
Amazon.com Help: Amazon Prime and Amazon Student Prime Membership Fee Changes - PankajGhosh
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201482600
======
kenjackson
Classy post by Amazon. Not a lot of marketing fluff about the added value of
this price increase (many companies try to spin it). And a link to cancel on
the page. It felt like I was being treated like a respected adult customer.

~~~
ethikal
The email they sent to current Prime customers was very classy and effective
as well...

 _Dear ________,_

 _We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime
membership will be increasing. The annual rate will be $99 when your
membership renews on October 29, 2014._

 _Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has
remained the same for nine years. Since 2005, the number of items eligible for
unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million.
We also added unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with
Prime Instant Video and a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the
Kindle Owners ' Lending Library._

 _For more information about your Prime membership, visit our Prime membership
page._

 _Sincerely,_

 _The Amazon Prime Team_

------
sharkweek
I immediately think of Netflix when I read stuff like this --

They are struggling to find a way to raise their prices (or at least create a
tiered pricing structure) that doesn't immediately give everyone flashbacks to
the Qwikster debacle.

Netflix got, after a few months of hooplah, a pass on that one because there
wasn't a lot of competition yet, but I think it's a different story now; or at
least becoming one. I run a Netflix blog on the side, and a lot of people
comment their intent to cancel their subscription when I write about how
certain shows are being removed (King of the Hill caused quite the storm). But
I'm fairly certain very few people actually go through with it. $7.99 a month
is an afterthought for most, especially compared with alternatives ($50/mo
cable subscriptions, competition not being up to par, etc).

All that said, I believe I would pay considerably more for Netflix, or a
better streaming service,(I'm guessing upwards of 20-30 bucks a month) if
their content library increased alongside the price change. I think many
people would likely agree.

~~~
dbecker
Amazon's post is more direct and honest than anything from Netflix during
their price increase. I don't think they are similar at all.

And most customers will understand the need to raise prices once every nine
years.

~~~
sharkweek
That's what I meant, Netflix needs to just rip the bandaid off -- the Qwikster
headache being an example of them trying to sugarcoat a price increase as a
new service and having the whole thing backfire.

I disagree that most customers will understand, but I think most will grumble
for a bit then continue to pay.

Read the comments on this page, people are awfully entitled when it comes to
Netflix (be mindful of the affiliate link in the post if you're against that
kind of stuff): [http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-
be-...](http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-be-removed-
from-instant-stream-october-1st/)

------
jrockway
Amazon increased the price of Prime a long time ago.

* Once upon a time, 2-day shipping was free and next-day shipping was $3.99. Then they raised the price if the next day happened to be Saturday. Now, next-day shipping varies depending on the item and is often unavailable. It's never _less_ than $3.99, though. 2-day shipping is rarely shipped via a 2-day shipping service; often they drop it in the mail and hope for the best. (Also, why even bother charging me $4? Just make next-day shipping free and charge $4 more for the thing.)

* Various unreliable courier services end up doing a good chunk of the deliveries. UPS, Fedex, and the USPS are great. I don't know how they do it, but they manage to break into my apartment building every day of the week and drop off packages without me ever knowing the details. Lasership and A1? Yeah right. I love it when they try to deliver packages to my office at 10PM. Are any office mail rooms open at 10PM ever? Ever? Nice try. (Does Amazon even use A1 anymore? I remember finding a bug in A1's website that disclosed the name and address of all their customers. Emailed security@amazon and security@a1. Heard back from Amazon that they fixed it. Never saw another package from A1. Maybe A1 just rebranded as Lasership. I really have no idea.)

* Add-on items. Need I say more?

* Every time you order something from Amazon, you get a stupid interstitial about how you can opt-in to receive email about streaming a bunch of B movies and flopped TV shows at 160i resolution via your Flash player. No thanks, Amazon. You're a physical media store, not Netflix! It's cute that you're trying, though.

Finally, while I'm ranting... it's weird that amazon.co.jp and amazon.com
don't share my credit card information and address. Would also appreciate
Prime for amazon.co.jp, but I know that's never going to happen.

~~~
6cxs2hd6
The worst is when you're promised "guaranteed 2-day delivery" while ordering,
but it is _actually_ shipped via...

 _FedEx SmartPost_

What is FedEx SmartPost, you may ask? FedEx gets it close to you, then the
USPS dicks around with it and there's no tracking info. You might actually get
it in 2 days, or it might be a week.

