Quit Amazon Prime

[EchoStache]

Cancelled Amazon Prime some time ago and found that.....we still basically have Amazon Prime service and benefits, we just don't pay an extra fee for them anymore.

Here is what I mean.  With Amazon Prime, they advertise 1 or 2 day "free" delivery.  Without Amazon Prime, you either pay for fast shipping, or accept longer delivery time in exchange for free shipping.

What we have found to be the truth is that we get things just as fast most of the time when we choose free shipping without Amazon Prime.  I mean, does the warehouse really say...."here's an order without prime.....let's wait and spend more money to put it on a different truck".  No.  They just put it on the same truck that is being loaded/leaving anyways.

Amazon jumps through hoops to try to get you to accidentally select Prime once you cancel it.  I suspect it's because there really is no difference most of the time in how things are shipped.  I don't place a very high priority on wasting my life watching lots of TV all the time so Prime Video isn't a huge appeal for me either.

Having said all that, I wasted ~2 hours driving all over town looking for a *firm* mattress topper for our pull out sleeper sofa that we need to use for 2-3 weeks while we have relatives visiting from overseas.  Turns out it isn't comfortable enough to sleep on for more than a night or two.  After coming up empty handed locally and not willing to spend any more time/effort driving around, I bit the bullet and paid $1.99 for temporary prime benefits to *guarantee* fastest shipping.  The extra 2% cash back made the item several $ cheaper even after the $2 fee.

So for expensive purchases, one can always turn on Prime temporarily for $2.

[jnw]

I regret to say that Amazon Prime saved my ass today. That is all. [Dicey runs and ducks for cover.]

That's respectable.  If it could save my ass upon occasion I'll just buy the subscription for one month, when needed.  I've quit for nine months now and so far haven't had any emergencies to pay for a one month subscription yet.   I have enjoyed a free 30 day subscription.  I bought a $1.99 one week subscription once in the past 9 months -- binge watched the entire last season of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with it.

[Dicey]

I regret to say that Amazon Prime saved my ass today. That is all. [Dicey runs and ducks for cover.]

Holy shit y'all!

Backstory: I had vascular surgery last April. I have been wearing full length, extra-strength, $#&@?% support hose every damn day since then. Yup, all California summer long. I realized today that my six-month post surgery date is fast approaching, at which point, I can graduate to slightly less hideously thick support hose. We're leaving for Moab in a couple of days, and I don't want to wear the heavy ones for one minute longer than necessary, hence the Amazon Prime order today. OMG, they were delivered tonight! They were also extremely reasonably priced. I got four pair for what a single pair would have cost at my local medical supply.

Wow!

[jnw]

So $139 per year for membership plus $2.99 per month to turn off commercials -- I can't tolerate commercials myself.  Comes to $139 + $35.88 = $175 per year subscription.  INSANE!  I remember when it was $69 per year.  I could tolerate $99 per year.  $119 was bad.. $139 caused me to quit.. I couldn't imagine paying $175 per year.  What is it next year? $200?

[Metalcat]

I wonder why American prime is so much more than Canadian prime??

[BikeFanatic]

In USA prime is super expensive! I quit prime after divorce  over a year ago, and don’t miss it one bit. 140 a year!
Amazon has raised prices so much on my basic stuff that it is worth it to track to whole  foods once a month or 2 and stock up. Their 365 decaf coffee is 5 $ more online than in store, and the little things like flashlights or bike stuff I can always find cheaply around my local area, or online. I like that camel camel camel thing though, that’s an interesting tool!

[jnw]

In USA prime is super expensive! I quit prime after divorce  over a year ago, and don’t miss it one bit. 140 a year!
Amazon has raised prices so much on my basic stuff that it is worth it to track to whole  foods once a month or 2 and stock up. Their 365 decaf coffee is 5 $ more online than in store, and the little things like flashlights or bike stuff I can always find cheaply around my local area, or online. I like that camel camel camel thing though, that’s an interesting tool!

Yeah https://camelcamelcamel.com is cool :) I have it email me when prices hit certain points :)

[eyesonthehorizon]

I wonder why American prime is so much more than Canadian prime??

My first thought is the geoarbitrage is so extreme here that high subscription fees are still all but invisible to a large chunk of the population in wealthy coastal cities, & maximizing those incredibly dense markets at a high cost probably is cheaper than netting more subscribers with lower fees, but across huge delivery ranges for which they don’t actually want to have to serve too many one-day shipping orders.

Canada’s rural population is so scant, inequality is lower, (plus perhaps service expectations more modest?) I think the downside potential of cheaper fees is easier to chalk up to a rounding error.

[Metalcat]

I wonder why American prime is so much more than Canadian prime??

My first thought is the geoarbitrage is so extreme here that high subscription fees are still all but invisible to a large chunk of the population in wealthy coastal cities, & maximizing those incredibly dense markets at a high cost probably is cheaper than netting more subscribers with lower fees, but across huge delivery ranges for which they don’t actually want to have to serve too many one-day shipping orders.

Canada’s rural population is so scant, inequality is lower, (plus perhaps service expectations more modest?) I think the downside potential of cheaper fees is easier to chalk up to a rounding error.

I was thinking that our much more condensed population was likely the reason. We're all pretty much on one road.

[jnw]

Further aggressive enshittification:

Amazon No Longer Allows Paying For Third-Party Giftcards With Amazon Giftcard Balance
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amazon-no-longer-allows-paying-for-third-party-giftcards-with-amazon-giftcard-balance/

Wow they are getting really bold in the past month aren't they?
1. $35 minimum order (vs $25)
2. $36 extra per year to avoid prime video commercials
3. No longer allowing use of gift card points to buy other gift cards.

