PSA: Amazon Will Increase Price of Prime To $119 (cnbc.com) 274
EzInKy writes: Effective on May 11, Jeff Bezos says the price of Prime membership will increase to $119 from $99. Now, as much as I have enjoyed the free shipping over these many years, I just don't believe that benefit outweighs the increased cost of membership. Existing Prime members will have until June 16 to renew their membership at the current $99 price-point, notes CNBC. In its first quarter earnings call, Amazon attributed the price increase to the service's rising costs, noting that this was its first price hike since March 2014.
$10/month (Score:4, Insightful)
So, $10/month for unlimited, free 2-day delivery which often includes Sunday delivery along with streaming video is too much for the poster?
Re:$10/month (Score:4, Interesting)
I tried prime a while back when it cost even less, and it wasn't worth it for me. Their streaming content was mostly available elsewhere, and their interface was much worse than others, while constantly trying to shove additional-cost content in my face.
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See my above post. I am about the following value from Prime:
- ~5 trips to the store
- $94 in discounts/savings
- a streaming video service
Given that I'm now paying $120 for this benefit, it actually is pretty close to the margin. The alternative is $120 in Netflix (which is better), making 5 trips to the store, and hunting around for WalMart coupons of equivalent value.
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$10 is about how much it costs extra to get 2-day delivery without prime. If you order from Amazon once a month, then $10/month is too much, simple maths.
Now, for the other services (ex: video streaming), it is only worth it if you actually use them. If the shows you watch aren't on Amazon platform, even $0.01 is too much.
Going from $100 to $120 may just be the tipping point for some people. And my gut feeling is that it is not by chance. Like any company, Amazon seeks to maximize profit. The $99 price was
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The $99 price was already chosen with that in mind: make it cheaper means less profit, and more expensive means less subscriptions. With the new price, they know they are going to lose some subscriptions, but for them, the $100-$120 demographic they probably identified long ago isn't worth losing $20 per subscriber.
This isn't just about losing subscriptions it is also about losing sales as competitors full in the vacuum.
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$10 is about how much it costs extra to get 2-day delivery without prime. If you order from Amazon once a month, then $10/month is too much, simple maths.
I think you seriously underestimate how often a lot of people order from Amazon. For myself I don't even shop locally for almost anything anymore. I probably order from amazon at least twice per week - sometimes a lot more than that.
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I've never seen that.
Can you provide some examples?
free shipping without prime (Score:2)
Shipping is free on any order over $25. Put some low-dollar stuff you want but don't need right away in your cart or on your wishlist, and add one of those items to your cart when you need to get it over $25.
The only reason to have prime is if you are always in a hurry to receive things, and if you instead only pay for that when you need it, you may be better off without prime.
I've learned to plan ahead, and I've become comfortable with ebay and other sources, and not only do I not have to pay for prime, I
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So, $10/month for unlimited, free 2-day delivery
Depending on where you are, they also include one-day or same day delivery (not even counting 2-4 hour delivery of selected products, plus grocery and restaurant delivery in places "Prime Now" has been rolled out). Plus all the other stuff --video, music, kindle books and magazines, etc... -- which, to be fair, may or may not have value for you.
And you can share (at least some benefits) of membership with family members, roommates, whatever. So you can split the cost. For people who use the benefits even o
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Even with ordering regularly, I never got my money’s worth at the $50 student pricing level that I tried when I was in grad school. If I’m ordering online, I’m doing so because I care more about price than getting the item into my hands as quickly as possible, so whether it arrives in two days or ten days rarely matters to me. There isn’t much of a value-add there.
Likewise, because I’m content to wait, I nearly always order more than $25/$35/whatever at a time, meaning I qualif
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Depends on how much or often you shop online.
It is worth bearing in mind that the shipping isn't truly totally free, or at least not completely mitigated by the membership fee, most times. I have increasingly noticed products on Amazon that are notably more expensive when bought via Prime than if, for the exact same product, the shipping cost is separate and extra; so in truth Amazon is wrapping a certain amount of the shipping charges into the upfront price of the product and just presenting it as a singl
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No, but it is not necessary. I don't pay shipping at all because I accumulate to the minimum and change to "free delivery" for everything. Sure, it takes a few more days. I am capable of anticipating need and do not need anything immediately. Needing to use Prime just shows a lack of planning on your part. To me it is a complete waste of money. .
