Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase • Hacker News Board

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#51

Post by underbluewaters » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

Amazon shipping can be terrible depending on where you live. Here in Hawaii they claim 3-7 business days which they regularly don't meet. The pattern I've noticed is that they wait until the very last moment to ship and then use priority overnight to try and meet that deadline. I think they do this to try and pool shipments but it never works out that way. I count on all orders taking a full two weeks to arrive.

I'd cancel Prime in a heartbeat if I had a remotely comparable alternative. They use to provide value in terms of making it easy to pick good products but the 3rd party seller thing has made this more difficult.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#52

Post by Shank » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #35

Until I read this article I didn't even realize I could get Prime monthly. Back in the day when it started it was a one time fee, $70? I paid it, and Amazon has been charging me since then. Like all subscription services, you are supposed to deiced once and forget about it. I worry about the concentration of power in the hands of Amazon. But I love my Kindle and I love Prime.

> Until I read this article I didn't even realize I could get Prime monthly.

It's relatively new, only added in April, 2016: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/amazon-prime-now-available-mon...

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#53

Post by firstplacelast » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #2

Amazon has done what many others dream of: I basically forget that I'm paying for Prime every year. And I perceive that it gives me enough value that I don't mind, but I've never actually checked how many orders I place each year vs. the delivery cost for them if I didn't have Prime. By comparison, Google sends me an e-mail every month reminding me how much I'm paying for Google Play Music. I don't mind it, but I won…

I had felt the same for the past 10 years (wow!). But the past year I have been thinking about unsubscribing because I end up with so much knock off crap that breaks OR the item I order gets delayed for a month before the seller cancels the order (bc the item was likely stuck in China - yet the shipping estimate was originally 2days).

Anyway, have been debating cancelling the last several months and this headline was the impetus I needed.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#54

Post by gms7777 » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

Angostura wrote: post #8

ibdf wrote: post #7

It's still worth it. The amount of money saved with shipping, and the comfort of last "minute" shopping is priceless. Plus you get a few extra things like storage, movies, and music. This past week I paid $12 for ground shipping at another site and was reminded about how much shipping added to the price of the product. Update: Also forgot about the convenience of using Amazon lockers.

For me, it's cheaper to simply pay for the quick shipping when I really need it

For me as a chronic overthinker, having the cost of shipping paid up front definitely decreases decision fatigue and saves me time. If I want something, I don't end up thinking about whether I really want the item quickly, or if I should add another item to get to the free shipping minimum, or if I should just go to the store instead of ordering online. Having it paid up front then is completely worth it for me, even if it were slightly more than I'd pay for shipping otherwise.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#55

Post by intermittently » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

+1 on more late Prime deliveries than there used to be.

FWIW, you can request a free month of Prime anytime you get a Prime order late (up to 12 times per subscription renewal, from what I've read). I've done it a few times already; once you find the customer service page, it's pretty painless.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#56

Post by monksy » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

> From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products.

I'm noticing that too. If I'm going to go with standard shipping, they'll wait on it for 2 weeks and then try to ship it the day before the end of the delievery estimation. (I live in Chicago, so theres absolutely no reason to do that other than spite)

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#57

Post by turtlebits » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

I've only had 2 shipping delay issues with Amazon Prime in the last 4 years. Recently the option for 1 day shipping for a minimal fee or free has only made it better in my eyes.

That said, I do live in the Greater Seattle area.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#58

Post by wbond » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:23 PM UTC

Shank wrote: post #38

wbond wrote: post #27

Walmart, Jet.com and Target offer free 2 day shipping if you order $35, $35, or $25 respectively. It so happens in my area, all three use Fedex ground, which tends to be more reliable than UPS. Additionally, most items that cost less than $6-8 each tend to be significantly cheaper at Walmart or Target, or you can by a single item rather than a 3-pack, which is a common Amazon strategy. If you buy a decent number of h…

The biggest thing is probably convenience. Even Amazon regularly reminds me of this, by saying I saved > 50 trips to the store for 1-off items that I've ordered on Prime. From shipping speed to not having to go blunder around a store looking for an item, Prime makes sense. It makes even more sense if you comparison shop. With Amazon, you can pick the _exact right item_, whereas a big box store like Walmart or Target…

I agree that shopping at physical stores tends to be a waste of time, with poor selection.

I am referring to shopping at walmart.com, jet.com and target.com, which tend to have many of the exact same small-ticket items as amazon.com, but at cheaper prices and without a subscription for 2 day free shipping. It seems they tend to ship the items from a local store, and thus can use low-cost ground shipping and get it there in two days.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#59

Post by underbluewaters » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

lutorm wrote: post #47

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

In Hawaii, Prime isn't two day, it's "free shipping within sorta 5-7 business days, for most of the stuff marked Prime". And even that has gotten unreliable. When there's a range of delivery dates specified, it often seems designed to show up on the very last day of that range. A significant fraction of the time they haven't even shipped the thing by the first day of the delivery estimate. There are also an increasin…

I couldn't get them to send me an xbox controller in Hawaii. It's just infuriating. They could at least have the decency to let you filter items you can't get. The mismatch between their listed terms and what you actually get as a Prime customer in Hawaii is borderline fraudulent.

I'm considering putting together and sharing a script that could check your order history and delivery dates. They tend to give a free month of credit for late deliveries, but if I could show them "Well out of 12 months I've had late deliveries every month this year" I should just get the service for free.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#60

Post by lancepioch » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #11

From many conversations, and my personal experience, the reliability of prime for two day deliveries has gone way down. It's generally a day or two before the item even ships in my region. Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products. It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't ac…

Only a couple times over years have I gotten packages late. Contacting Amazon about it, they gave me a month of prime each time too.

I live almost in the middle of nowhere, except that I'm less than an hour away from a major shipping distribution center.