
Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase - el_duderino
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/19/your-monthly-amazon-prime-membership-fees-are-about-to-increase/
======
untog
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 wonder if it affects
their retention rates to do that.

~~~
takeda
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 basis, such as cleaning
supplies, vitamins etc are often much cheaper in local store and are less
likely to be knock offs.

~~~
Someone1234
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).

~~~
aidenn0
a lot of incentives are terrible, and you can't use two of them on the same
order. If I could delay 2 or 3 orders and then get a free digital movie by
stacking the credits, I'd do it a lot more often.

~~~
banderman
For digital movies/music the credits do stack.

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AlexB138
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 actually hurt
them since they have such a strange-hold on online retail, and even with these
issues they do still offer the best service by far, but it really seems like
Amazon needs some competition.

~~~
lutorm
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 increasing amount of items that say they are Prime but when
you try to buy them, it says "it can't be shipped to your address". Sometimes
it's understandable, like things that are very heavy or hazardous, like Li-ion
batteries. Other times it's completely incomprehensible, like 1/8" pipe
fittings. And Amazon customer service can't give any info, they just say
"sorry, we're not going to be able to send you that thing."

~~~
underbluewaters
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.

~~~
matchbok
You cannot expect a company to cater to such a small population. You choose to
live there, you choose the consequences.

~~~
underbluewaters
I can absolutely expect them to honor the terms that they themselves defined
for a service that costs more than $100/year.

~~~
EpicEng
The terms state Free 2-day shipping to the contiguous US. It states 5 day
shipping to Hawaii and Alaska

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201118050)

I suppose it could be more clear, but I do not see where they guarantee 2-day
to Hawaii. You live on an island in the middle of the ocean, expect shipping
delays.

~~~
underbluewaters
They advertise 3-7 business days. For the past 3 months it's been more like
~8-11 business days. Nobody here has unrealistic expectations.

USPS would be much faster if they just dropped it in the mail within a couple
days. It would also cost less than fedex overnighting items after waiting 2
weeks.

~~~
lutorm
Indeed. It's gotten to the point that if I want something fast, I'll actually
_avoid_ Amazon and instead find some merchant who will ship the item USPS
Priority Mail which is very reasonably priced and reliably arrives in 3 days.

The biggest problem are merchants that for some reason insist that they can
_only_ use UPS/Fedex, which is a complete ripoff to Hawaii. I don't understand
how they get any business for their "ground" service here, given that it's
usually about the same price as 2-day air but takes a week.

------
ThrowawayIP
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.

~~~
praneshp
> 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.

~~~
michaelper22
Trees were killed to make those boxes in the first place (do they have 100%
recycled boxes yet?). Better to not order than to dump or even recycle the
boxes.

~~~
megaman22
Trees grow back faster than you might think. Especially the species and grades
that go into papermaking. Nobody is cutting down old-growth forest and putting
it into pulp. Unless they are a complete idiot - there's no money in it; it's
been a while since I was doing my father's logging invoices, but his margins
on spruce and fir or hardwood pulp were razor thin, after accounting to
stumpage to the landowner and operating expenses. It was largely a way to get
rid of the stuff that needed to be cut, but that he couldn't convince anyone
to scale out for veneer or saw logs. A huge part of the pulpwood was also
blowdowns, storm damage, and disease or insect culls.

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wbond
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 higher price items, Amazon tends to have a price
advantage, so the $99-per-year Prime subscription is worth it. However, you
will throw a bunch of money away if you are buying a handful of small-ticket
items from Amazon on a regular basis.

~~~
Shank
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 will only
stock a few options at best, 0 at worst. I was looking for a specific light
bulb at Home Depot the other day. Didn't find it. Went to Lowe's. Didn't find
it. Ordered the exact item from Amazon while walking out of Lowe's. I only
went to stores for the time convenience (I obviously needed it urgently), but
they failed for lack of stock. That's what Amazon offers to me -- instant
availability of a huge range of items, and ridiculously fast shipping on the
smallest of those items.