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Well, I buy maybe $50/year from Amazon... So all those Amazon cultists trying to convert me by claiming I'll save money should go find another sucker.
Re: $10/month (Score:5, Insightful)
Prime is one of those services that relies on most people not getting their money's worth from it. It basically amortises the cost of two day shipping over everyone using it. Some will win, some will lose.
In the UK it's worse than that though, because most items eligible for Prime cost more anyway. It usually costs the same to buy the non-Prime version and just pay for next day shipping on top.
I get the impression that the selection of stuff available in the US is much better too, especially since they bought that grocery chain.
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I use the free 30 days now and then. They offer it to be regularly for some reason.
Now we know why (Score:5, Funny)
SpaceX had to raise prices for NASA,
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In the UK it's worse than that though, because most items eligible for Prime cost more anyway. It usually costs the same to buy the non-Prime version and just pay for next day shipping on top.
The math may be mildly better than that in the US, but not by much. I call it the "Prime tax."
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Whenever I'm shopping and find an item, I see what is offered, and then click the link to see other sellers, etc.
Ever since Amazon sold items started charging sales tax on items shipped to me (about a year now)...I often look to see if same item is available by 3rd party on Prime.. Often I see those at same price, but no sales tax and I order from them.
Other times, I see 3rd party prices and then I compare if th
Re: $10/month (Score:2)
The UK has one advantage compared to ~80% of the continental US... it's big enough to merit at least one full-size distribution center, but compact enough to allow next-day delivery to the most urban 80-90% of the UK (plus the most urban 70-90% of Ireland) without needing to rely on expensive air cargo.
Even back in the Victorian era, cities in the UK had INSANELY fast mail delivery (compared to all but the most major of big cities in the US, like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco)... I think London had 6
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This is true, same day delivery used to be a thing in parts of the UK.
You can get same day delivery in Tokyo now. On the other hand, Yamato Transport, the biggest delivery firm in Japan, just raised prices because they said the workload was too high for their staff and they needed to cut back.
Re: $10/month (Score:5, Insightful)
Prime is one of those services that relies on most people not getting their money's worth from it. It basically amortises the cost of two day shipping over everyone using it. Some will win, some will lose.
They probably have a few people who don't get their money's worth but that's not their main business plan. By having an upfront sunk cost, they are actually hoping that once you have a membership that you order everything from them. That's exactly what most people I know who have prime do. That are ordering almost everything from amazon so amazon breaks even on the shipping and makes it up with the increased volume.
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I think that's a logical conclusion, but it might not be the correct one.
Prime could be a loss leader, but Prime members could buy substantially more products because of the benefits it provides. I don't know enough about Amazon's finances to know whether or not that's true, but I also don't know anyone with Prime who doesn't use it heavily.
It's entirely possible that it doesn't directly make Amazon money, but instead ups their sales volume.
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The one way it does make sense is if you care more about your time than getting the best deal. Again, Amazon UK's selection isn't great, but at least for most stuff you could save yourself some time looking for a good deal and going through checkout systems etc. just by buying more from Amazon.
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I also buy a ton of stuff from Amazon. I'm afraid to tally the order history!
Even with prime, I often let a few things build up in the cart for a single order, but they frequently still end up shipping multiple deliveries.
However, that approach works well for non-prime members, since $35+ orders are free anyway. Sure, they'll sit on the order for 3-4 days before actually initiating the delivery, but if I'm not in a hurry, who cares. Every now and then, payi
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Also useful for summing your sales-tax paid for use in taxes.
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An annoying thing with Amazon's free shipping, is that they'll just sit on it for up to 3 weeks before shipping it. They're starting to do this with prime as well, though not quite as long. I honestly can't recall the last time that my prime order was shipped the same day or at least the day after. Occasionally, in the past, I would get my two day order the very next day, especially if I ordered on a Sunday, but they only delayed it if the item was back-ordered, which is fine. The most recent items they shi
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I have also seen this. I've lived in areas with amazon warehouses, and unless I pay for the same day shipping, where I will have the order arrive next day, the two-day delivery on prime will take 5 days at least, because amazon will sit on their hands for 3 days before doing the picking of the order.
