection then stores for drives and 2 day shipping, I feel the quality of the product selection has been going down. The increase of prime cost on top of record profits left a bad taste in my mouth as well.

If a competitor popped up with better support, I'd probably leave amazon behind.

 

[Cubi Dorf]

Amazon is very flooded with low quality and sponsored product. They are not good member of community, bad to workers, and just greed. I prefer shop other place. There is many other store online that offer free shipping and arrive just as fast. The bigger amazon getting , the worse. Many people just go to amazon and not compare to other stores and missing better option some times.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Incredibly easy to get knock offs from Amazon without knowing. Like Nike shoes for example, but there are a ton of things you can be sold as authentic that aren't.

 

[p51d007]

I use prime, not just for buying things, but for movies, documentaries etc, and once in a while music.
I don't want to pay another "fee" for netflix, so I just use the video service on Amazon. I love documentaries, and they have a ton of world war 2 documentaries. Their library, though lacking, has been getting better of late.

 

[HyPeroxya]

Resisted prime as dont order enuff to make it worthwhile.. also the price seems to be going up faster than inflation/income. there are some decent bargains to be had on Amazon , end of line and misprices (ssd's @ £100 below their real price ) but prefer to keep my options open. Altho their customer service is generally very good .No shortage of WW2 documentarys on Freeview , ever!
If he ever launches his giant skyBoat I might reconsider .....

 

[Evernessince]

Amazon keeps raising the price on prime products. You might as well shop elsewhere at this point, as the cost of shipping is already included in the price.

 

[Selden]

"I admittedly don’t use most of Prime’s other perks..." kind of carves out a huge exception.

I've been a Prime subscriber ever since the Fire TV Stick was released, and for me Amazon Prime Video content fits my tastes better than HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Philo TV, Vudu, or YouTube TV/Red — all of which I have tried, finding none worth the cost of a monthly subscription.

Prime 2-day delivery is fine with me, so I have never paid for Prime next day delivery. I live in a rural area, 7 miles to the nearest Walmart (whose online ordering sucks), 20 miles from the nearest strip mall, 30 miles from the nearest mall with big box stores, so the savings in gasoline alone are greater than the Prime subscription fee.

 

[joe1946]

I dropped Netflix Premium (4K UHD) and just have Amazon Prime that also has 4K UHD movies. I placed 87 orders last year and 41 orders so far this year. To me it is worth it.

 

[Uncle Al]

I use prime for the Roku movies and for shipping but I must admit that I have found they are about 15% higher on many, many things. I've got most of the big stuff I need for the next 5-10 years so I'm anticipating dropping them after this year. Paying for Prime is like paying for the "privilege" of having a charge card ..... when you think about it, it just dosen't make sense but then again I dropped all my credit cards 30 years ago and now only pay cash so it's time to get back on the horse!

 

[rvnwlfdroid]

We have been members since 2005. For us there are 2 big things. One is selection online vs. what's available in stores. The second is since 2005 we have basically lived in BFE. Over an hour driving to get the the closest wally world of any major shopping venues. In short it's just plain easier to look something up, read the reviews, then have it in a couple of days. Since 2010 we have ordered no less than 100 items each year. I would hate to think about how much gas we would have burned thru to find/drive to get the items. We also make use of the videos as well as their music streaming.

 

[amghwk]

Amazon Prime = making you spend more.

You have to be spending more to keep up with your yearly "maintenance fees".

Sometimes, I feel like a ******* for falling prey to corporate's fishing policies.

It's better to be a creator, producer or seller than taking the bait as buyer for these mega corporations.

If one can't wait a few more days for the items to arrive, then Amazon succeeded on making money on that person's greed and impatience.

If it's an establishment that caters others and relies on the fast shipping, then they must not have been sourcing from the right people or not good in management of keeping intelligent stocking. Either way, they would have to pass on these "prime" charges to their clients.

Good luck with next year's increase on the flat rate prime membership cost.

 

[GeforcerFX]

I don't buy enough to justify spending the extra on prime, everything I can get on amazon I can usually find in town, and over the years I have noticed amazon's price advantages have gotten a lot worse. I work retail and have for years so I find it more enjoyable to support other retail, whether small and local or larger companies. Those companies at least hire decent amounts of people in my local area so I am supporting local people other than just the post office and fedex. Over the last 2 years I have taken a more minimalist approach to life (not hardcore minimalist) so I don't buy much of anything, I keep things longer, and I am generally far more frugal then most of my friends who buy anything of interest they find on there phones. I can't even justify streaming services so that side of prime is kinda pointless for me, only show prime has I like to watch is gran tour, my friend is kind enough to invite me over and we watch the new episodes together. For all my other streaming I use all the free stuff on the web(crackle, tubi, pluto) and OTA tv(which I record and watch whenever), all the movies I have bought I have in digital form after ripping them and with my media server and I can watch them anywhere I want to if I turn that feature on.

 

[DrakeBlazewing]

To be completely honest, I only started a monthly plan of Prime for the ad-free viewing experience on htrp://www.twitch.tv and the free channel subscription (secondary) . Since they're taking away the primary reason I signed up, I see little merit in plunking down $13 a month. I don't really shop on Amazon enough to warrant keeping it, either.

It's a double-edged sword tbh...

 

[deltamind]

I am good with what amazon has to offer, never had a knock off arriving at my doorstep, any return issue was solved asap. Prime is something I really like, I hope this is the only experience I get from amazon, nothing less at least.

 

[fktech]

Not worth it at $79. Bye Bye Amazon.

 

[erickmendes]

Feels like spending money to save money... In the end I feel Amazon prime just makes it easier for you to justify impulse purchases... It's more like a drug/medicine. It can solve a problem to you, but can also become a problem itself...

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Just like the article says you need to factor all of the benefits. Just because some may not use Prime Video for example doesn't mean that it doesn't factor in. Anyone ordering from Prime just to justify the cost should have their ability to manage their own money taken away anyway. I live in the DFW MetroPlex so I can get Next Day shipping most times for free. This means that I can order something at close to midnight and have it many times by noon...that is a 12 hour turnaround. My family uses the hell out of Prime Video. We don't sub to any of the other services as to me Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, etc are cash grab waste when you end up adding up all of them per month or even if you use a combo of just a couple of them since none of them are a perfect fit alone. I procure all of my TV content elsewise (No not Kodi add-ons nor torrents...that is for cretins). Walmart has taken over too much of the US and their selection is terrible to say the least. Whenever I go and check Walmart now online to see if something is in the store 90%+ says that it can be shipped to store, but I have to order through their online service getting it in a couple to few days. Why bother at that point when most of it I can get via Amazon? I drive Uber and Lyft seasonally with many times taking PAX to/from the Amazon warehouse in the DFW area. I ask them how it is working for Amazon and after shuttling dozens of them I have yet to have anyone tell me they are mistreated like the mass media tries to portray. They say that it is hard work, but since when is it mandated that jobs should be easy? If someone thinks that jobs should not be hard work perhaps they need to pull their iPhone out of their hindend and stop watching reality TV like the Kardashians. Are there times when Prime may not be worth it for people? Sure, but for most even at $120/yr it will be a solid value. I will say that when it goes above $120/yr, which let's be honest it will, then they will need to toss in Kindle Unlimited as part of it otherwise for me it will start to become a tougher sale.