~~~
vageli
> 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 will
> only stock a few options at best, 0 at worst. I was looking for a specific
> light bulb at Home Depot the other day. Didn't find it. Went to Lowe's.
> Didn't find it. Ordered the exact item from Amazon while walking out of
> Lowe's. I only went to stores for the time convenience (I obviously needed
> it urgently), but they failed for lack of stock. That's what Amazon offers
> to me -- instant availability of a huge range of items, and ridiculously
> fast shipping on the smallest of those items.

Why didn't you go to lowes.com or walmart.com? This isn't an apples to apples
comparison.

~~~
dawnerd
And why not check the lowes/homedepot sites before bothering to go into the
store? They both have pretty good stock indicators and they'll tell you
exactly where the item is.

------
ibdf
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.

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

~~~
gms7777
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.

~~~
vageli
> 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.

------
ProfessorLayton
While I’m not sure I get $156/year worth of value from Prime, or even $99, I
share my account with 2 other close family members, and together we place
enough orders for it to be worth it. Same with Costco etc. — so as long as
These services remain easy to share, the price increases are aren’t too bad.

~~~
skinnymuch
I think the new way is to only allow two other people in your household. So
for people who cancelled and rebought Prime or got Prime in the last few
years, they don’t get your perk.

I too am lucky to be grandfathered in. But can’t really say it is a current
Prime benefit anymore.

------
donarb
Except, nothing new if you pay yearly, still $99 a year.

~~~
skinnymuch
I’m betting when they added monthly prices their plan all along was to push
people to pay yearly as it’s cheaper. But the price difference must’ve not
been enough. Now it is pretty significant so it’ll probably do the job they
originally wanted from it. Obviously that’s not the only reason for them
adding monthly. Just one reason in my opinion.

------
fooey
I wish Amazon Prime would break itself up into packages instead of raising
their rates every 6 months as they throw more and more crap under the umbrella

It annoys me greatly that I'm subsidizing Prime Video when I have zero
interest in using it

~~~
skinnymuch
Can you afford to pay yearly? Seems like they are trying to get people to pay
yearly. They have really only raised that price once 3 or so years ago
(otherwise they did a $5 increase).

------
roma1n
Recently Amazon upped its minimum order for Prime Now (2 hr delivery) -- used
to be 20 euros, now it's 40. I cancelled my subscription because of that, but
the customer service was courteous and refunded the unused months fairly
quickly.

------
ryanianian
Many people in this and other recent threads talking about counterfeit
items...please be aggressive about reporting these to customer service! It's
only happened to me once, and customer service just refunded the ~$50 purchase
without even asking me to send it back. A few days later I saw the seller was
no longer on Amazon, so I suspect this is something Amazon is starting to take
more seriously.

Amazon really needs to do a better job of clearly showing which products are
sold by third-parties and how well-vetted those third-parties actually are.
I've not seen anyone say that a "Sold by Amazon" product is counterfeit.

This said... I've come to rely less and less on Prime for actually meeting its
2-day promises. Most of the time I don't care when it shows up, but when I
_do_ care, I've lost all faith that Amazon will actually pull through so I end
up just buying locally.

If volume is the issue, they really could incentivize the "no rush" shipping
more than the hokey $5 credit things.

~~~
jlardinois
> I've not seen anyone say that a "Sold by Amazon" product is counterfeit.

I've had it happen to me with Levi's, and word of mouth tells me this is a
problem in general with big name clothing.

~~~
skinnymuch
How obvious was the counterfeit? I’m worried That I’m oblivious enough to not
notice something is counterfeit and just think the product is bad quality.

~~~
jlardinois
I was certainly fooled the first one or two times it happened; my initial
thought was that Levi's provided the worst of its production to Amazon. The
jeans were cut and sewn poorly, covered in sawdust, and fell apart within
months. It's only upon doing further research that I realized they were
counterfeit, and that many people have had this problem.

------
tvanantwerp
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.