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Wow..where do you live?
I live in New Orleans....and I'd say that almost everything I order that is available for Prime shipment, gets shipped that day.
I seem to almost always get an email saying something I or
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Amazon says their service only guarantees two day shipping, but that doesn't mean they have to ship it within two days.
And this is why I screenshot the order page before I click the final confirmation button. ...". It's a lie about half the time.
There's a line that says "Guaranteed Delivery By
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I'm in Seattle, so I don't know if that makes any difference. But the average time between me ordering something, and driving down the street to 7-11 to pick it up, is about 2 days.
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While it is true that slashdot not supporting unicode is silly, to say that " requires unicode is bizarre. Just because Apple devices think they *must* use unicode to render " doesn't mean you need unicode to do "
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it's the iphone's smart quotes
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We all know that. We're pointing out how absurd it is to use "smart quotes", which require a different encoding, just to render a fucking " or '.
OH, but's it's CURLY!!!
WHO GIVES A SHIT?
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left double quotation marks
"
right double quotation marks
"
"Bam."
A slight angling and 2 different glyphs doesn't make them easier to read or remove ambiguity in parsing. Are you the kind of person who argues for the double pipe || as a single glyph?
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I've wondered the same. I think it's because to make 2 day shipping useful it has to be paired with quick handling times which also cost money.
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About that -- Amazon doesn't do quick handling anymore. These days, it's pretty rate that Amazon ships my stuff on the same day, sometimes waiting as long as 3 days to ship it, thus making my 2 day shipping more like 5 day shipping. The last eight or so orders I've made have taken no less than 4 days. Their excuse is that they give you two day free shipping, but that doesn't mean they have to actually ship it the same day. Holidays are understandable, but we're well outside of the busy shipping season.
Meanw
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Meanwhile, they keep adding these gimmicks, like a streaming video service that is basically a pay per view service with an attached monthly fee while much of their content is offered at a flat rate on netflix, hbo, hulu, and others.
You don't need to be a prime member for their pay-per-view content. Prime Video works the same as netflix. You have a bunch of videos you can watch for free. The difference is that unlike netflix not everything available to stream is free. Their free selection is very comparable to netflix The problem I have is that especially with kids, having it mixed together tempts you to pay for the non-free stuff and their non-free stuff is way too expensive.
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Roku promotes the "included with Prime" video content, and provides an option to filter out non-free content. As an added plus, "Roku Search" finds media across all the various streaming services.
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Whe
Re: $10/month (Score:5, Interesting)
Overnight orders delayed by several days(FBA not SFP so no blaming 3rd parties) .
Prime orders not making the 2 day delivery time
Orders of Prime listed items defaulting to non prime sellers , often with no warning.
I make no claim how it is in your neck of the woods but around here, even with a warehouse in spitting distance, Prime seems to be losing its luster.
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Cheaper in Canada (Score:2)
I remember is was $79
Still is here in Canada. In $CDN too.
I'm almost expecting an increase here too, I find that so cheap for the use I get out of it.
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I live in the rural midwest it's nice I can go outside and enjoy without a bunch of people, traffic, pollution, crime, etc... unfortunately that also means either I settle for what is local or order things on-line. Free two day shipping to the middle of nowhere and streaming service for $119/year sounds like a good deal to me.
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All I want is a version of Amazon prime that is just for fast shipping. I really don't need the music or streaming service
Ok. Instead of $10/month, you can have a $9.93/month service with just the shipping.
Shipping is the only one that costs money per-customer. Digital items are a fixed cost that is amortized among many millions of existing subscribers.
Re:$10/month (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon says the +$20 is due to the increased budgets for content creation, acquisition and delivery. Seems reasonable that if that is the case, then only the people who want those services pay the +$20.
