General Question

Jeruba's avatar

If you have Amazon Prime, are you thinking of dumping it?

Asked by Jeruba (55828points) March 10th, 2023
13 responses
“Great Question” (4points)

Is it still worth what you’re paying for it?

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/should-you-dump-amazon-prime-in-2023/

I used to buy a lot of books online. I signed up when Prime cost $79 per year, and the free shipping paid for itself quickly. Now—?

Observing members: 0
Composing members: 0

Answers

Caravanfan's avatar

We still use it a lot. And to me the environmental aspects of it are overrated. Let’s say I need a cheap widget. For example I really need a retractable lanyard for work. I found a pair of heavy duty ones for about 15 bucks or something that I had shipped to me on amazon. The Amazon truck bundles all their shipments and goes to neighborhoods anyway so it’s no extra gas for them to come to my house. (And the Amazon fleet is slowly changing to Rivian all electric anyway).

Alternatively, I would have had to call around and then get in my car and drive to a store to find a retractable lanyard. Is that more efficient for the environment?

Now, for regular books I never buy on Amazon. I mostly buy comic books and I always purchase them from my local comic book store.

Acrylic's avatar

We use prime, not only for shopping but also TV streaming so will keep. We also rack up Speedy points rather quickly and use them to buy Amazon cards. Usually get enough points to get at least $50.00 a month.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

I got rid of Prime when they raised the price to $120/year.

I rarely buy paper books. I mostly buy Kindle books from Amazon.

If you buy $25 worth of items in one transaction, there’s no charge for shipping. You have to be careful. They will try to charge shipping, but if you scroll down, there’s a place to choose free shipping. Once you spend $25, you can order more things in 24 hours and still get free shipping.

LadyMarissa's avatar

I buy very few books from Amazon opting to use Kindle instead. Much cheaper & easier to carry with me!!! A lot of my Kindle is read for FREE. I also watch a lot of streaming movies which are often $5–20 on other platforms & FREE to watch because of my Prime. I also listen to a TON of music that I get FREE due to my Prime. Leaving Prime could considerably impact my wallet!!! Yes, when I get the bill for the next year, I ALWAYS think about leaving; however, when I add everything up, I pay the bill. Since the pandemic began, I often order off Amazon so I don’t need to go out in public. I don’t trust others to worry about MY safety when THEY are sick. It’s NOT always convenient for me to have a $25 order, so I’m guessing that they are losing money on my free shipping. I’m also spoiled to the 2-day shipping & lately, I’ve been receiving 1-day frequently. In a years time, I probably save enough in gas to pay for my membership!!!

jca2's avatar

I was recently half-heartedly considering getting rid of Prime but I haven’t (yet). I do use it a lot, although less often lately because I’m trying to save money. It’s very convenient, as anyone who has it knows. I don’t use it for music but I do occasionally stream videos with it.

I like that the Prime delivery person always knows where my house is, 99% of the time. On the two or three times they screwed up, Amazon gave me a credit right away and resent the item. I like that the delivery person sends a photo of the item on my doorstep so I know it’s definitely there.

About ten years ago, before I had Prime, I’d use the free delivery with over $25 worth of items. I was mostly ordering in December, and I found the items would come within days, which was probably because they had so much extra help at the warehouse. Once Christmas came and went, the shipping might take a week or two, which was ok if I wasn’t in a hurry to get the stuff.

Amazon doesn’t always have the cheapest prices. They have great prices on books, but on other things, it may or may not be cheapest. It’s very convenient for looking for something specific.

A friend tells me she gets rid of Prime every now and then and then Amazon will send offers for money off a new Prime membership. She said even when you cancel your Prime, the previous order information is always there for you to see your previous orders.

I still may cancel my membership. I have to think more about it first.

janbb's avatar

Still find it useful for free delivery and streaming.

canidmajor's avatar

What @janbb said, as well as Amazon still has some stuff I can’t find at brick and mortar.

LifeQuestioner's avatar

I’m keeping mine. For one thing, I found out that if your income is under a certain level, the cost of prime is only $6.99 a month. Also, I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, not the least of which is books. But as my health is not so great, I have a lot of things delivered to my house, and overall Amazon has the best delivery. I’m not saying they’re perfect with making the deliveries, but if you have a problem with not getting an item, at least the process is fairly easy to start the refund process. And I like the way I get notifications about when my item ships and when it’s 10 stops away, etc.

@jca2 you reminded me of something else I love about Amazon. It may have been 5 or 6 years since I ordered something and I want to get it again. It’s so easy to go back and look at your past orders and not have to go searching for the same item. There’s just so many features I like about Amazon.

jca2's avatar

@LifeQuestioner Where is the info about Prime for income under a certain level? I’d love to take a look at the requirements. I didn’t know that criteria existed.

rockfan's avatar

All my favorite tv shows are on Amazon Prime, and since they they don’t release shows on physical media anymore, I find it hard to get rid of Prime

jca2's avatar

@LifeQuestioner Never mind. I googled it and I see you need either to have an EBT card or be a Medicaid recipient, neither of which I am.

flutherother's avatar

I order quite a lot from Amazon and the free delivery I get with Prime probably justifies the cost. There are also some good programmes for streaming though there seem to be less than a year or two ago and many are “free with ads” which I avoid. I keep it under review but I’m not thinking of dumping it at the moment.

LifeQuestioner's avatar

@jca2 sorry, I’m only on here every couple of days so I’m just now seeing your question. Yeah, it’s true, I’m on Medicaid so it was pretty easy to get approved.

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.

Mobile | Desktop


Send Feedback   

`