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

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#141

Post by stinky613 » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 8:39 PM UTC

intermittently wrote: post #55

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.

Awesome tip, but I feel like I'm still shit out of luck with any Amazon purchase sent via USPS. Their drivers mark all their Amazon Prime packages as delivered if it's end of day. I've had multiple Amazon deliveries that were "delivered at 7:59pm at normal mail reception desk" that they then delivered the following day

EDIT: Just want to make it clear that this isn't my isolated experience -- http://www.cbs46.com/story/36856477/mail-carriers-usps-warns...

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#142

Post by stinky613 » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 8:51 PM UTC

Chaebixi wrote: post #123

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…

USPS forges delivery times to avoid being caught delivering a Prime package late[1] (don't get me wrong, though; AMZL sucks)

[1] http://www.cbs46.com/story/36856477/mail-carriers-usps-warns... N.B. I've personally had this happen a couple times now.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#143

Post by Nadya » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 8:52 PM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #130

Nadya wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 -…

You're correct, I've only been a Prime customer for as long as it's been $99 annually, which was sometime in 2014 [0]. However, they've still added more to what Prime membership includes since that time so my statement remains true for myself.

>But in all cases, while your price for that channel hasn't increased, the market price for that channel has.

The only important factor for what I receive for what I'm paying is the price I'm paying. Other people's pricing is irrelevant. Other people's prices are not what I am paying and are not a factor in determining if I feel I am getting value for my money.

If I think Amazon Prime is worth $99/yr and not a cent more - then if they ever increase my pricing then I simply cancel my subscription and now they lose my $99/yr. If they grandfather me in since I've been paying $99/yr for years then they'll likely continue to receive my $99/yr as long as I feel the price is still justified for what I receive. If they begin removing things (eg: Prime no longer is 2 day shipping) then I cancel as I'd no longer be getting my money's worth.

I am not stating "forced bundles" are good - but just that I don't pay for Prime because of any of the extra bundled items and the price I have been paying for Prime has not increased even with additional items being added. Even if the price point was set some time in the past under the assumption of these items being added before they had ever been added - I had no knowledge of it and deemed $99/yr to be a fair price to pay at the time, so they are viewed as value adds even if they (technically) might not be.

[0] http://time.com/23172/amazon-prime-hikes-price-to-99/ (Amazon's official announcement is in the second sentence but is a lengthy URL with querystrings)

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#144

Post by remusrm » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 8:55 PM UTC

I've just canceled my prime this Monday. I kept it only for the Grand Tour Show. I did also notice that the shipping took longer than what they state and most items I had to return since they were not as described. After that I received an email asking me if I am happy with service since I returned 2-3 items.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#145

Post by Fnoord » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 9:20 PM UTC

maldusiecle wrote: post #113

vm wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What?? Amazon Prime is a killer value! Netflix is $11/month and Spotify is $10/month. Sure, those services are definitely better than Prime Video and Music, but I still use Amazon's offerings a similar amount so the $13/month bundle feels like a great value at 40% lower cost. And this doesn't even count the services I don't use like free Kindle books or Twitch game discounts. Not to mention the faster delivery times.…

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…

Yep, that's exactly my sentiment.

I signed up for Amazon Prime for a month trial, and it seems pointless.

There's no Amazon Netherlands, so ordering from Amazon Germany instead who do have a lot. Not everything is subject to free delivery with Prime though. They wrote next day delivery. It took them 3 days. I can already order a lot from Bol.com with free shipping from 20 EUR order, and free return S&H. I suppose this is where, internationally, there's going to be larger differences.

Already got Spotify, not switching.

Already got cable, Netflix, and HBO. Not gonna add another. Already can't consume all this.

Free ebooks, I got a Kobo w/o DRM.

Twitch I don't touch with a 10 pole feet. I use Steam primarily, and bought various games on sale but I don't have time for games.

If you're using two of these services though, and it'd mean you'd ditch the competitor, then Amazon Prime is already worth it.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#146

Post by takeda » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 10:12 PM UTC

kaspm wrote: post #106

takeda wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feels like artificial, because they give a week time range and they ship it around the end of that range. The actual shipping then takes about 1-2 days. If they use their own shipping, which they do on Sundays then the product is delivered on the same day they shipped.

Right, but I'm saying the processing (picking and packing process that occurs at the warehouse) before shipping is not first-ordered, first-picked. They've developed a prioritization process for picking which take items ordered _later_ via prime and picks them first. I suppose you could call that "artificial" delays but that's what I think is happening.

I have trouble understanding what you're saying here:

> They've developed a prioritization process for picking which take items ordered _later_ via prime and picks them first.

What I meant to say is that with prime the order is shipped within hours, when without it takes days and it seems to be calculated toward the end of of the time range, but still so it will arrive before the deadline.

Actually any items that are not fulfilled by Amazon are delivered much faster when you don't have prime. When you do it is the reverse, which feels suspicious.

Yes, there's no way for me to completely prove, but statistically without prime items arrive at the later date of the spectrum given, but they also never late than the date given. This could be explained that when deadline approaches they start treating my order as if it was higher priority, but then that would still prove my point.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#147

Post by patrickxie » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

jstarfish wrote: post #82

ng12 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon is also failing to handle rampant knock-offs mixed in with legitimate products This is the only thing I worry about. Granted, I don't think I've personally ever gotten a knock-off but the fact that the possibility exists makes me much more cautious about ordering from amazon.

Some items are much more prone to being counterfeit than others. If you order a Lego set, you're going to get a Lego set. But when it comes to industrial stuff, I can't even shop there anymore. Anything labeled as OEM (batteries, auto parts, etc) is a prime candidate for counterfeiting.

where can one find a trustworthy website for batteries?

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#148

Post by Terribledactyl » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 10:30 PM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #37

kaspm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if they're artificially adding delays or just prioritizing Prime orders over yours, that has always been my assumption.

UPS does weird things with their ground orders. I went to Purdue (West Lafayette, IN). Many packages would ship from Louisville, and for UPS those would go through Indianapolis (about 90 minute drive from West Lafayette). If I shipped UPS ground, my packages would consistently sit in Indianapolis for 2-3 days. While it's possible that their truck was just always full, it was so consistent it felt to me like they were…

I had something similar with FedEx packages out of Terre Haute.

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#149

Post by craftyguy » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 10:43 PM UTC

rando444 wrote: post #69

matte_black wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally don’t even track my delivery times. I order things off amazon so quickly that most of the time when I get a package I had forgotten what I ordered, let alone exactly when I ordered it. It’s nice that packages come in two days but I often don’t really need something that fast so I don’t pay attention. I will continue paying happily for Prime.

I'm failing to see how your anecdote about how you're happy to pay for something you admittedly don't care about is relevant.

In addition, there's also a very clear contradiction in their statement, specifically how they "often don’t really need something that fast" but yet they will continue paying happily for Prime. Maybe they only care about the other Prime services and not the shipping?

Re: Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase

#150

Post by vageli » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 11:34 PM UTC

gms7777 wrote: post #54

Angostura wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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.

Your conclusion to me is an odd one; maybe you wouldn't have ended up making those purchases were you forced to give them more thought which would save you _more_ in the long term.