It's like fiber optic broadband -- except the last mile is your package is
carried by a turtle riding a sociopathic sloth whose sense of direction is
impaired by a cocktail of psychoactive substances.

~~~
matwood
At some point Amazon should put me on the "Don't use any shipping that goes
through the USPS" list.

The USPS is horrible at my house. The whole point of prime was so that I could
get away from having anything shipped through USPS, then Amazon started with
this SmartPost thing. So every time I order something through prime, if it
comes back that it will go through USPS in anyway I email and complain. Every
single time they have canceled and re-shipped the item using a shipping
company that can actually do 2 day delivery.

------
mfrommil
Considering Netflix comes out to $96/yr, $99 for Prime, with a comparable
(albeit not quite as good) video library, along with shipping and the free
ebook, it's still a deal.

And even if Amazon loses money on a Prime membership, there's been statistics
about Prime customers spending over 2x as much annually then non-Prime
customers.

~~~
gregpilling
We use it at work for buying paper, toner, office supplies, basically anything
else that we would be buying from Office Max. It has saved a lot of trips and
wasted time.

It took a while for staff to get used to it, now I think there would be a
revolt if our prime membership got cancelled. We certainly spend 2x what we
used to, it is probably more like 10x

~~~
lotsofpulp
I also use it for my businesses. I am easily willing to pay the premium in
Amazon prices and Prime membership to avoid going to stores. It doesn't even
make sense if you include time, effort, and the possibility of the item not
being in stock.

------
wil421
Doesnt matter for me the deal is still way worth it. I had 3 separate orders
this week in my household and one package actually arrived within one day, not
even 24 hours. At $99 it is still a deal for the customer if you order often
enough.

------
jijojv
Be aware of color rip-off pricing on some prime items e.g.
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MLPSNC](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MLPSNC)
(35% extra for some colors)

I got this shipped from Target (redcard member) for $10

------
stickydink
I was aware that the streaming service came to Prime a few weeks ago, but I
had no idea that the Kindle Lending Library even existed! I still believe
Prime delivers very good value. I have something arriving from Amazon maybe 3
out of 5 weekdays, and now (probably for a long time, I just didn't know) I
don't have to pay for books?

~~~
Spoom
I haven't found the Kindle Lending Library to be very useful. It's a small
subset of the books available, mostly ones you wouldn't want to buy, and they
do seem to make it very hard to find on a Kindle.

~~~
e40
I'll second that. I looked through the list and didn't see a single title I
wanted to read. Useless.

------
rickyc091
$79 to $99. ~25% increase, but well worth it.

~~~
lsaferite
Seems like it's in-line with inflation actually. At least according to the
site I just checked.

And for someone like me, even $100 a year is a deal as I order from Amazon a
LOT.

------
basicallydan
_For the first time since it was introduced nine years ago, the price of Prime
is going up._

Nine years? Is anybody else completely surprised by this? I only heard of it
the first time when it was introduced in the UK about two years ago.

~~~
ben1040
Nope. I got a free trial in late 2005, but realized I didn't buy enough from
Amazon to justify the $79 at the time.

Then about six years ago I took a job that was really travel-heavy (gone M-Th
every week). My weekends became precious and I didn't want to waste them
shopping, so I started using Prime for everything, including the things I'd
have otherwise bought at Target or a drugstore, like shampoo. I'd place my
order Wednesday morning and it was at my house Friday when I was home.

I've since quit that job and don't travel so much anymore. But between me and
my wife, we still get shipments from Amazon probably 2x/ week.

------
iends
Frustrating.

I only want prime for expediting shipping. The fact that Prime has streaming
video is worthless to me.

------
micro_cam
Comprable price to netflix now. It would be nice if, as part of the increase
they would make kindle lending library and streaming video sharable with a
limited number of house hold members like netflix does or even offer this at a
small price increase. We have both but the prime is currently in my name, my
wife can share the shipping so it doesn't make sense to get a membership for
her just to use the other features though she would like to.

------
rohall
I have to give Amazon credit. I signed up for a trial yesterday and when I saw
this I figured I'd have to subscribe at the new price, but that's not the
case. In a month, when my trial expires I'm eligible for the old price. My
renewal the following year will be for the new price.

Looks like they're handling this really well and respecting their customers!

------
jra101
No longer a prime number :(

------
piggyback
Did Amazon Prime previously operate on a loss or are they just trying to make
more money since it has gained enough momentum?

~~~
SpikeGronim
Prime is considered a marketing expense. Amazon absorbs hundreds of millions
or even a billion dollars in shipping charges through prime. It's a huge
reason they have a thin profit margin.

~~~
newaccountfool
They shouldn't even have a profit margin, they pay no tax inside the UK.

