Amazon Prime subscriptions bumped to $99 a year starting next week

[Jos]

Amazon has announced that the annual membership for Prime will increase from $79 to $99 starting next week. The change marks the first time that the fee has gone up since the free two-day shipping service launched in 2005. Since...

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[SNGX1275]

I've considered Prime in the past, ultimately decided I didn't order enough to make it worth my money. That and I don't have any devices that connect to my TV that can play Amazon Prime stuff.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same. If you consider things like inflation and fuel costs, a Prime membership valued at $79 in 2005 would be worth more than $100 today.

Hooray, math time!
$79 to $100 in 8 years would be an increase of 26.5%. To calculate inflation between two years we use the Consumer Price Index, which is a measure of how prices changes for consumers year to year. The CPI in 2005 was 1.953 and in 2013 it was 2.33. To get inflation we use the formula (2.33 - 1.953)/1.953 and we get 19.3% At that rate of inflation something that cost $79 should cost $94.25.
Gas (unleaded) has gone from $2.90 to $3.96 (adjusted for inflation). The question then is, does it cost $6 more in gas to ship you your stuff over the course of a year? Who knows... but it doesn't look like Amazon is being unreasonable.

 

[Guest]

Meh. I'll stick to torrenting.

 

[OneSpeed]

Free shipping for $99? I order from Amazon now and then, but it still doesn't make too much sense to me. eBay with vendors with true free shipping.

 

[madboyv1]

Meh. I'll stick to torrenting.

How do you torrent physical merchandise? =p I mean if you got a 3D printer some things you can make yourself, but it's not the same.

I share my prime account with another family member and split the cost; makes it totally worth it when you handle the cost that way.

 

[insect]

Still worth it for my family. So much easier than heading to the store. Between shipping and tax savings it's huge. We use two stores - The grocer (for fresh stuff) and Amazon (everything else).

 

[Benny26]

I've also been considering prime for months now. Not sure whether I'm tight or that I just don't mind the free super saver delivery 3-5 day wait that comes with most stuff anyway. Plus I've no idea what I'm going to order over the next year so I don't even know if I'll be getting my money out of it or not.

Also, the streaming stuff doesn't interest me in the slightest...

 

[Wendig0]

I love my Amazon Prime, and it's well worth an extra $20 to me to keep it when my plan comes up for renewal again in November. Being able to get small engine parts for my customers by the next day, for less than it costs me to send something by UPS ground, is worth every penny of the subscription price to me.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It means absolutely nothing to me, I've never used Amazon before and probably never will (unless they start dropping off pretty chicks on my doorstep like we saw in that chopper article a couple of weeks ago).

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

I buy everything from Amazon. Lightbulbs, coffee, electronics, deoderant. Soon I will buy my non perishable groceries from them too. The UPS guy comes to my house more frequently than the mailman. For me Prime is a no-brainer

 

[cmbjive]

I buy everything from Amazon. Lightbulbs, coffee, electronics, deoderant. Soon I will buy my non perishable groceries from them too. The UPS guy comes to my house more frequently than the mailman. For me Prime is a no-brainer

Not here yet, but I'm slowly converting.

 

[captaincranky]

Not a member now, and soon there's going to be 20 more reasons to never join.

Besides, Amazon has free shipping over $35.00 anyway.

So, a DVD box set, and a couple of sale CDs, puts you over the top on that.
They free ship through "Lasership", and they're about 20 miles from my house. When all is said and done, "free shipping, often amounts to, "overnight shipping". (At least for me).

Everything else I buy, I get from specialty houses.

I haven't hit the point where I'm too lazy to go to the supermarket, and I don't keep a bucket to pee in, next to my computer either.

Viva, Redbox!