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Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

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Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#121

Post by yeahbutbut »

praneshp wrote: post #28
ThrowawayIP wrote: post #15

I cancelled my Amazon Prime membership about a year ago and haven't looked back. I end up spending less money per month on things that I really don't need and my house is no longer filled with endless cardboard boxes.

> my house is no longer filled with endless cardboard boxes. You can throw in in the trash, you know :) Cancelling Prime is probably good for the same reason I shouldn't have gotten a Moviepass. I now have one less thing blocking me from watching a mediocre movie.

>> my house is no longer filled with endless cardboard boxes.

> You can throw in in the trash, you know :)

I prefer to build forts for my cats out of my leftover boxes.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#123

Post by Chaebixi »

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

Also they push Amazon Logistics on you, which is terrible. I've had so many problems with them. The worst thing is they removed the option to "de-prioritize" them for your deliveries, like you can with any other problem delivery service. So you're SOL if you, for instance, USPS knows how to do its job in your area.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#124

Post by KerrickStaley »

Is Prime still worth it? Many items on Amazon Prime are more expensive than buying at local retailers, and competitors like Walmart, Costco, and Jet (now part of Walmart) offer cheap, fast shipping, often with lower prices.

I'm planning on cancelling my Prime subscription when it goes up for renewal since I rarely use it (it would actually be cheaper to pay for 2-day shipping every time).

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#125

Post by ComputerGuru »

Nadya wrote: post #118
maldusiecle wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually my biggest problem with Prime: it feels like a bunch of substandard services, most of which I don't need, bundled together. If I'm not going to use free Kindle books or Twitch discounts (and I'm not), their value to me is $0. If Amazon Music doesn't have the songs I want to hear, and I have to keep paying for Spotify for those, then its value to me is $0. Prime's value is mostly free shipping, and it…

But it's all shades of gray. While you might like Prime Video - others may find it useless but enjoy the free Kindle books or Twitch discounts or other included offers. Personally, I order enough things throughout a year that Prime pays for itself in shipping costs. Any additional items are just that to me. Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying.

> Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying.

That's not how it works. Just because you aren't being billed by line item, you are being charged more. Those services come at a cost to them, and instead of being amortized across the users that benefit, they're being amortized across all users.

Case in point: this price increase. I'm sure it factors into account the price of all those services you aren't using/didn't sign up for Amazon Prime for. But you're paying it anyway.

EDIT:

The best example of this is one of the biggest complaints about cable tv services: to get channel x, you have to purchase a bundle of 2000 other channels too, which "justifies" an insane price of $80 more a month or whatever just for that one channel. The rationale is "but you're getting 20001 channels, not one, for that price!" and that's exactly what you're seeing here.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#126

Post by Chaebixi »

Someone1234 wrote: post #24
takeda wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually quit it, because most of the times I'm perfectly fine waiting extra time, and am ok with holding certain items in my cart until I accumulate $25 to get a free shipping. They seem to artificially add delays to processing to discourage me, but I don't really order anything that I need immediately. Not having prime also prevents me from impulse buying. Also, majority of things that you purchase on regular bas…

If you don't mind waiting longer and have Prime, they often offer a "refund" credit. I currently have $5 in digital credits for items I didn't mind waiting a week for on Prime. Only downside is that the incentive rotates and some of them are simply terrible (prime pantry, women's fashion, and home services for example).

In my experience, that "credit" is really just a promotion for some other service they're pushing. Now all the ones I could get are for prime pantry, which I'm never going to use.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#127

Post by Chaebixi »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #9

Especially now that Amazon owns Whole Foods, the vast majority of my disposable income is theirs. It would be very difficult for them to make Prime no longer worthwhile for me.

> Especially now that Amazon owns Whole Foods, the vast majority of my disposable income is theirs. It would be very difficult for them to make Prime no longer worthwhile for me.

I have a realized this too, but my response has been to explicitly try to shop elsewhere, to spread my dollars around. I've found Amazon often isn't even really that competitive anymore, they're just coasting on people's habits. I also don't want them to end up an unassailable retail monopoly or near-monopoly.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#128

Post by Nadya »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #125
Nadya wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's all shades of gray. While you might like Prime Video - others may find it useless but enjoy the free Kindle books or Twitch discounts or other included offers. Personally, I order enough things throughout a year that Prime pays for itself in shipping costs. Any additional items are just that to me. Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying.

> Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying. That's not how it works. Just because you aren't being billed by line item, you are being charged more. Those services come at a cost to them, and instead of being amortized across the users that benefit, they're being amortized across all users. Case in point: this price increase. I'm sure it factors into account the price of a…

Only true without grandfathered pricing or with actual price increases. I've paid the same price for Prime as when I first bought into it, even as additional items have been added for what I have been paying.

My example is more like:

I pay $80 for 200 channels.

2 years later I still pay $80 for 200 channels and 50 other channels that have been added.

3 years later I still pay $80 for 250 channels and 10 on-demand movies

4 years later I still pay $80 for 250 channels, 10 on-demand movies, and their new music channels

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#129

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

yorby wrote: post #119
tptacek wrote: post #40

It’s still the best deal in all of retail ecommerce.

Walmart.com has free two-day shipping on orders of $35 or more and there is no subscription fees.

Walmart doesn't include Video & Music streaming. Amazon video alone is worth it for me.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#130

Post by ComputerGuru »

Nadya wrote: post #128
ComputerGuru wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying. That's not how it works. Just because you aren't being billed by line item, you are being charged more. Those services come at a cost to them, and instead of being amortized across the users that benefit, they're being amortized across all users. Case in point: this price increase. I'm sure it factors into account the price of a…

Only true without grandfathered pricing or with actual price increases. I've paid the same price for Prime as when I first bought into it, even as additional items have been added for what I have been paying. My example is more like: I pay $80 for 200 channels. 2 years later I still pay $80 for 200 channels and 50 other channels that have been added. 3 years later I still pay $80 for 250 channels and 10 on-demand mov…

I've had Prime since day 1 and the price went from $75 or $79 to $100/year, so that isn't true (at least for me, in case it somehow is for you).

But in all cases, while your price for that channel hasn't increased, the market price for that channel has. Your son moves out and he can't get the package you're getting now on his own; you're an exception that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that - in general - this one service now costs that much more.

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