~~~
TearsInTheRain
That doesn't at all scare you? Is there anything that they could be doing with
your data or money that would make you think twice about using prime?

~~~
dsacco
_> Is there anything that they could be doing with your data or money that
would make you think twice about using prime?_

Realistically speaking, probably not, no.

~~~
bcaulfield
+1 for straight up honesty. I'm the same way, wish I were more on top of stuff
like this, but don't have time.

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pascalxus
Thanks for the heads up! They just passed my value threshold and I'm making
sure to set my auto-reknew to off. I have plenty of patience to wait a week
for packages.

------
antirez
Never understood why prime is so cheap in Europe. In Italy is 20 euros, and
was 10 a few years ago. Sure, prime video here has a very weak offer, but
still free shipment for 20/year is a good deal.

~~~
jrowley
Probably greater density -> cheaper shipping.

Also they probably are working to lock people in initially with low prices and
hike prices overtime once they are dependent (monthly scheduled shipments,
etc)

~~~
antirez
Yep locking was my best guess...

~~~
nashashmi
The comfort you never needed.

------
georgeecollins
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.

~~~
Shank
> 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...](https://www.wired.com/2016/04/amazon-prime-now-available-month-
without-shipping/)

------
jinfiesto
I pay for Prime yearly, so this does not affect me. However, in the last
couple years, the quality of service has decreased dramatically. When Prime
first rolled out, it used to be that I'd receive my packages on day 2 like
clockwork. These days, I'm lucky if I receive packages in 4 or 5 days.
Additionally, with inventory co-mingling, Amazon has become a dumping ground
for counterfeit and damaged products. I've wasted so much time this past year
sending stuff back (sometimes repeatedly) because I've received something that
was damaged (usually not during shipping) or clearly fraudulent.

The upside of course, is that Amazon's customer service remains top notch and
any issues that I have are ultimately resolved to my "satisfaction." It'd be
nice if I didn't have to spend so much time in chats with Amazon customer
service.

~~~
owlninja
Opposite here, I'm receiving most packages same day (evening) at this point.

------
wkearney99
I'm fortunate to live close to one of their distribution centers. I regularly
get things same or next day.

When I use other resellers online it takes upwards of a week to get things.
For the few situations where they're less than amazon, their shipping fees and
shipping times lose the sale.

Fedex seems to go out of their way to sit on packages. UPS, on the other hand,
seems to go to extra lengths to get packages through their system as quickly
as possible, regardless of shipping type. As in, things ordered UPS Ground
regularly get here in 2 days. Fedex, though, when they say a week, it'll
damned well be 7 days.

------
kregasaurusrex
I've wondered why Amazon Prime charges tax in my state for what's essentially
a yearly membership club fee. My guess is that since it's bundled with
streaming services etc it counts as being entertainment even though I don't
use those features.

~~~
skinnymuch
That would be my guess too. And that is pretty lame for the, I’m guessing,
majority of subscribers who don’t use their other features.

------
exabrial
I rarely get two-day deliveries anymore, with the fee increase, I'm likely to
terminate the service :/ I only ship about one item per month on Amazon, not
worth the $13/mo

------
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).

~~~
nunez
Same-day arrival is a godsend for me, which is why I keep paying for it. I
don't care about their Music or Video options, though it's handy to have with
Echos around the apartment.

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

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

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

------
mnarayan01
[Obsolete; new HN title is fine]

~~~
mulmen
That’s exactly what the title says.

~~~
quicklyfrozen
The actual article title starts with 'Your'.

------
cranjice
I've stopped shopping at amazon, but the prime subscription I expected to
expire annoyingly auto-renewed itself. There seems to be an (intentional?)
lack of prime account management features. The only user facing options seem
to be "cancel now" or "email me right before auto-renewal". I don't see a way
to simply turn off automatic renewal.

On the other hand I think prime was a useful influence on other e-commence
sites. Shipping times have become dramatically shorter in recent years.

So, thank you Amazon for forcing your competition to ship faster while
allowing your own site to become overrun with fake reviews and crappy knock-
off products!