~~~
snoonan
That's populist propaganda. Businesses are taxed on profit, not revenue. Even
if they were 100% based in the UK, they'd still probably pay very low
corporate taxes (if any) due to the thin margin. They actually do pay an
enormous amount of tax in the UK in the form of payroll taxes, VAT
collections, etc.

It's sad to see people propagate this crap. It's really about veiled
protectionism. A big, efficient player comes in and is willing to forego
profit indefinitely. Can't tax them legally, so shame them. Tax on 0 is 0.
That's how it works for UK companies too. Try reading between the lines...

~~~
newaccountfool
I mean they don't pay corporation tax, they're based in Luxembourg for that
reason. Why should I have to pay a ridiculous amount of money, when they don't
pay anything.

~~~
snoonan
They pay corp tax on the profit they earn in their UK's operations. Just like
every other company with operations in the UK.

What percentage of your revenue do you pay in corporate taxes? None! You only
pay a percentage of profit. (extremely thin for Amazon) They base in
Luxembourg to benefit from UK laws and EU regulation. The UK media and
government quoting billions in revenue is meaningless. They're trying to stir
you up. They would relatively nothing in corp tax relative to their other tax
footprint (payroll, vat, etc) and would absolutely spend it all to avoid doing
so.

------
notlisted
Meh. Taking opportunity costs into account, a SINGLE visit to a local retail
store that I can bill to a client instead more than covers the yearly expense.
Add to that my experience with their customer service and returns (simply
stellar[1]) and I would have gladly paid $149/yr which was hinted at
previously.

I've saved myself countless hours and shipping charges as a long-time prime
member. Watched a whole season of The Americans and five streaming movies for
free last week. I'd say I get more than my money's worth...

[1] one more reason to avoid other online retailers or brick and mortars

PS I never buy anything from third party sellers where Amazon doesn't handle
the fulfillment. Too many scammers. Yes, I'm looking at you AntOnline on
Amazon. Crooks.

~~~
hga
" _I never buy anything from third party sellers where Amazon doesn 't handle
the fulfillment._"

I've found that Amazon's fulfillment of Marketplace books is seriously subpar,
they don't pack them like they pack their own books. By and large I now avoid
this one use of Amazon fulfillment---although I made these observations before
getting a Prime subscription.

On the other hand, I've found that a 96% or higher satisfaction rating is very
strongly correlated with successful third party experience, assuming of course
it's based on enough time and transactions (modulo some merchants don't put
any padding in their book envelopes and sometimes they get a little damaged).
Anything below that is a real gamble.

After some effort, finally trying a packaged version of Windows---a class of
things I'd never get except straight from Amazon.com---your hated AntOnline
has only a 92% rate.

------
apress
Over time, due to both per-item shipping fees rising and higher volumes,
Amazon's losses on shipping have been rising at an unsustainable rate. The gap
last year between its shipping costs and shipping charges was about $3.5
billion, up from just $600 million 5 years ago.
[http://www.statista.com/statistics/236503/amazons-annual-
shi...](http://www.statista.com/statistics/236503/amazons-annual-shipping-
revenue-and-outbound-shipping-costs/)

~~~
hga
Well, that's their explicit shipping charges. Obviously some of the shipping
is priced into the product, just like when I buy an Amazon Marketplace book
for 1 cent and $3.99 S&H.

------
kriro
Prime only recently (late February iirc) added the streaming stuff in Germany
(after they bought the German streaming site "Lovefilm") and increased the
prices (you're grandfathered in until early 2015 though iirc). I installed the
app on my Xbox and counted...a whopping 81 films/videos were available in
English. So basically I get close to 0 extra value from it.

Seems like a coordinated price increase. I use Amazon a lot and think the
increase is still reasonable so I won't cancel.

------
Jach
Oh look, I still can't play videos on my non-HAL Linux desktop. No matter, I
originally got Prime for the free 2-day shipping, and for me I think it still
makes economic sense to keep it. (Besides, their videos are too often low-
quality. They won't even let you rent HD versions sometimes, if you're going
to watch it on a PC. I have a fiber (albeit non-gigabit :( ) connection,
darnit!)

------
jdubs
I love the service and it provides great value. I'm happy the price has stayed
the same for so long but times change, costs go up and I will still pay for
it.

------
ctb_mg
So has this gone into effect immediately for new memberships and renewals? My
prime expired last month when it was still $79, and I'm considering renewing.

------
af3
=(