Personally, I watch the "free" Prime Video because it is there anyway. I don't give a shit about it. If Amazon offered Prime without it, at a savings of $20 or $30 or more, fuck yeah, I'd sign up for that "Prime Lite".
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Seems like they are trying to give too much under a single service. They are trying to be Netflix, Spotify, a library, and a shipping service, all for a very similar price to what Netflix and Spotify charge for their sevices.
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I do most of my shopping with Amazon and like the 2 day shipping.
I don't find their video offerings all that attractive, but then again, I don't find as much on Netflix as I used to, I miss the "real" movies they used to have.
I have come to start using the free Prime Amazon music in my car a lot when driving and enjoy that....and this summer by the pool, I hope to enjoy the prime books they offe
Re: $10/month (Score:5, Insightful)
Power & Water is a bit of a reach, as is healthcare SERVICE. Prescription drugs, however, are ripe territory for poaching. Amazon has the capital resources to do things like find foreign suppliers for semi-commodity drugs sold in the US whose supply has tightened due to mergers & acquisitions, then pay to get those foreign suppliers FDA-approved in return for making them beholden to Amazon thereafter. Walgreens & CVS have lots of market power, but Amazon can out-spend them on capital investments with barely a blip on their balance sheet beyond the next quarter.
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If Amazon offered Prime without it, at a savings of $20 or $30 or more, fuck yeah, I'd sign up for that "Prime Lite".
Which is exactly why they don't. They sign you up for something you want and then try to get you hooked on things you didn't think you wanted.
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If Amazon offered Prime without it, at a savings of $20 or $30 or more, fuck yeah, I'd sign up for that "Prime Lite".
Which is exactly why they don't. They sign you up for something you want and then try to get you hooked on things you didn't think you wanted.
I suppose. $99 or $119, or even more, is worth it to me for the shipping. I'll bet my house averages three Amazon package deliveries per day, six days per week. We absolutely get our money's worth out of it. But I really have no interest in their video services. I've looked a handful of times and never found anything interesting. And even if it were interesting, it doesn't work very well on Chromecast, which means I would only use it on computer or mobile device screens. Meh.
Re:$10/month (Score:4, Insightful)
Digital items are a fixed cost that is amortized among many millions of existing subscribers.
Nope. For content they license they have to pay per subscriber or viewer. They may negotiate a flat fee for a limited duration license available to all, but the price negotiation includes such things as "How many subscribers do you have?" and "How many people watched our show last year?".
And for the content they produce, well, Jeremy Clarkson doesn't come cheap.
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All I want is a version of Amazon prime that is just for fast shipping. I really don't need the music or streaming service which is what I suspect most people don't want either.
I suspect people have different needs and wants.
Personally, I would rather pay for delivery the few times I use it, and only get the video streaming service. Not shipping, not music. For a subset of video only, $120 per year does not compare favourable to Netflix and Hulu+.
When I buy something online, I prefer to not buy from Amazon, but directly from the producer if possible (it makes warranty a heck of a lot easier), or from someone who has a brick-and-mortar store or local warehouse where I can pick up
IF you don't buy a lot at Amazon, and don't stream (Score:5, Insightful)
. . . probably not worth it.
On the other hand, if you're like **our** household, buy quite a bit, and quite often, from Amazon, and stream their Included-in-Prime video content, 10 bucks a month is dirt cheap.
So the question is, does Prime meet your needs for the price charged? IF so, get it. IF not, don't. It's THAT simple.
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I don't use the video service - it didn't seem to have much that interested me. On the other hand, I regularly find stuff to buy that's less expensive than the store (even basic household items) that I regularly just order it from my phone when I realize I'm almost out. It arrives 2 days later. Even if it were the same price it'd be more convenient that I don't have to go to the store for one item, but it's almost always cheaper!
Also, many things that are $10 or $20 on Amazon or e-bay are $3.25 from AliE
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Also, many things that are $10 or $20 on Amazon or e-bay are $3.25 from AliExpress, free shipping, if you're willing to wait 6-8 weeks.
Aliexpress we generally find takes about 2 weeks in Australia. Not bad for saving between 70%+ on amazon prices.
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There's more to it. I love Prime and have had it since it'd debut. We still order goods of amazon weekly, if not more. However, when I first got Prime, the landscape for competition was much different than today. Amazon's success has driven competitors to follow suit and offer free / expedited shipping, reducing the value of Prime. Now they are increasing the cost and justifying it by tacking on extra services.
That's great if you use those services, but consumers that don't are seeing an increase in pr
Re:IF you don't buy a lot at Amazon, and don't str (Score:4, Interesting)
My wife stumbled upon our order history in Amazon recently, we place a Prime order about every 3 days (for at least the past 2 years).
Prime is worth every penny for us.
We do watch more Netflix than Amazon streaming, but Amazon is where we purchase things rather than our crappy cable provider - AT&T.
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Depends on what is being bought. A lot of people go shopping every day but don't actually buy very much.
I went to the shops today just to buy a kitchen roll. That will come up as a statistic that I went shopping today (I typically go every day since it's on the way from work). I know people who go shopping once a week who buy a shitload more than I do.
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. . . probably not worth it.
On the other hand, if you're like **our** household, buy quite a bit, and quite often, from Amazon, and stream their Included-in-Prime video content, 10 bucks a month is dirt cheap.
So the question is, does Prime meet your needs for the price charged? IF so, get it. IF not, don't. It's THAT simple.
This is /. Please stop trying to bring logic and reason into an argument.
I am in the same situation. I enjoy a number of the Amazon originals plus the some of the back catalogue. Music is OK as well but not as much of some artists I like is available. I find the shipping to be useful as I can buy any Prime item without worrying about shipping costs or getting enough to get free shipping. That makes it useful for smaller items that I can't easily find locally or simply don't want to spend the tase to drive t
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Besides that, for me the difference between 2-day and 5-day isn't that significant to me. Either way it's not instant gratification and I have to order in advance of my need.
Blue Origin has become more expensive? (Score:2, Funny)
Uh-oh, Jeff's hobby hiking in price?
Also Twitch Prime (Score:2)
There's also Twitch Prime, which links your Amazon Prime account with Twitch streaming service, removes ads, includes one free channel subscription and a few other perks. Not everyone's thing but it's value-add if you watch Twitch streams on a regular basis.
Is it too much to hope that the extra money goes towards paying their workers better? :/
=Smidge=
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The devil in the details (Score:5, Insightful)
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-earnings-more-than-double-sending-stock-toward-record-highs-2018-04-26
From the article: "Amazon.com Inc.’s massive growth just grew even more massive in the first quarter, as the e-commerce giant reported Thursday that profit more than doubled and sales continued to accelerate, and the company announced an increase in Prime subscription prices that should add even more."
Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.
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Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.
That and there still isn't anything quite like it.
If I want to order something from Tesco or Wilkes, I have to pay £3 or more for delivery... and there's no guarantee that is next day. With Amazon prime I pay £79 a year (probably £99 now) which means I just need to order 2.5 things a month to get my money's worth. That doesn't include Amazon Prime video.
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Tell me about it. I've seen things in my local grocery store selling at $1.19 per item that somehow magically cost $20 per item and only sold in boxes of 12 on Amazon.ca, shipping not included.
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Re:The devil in the details (Score:5, Informative)
Just to be clear, the number of profit dollars more than doubled, not the profit margin . Revenue went up significantly as well, as you can imagine.
Net profit went from ~2% last year to ~3% this year. Unexpected oopsies can soak that up real quick.
Another fun way to think about it is that $1.6B net profit was about two tenths of one percent of Amazon's $738B market cap. Increase that by another 10-20x and they can actually start thinking about paying a dividend.
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Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.
Thank you, this is a good point to remember.
Do they really need a reason to raise the prices other than "people will pay more"?
So they didn't raise the prices previously because they were just being nice?
Bummer (Score:2)
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They have a couple of good shows (I like Bosh and Sneaky Pete), but more importantly they are investing in a good deal of scifi-fantasy that doesn't typically get a good shake on network TV.
Worth the entire price of Prime? Not really, but where I paid $99 for prime shipping only (and I use it more than ever) the prime video may be worth $20 to me.
Maybe if Prime hadn't been failing so much lately. (Score:2)
When you overnight a Prime product on a Wednesday you should not receive a ship date of the following Monday.
Things like that have already happened to me several times this year and all items were FBA so no third party can be blamed for shipping delays.
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NFL does it again (Score:2)
This is ridiculous (Score:2)
--They could have raised it from $99 to $105 and made MILLIONS. $120 feels like extortion, and should be pushed back against. How do we get the massive public outcry started?
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These days? Better get in line - there's so much stuff that deserves massive public outcry, I doubt this even makes the top 10.
Some news stories, a smattering of angry people say they'll cancel their subscriptions, life goes on and Amazon gets more money.
It sucks, but personally it's still worth it to my household, another $20/year is way below my threshold for going on the warpath.
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These days? Better get in line...
These days? Good luck finding enough people to actually form a line on any topic. Sure, quite a few people might complain in an "outcry" of sorts, but companies already know that less than 1% of their customers would ever actually get off their ass and DO anything other than rant. This is why they'll continue to do whatever the hell they want to customers; statistics have already proven you won't do a damn thing about it.
It sucks, but personally it's still worth it to my household, another $20/year is way below my threshold for going on the warpath.
Death by 1,000 cuts is the preferred tactic because it always seems to work. And n
PSA? (Score:2)
What does PSA in the headline mean?
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What does PSA in the headline mean?
Public Service Announcement
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public service announcement
(more typing to fill in the 'min chars quota')
A 20% increase but still not that bad (Score:2)
I use to wait til I had the 50-60 minimum to qualify for free shipping. They would sit on it almost two weeks and then ship it in 2 days anyway. Overall the prices are good on amazon. I tried it during the an xmas season one year and did the same the next and I was hooked. I had a bunch of bigger items I wanted to buy and it really was cheaper so I just let it continue. It is really convenient to not have to think about shipping costs. I buy more online because of it. I don't have to do shopping lists, buy
News for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:2)
There are two things in TFS. One is that a company is raising the price on a service. Another is that one individual person doesn't consider the increased price worth it. In what way is this significant?
Time to break Amazon up (Score:2)
They have way too much market share and are acting just like cable monopolies by bundling services and increasing prices. Considering how many billions they brought in last year this is pigging out at the expense of the consumer.
Easy solution: Complain (Score:2)
No, I don't mean complain to Amazon about the price increase. I mean just go ahead and 1) Subscribe to Prime. Then, 2) Whenever a package is late or the contents are damaged, call in and complain. The email route will sometimes work too; but you'll have better results calling in and talking to a human. A few words to the rep, especially about how "this has become a pattern lately" or in November and December "this is very troubling during holiday shopping time", will net you a free month of Prime, and s
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Walmart.com has 2-day free shipping [f]or free without any membership dues. There is a $35/min order amount to qualify.
Well, Amazon has free shipping too if you meet the minimum order. No membership dues.
That's the whole point of Prime (the shipping portion, anyway), you get the free shipping without needing the minimum purchase.
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The big difference is that Amazon's free shipping usually takes a week to deliver products. Walmart's "2 day" shipping usually sends to take 4 days, but it's still faster than FedEx Smartpost.
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Well, Amazon has free shipping too if you meet the minimum order. No membership dues.
That's the whole point of Prime (the shipping portion, anyway), you get the free shipping without needing the minimum purchase.
The point is not free shipping in a vacuum. It's that Wal-Mart offers 2-DAY FREE SHIPPING. The same deal as Amazon except without prime membership requirement.
Amazon's idea of free shipping without prime means they'll sit on your order for a week before contemplating shipping it ground.
The minimum purchase threshold is not something I find valuable so I don't care and strongly disagree with assertion it's the whole point of prime. The whole point of prime in my view is 2-DAY FREE SHIPPING not circumventi
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AOL also had horrible customer service, and didn't really seem to care that they were way oversubscribed for the infrastructure they had. Basically, their user base was so annoyed with them that they jumped ship the second a better option was available.
Amazon doesn't seem to be making those mistakes.