What's next? LOL.  They are on a roll!  Maybe so they can get enough cash to pay for the antirust lawsuit they have now.

[Hula Hoop]

Amazon Prime here is Italy is Euro 4.99 a month ie Euro 60 a year ie. USD$63 a year.  How can US Amazon Prime by $139 per year? 

My theory is that Amazon is relatively new here in Italy and Prime is probably a 'loss leader' currently for Amazon.  Once they get enough people signing up here and everyone is used to ordering everything off Amazon then they'll hike up the prices.

[SpinWave0704]

If you are primarily using Prime for the "free" shipping (it's not free, folks!) and not for the Amazon streaming services, has anyone jumped on the Temu bandwagon? On Temu, you get free shipping for orders over $10, vs. Amazon non-Prime free shipping for orders over $35.

My experience on Temu so far:

• Cheaper - sometimes I find the exact same item on Amazon for 50% more
• Shipping takes longer
• Variety and number of products is fewer. In additional, most of the stuff they sell are inexpensive items - no electronics, etc. Even if they sold expensive items, I would not trust buying expensive items on Temu (for now)
• Return process: I haven't tried to return anything on Temu yet. But it can't be as easy as Amazon, which offers Whole Foods and UPS dropoff points with no packing required.

In general, I'm an aspiring minimalist and try to buy quality BIFL stuff. But there are things where quality doesn't matter (for me), and don't need to get "the best" item or brand. Here's a list of things I've bought on Temu so far, and everything was fine:

• Storage bin for the car trunk
• Chess clock
• Travel mini makeup brush
• Tape
• Pencil box

[tj]

If you are primarily using Prime for the "free" shipping (it's not free, folks!) and not for the Amazon streaming services, has anyone jumped on the Temu bandwagon? On Temu, you get free shipping for orders over $10, vs. Amazon non-Prime free shipping for orders over $35.

My experience on Temu so far:

• Cheaper - sometimes I find the exact same item on Amazon for 50% more
• Shipping takes longer
• Variety and number of products is fewer. In additional, most of the stuff they sell are inexpensive items - no electronics, etc. Even if they sold expensive items, I would not trust buying expensive items on Temu (for now)
• Return process: I haven't tried to return anything on Temu yet. But it can't be as easy as Amazon, which offers Whole Foods and UPS dropoff points with no packing required.

In general, I'm an aspiring minimalist and try to buy quality BIFL stuff. But there are things where quality doesn't matter (for me), and don't need to get "the best" item or brand. Here's a list of things I've bought on Temu so far, and everything was fine:

• Storage bin for the car trunk
• Chess clock
• Travel mini makeup brush
• Tape
• Pencil box

I never heard of temu until now.

[SpinWave0704]

If you are primarily using Prime for the "free" shipping (it's not free, folks!) and not for the Amazon streaming services, has anyone jumped on the Temu bandwagon? On Temu, you get free shipping for orders over $10, vs. Amazon non-Prime free shipping for orders over $35.

My experience on Temu so far:

• Cheaper - sometimes I find the exact same item on Amazon for 50% more
• Shipping takes longer
• Variety and number of products is fewer. In additional, most of the stuff they sell are inexpensive items - no electronics, etc. Even if they sold expensive items, I would not trust buying expensive items on Temu (for now)
• Return process: I haven't tried to return anything on Temu yet. But it can't be as easy as Amazon, which offers Whole Foods and UPS dropoff points with no packing required.

In general, I'm an aspiring minimalist and try to buy quality BIFL stuff. But there are things where quality doesn't matter (for me), and don't need to get "the best" item or brand. Here's a list of things I've bought on Temu so far, and everything was fine:

• Storage bin for the car trunk
• Chess clock
• Travel mini makeup brush
• Tape
• Pencil box

I never heard of temu until now.

Also, a lot of the items are so cheap (<$2) that even if they aren't perfect, I'm not really bothered by it. My travel mini makeup brush is $1.79, and it's great.

[farmecologist]

Judging from the current responses, it sounds like Prime is going to go under imminently...lol.

I'm sure this will be an unpopular take, but we still find tremendous value with prime...especially shipping.  The fact we can share Prime with our family members is a huge plus.  However, the Amazon Prime Music debacle really turned me off and Prime Video is going the same direction.  Not happy about that at all....and we were "sold" the hefty bump to $140 under the assumption that the additional "perks" would be included for no extra charge.  Seems like a massive bait and switch on that front.

Given that,  I would gladly take an alternative if one surfaces.  I haven't found one yet.   Walmart+ is pretty close in terms of shipping, and the fact grocery service is included is a huge plus ( we don't have grocery service with Amazon in our location ). 

If the perks of Amazon Prime deteriorate further, we may think about dropping Prime and just go with their default free shipping, and get Walmart+ for the grocery service ( or not...we can just pick up the groceries for free ).

Oh...and as far as temu goes, for us it sucks.  Not sure why anyone would put it anywhere the same category as Amazon/Walmart.

Edit :  I feel strange saying this, but I really do think Amazon Prime started sinking after Bezos left.  Anyone else feel that way as well?

[tj]

Judging from the current responses, it sounds like Prime is going to go under imminently...lol.

I'm sure this will be an unpopular take, but we still find tremendous value with prime...especially shipping.  The fact we can share Prime with our family members is a huge plus.  However, the Amazon Music debacle really turned me off and Prime Video is going the same direction.  Not happy about that at all....and we were "sold" the hefty bump to $140 under the assumption that the additional "perks" would be included for no extra charge.  Seems like a massive bait and switch on that front.

Given that,  I would gladly take an alternative if one surfaces.  I haven't found one yet.   Walmart+ is pretty close in terms of shipping, and the fact grocery service is included is a huge plus ( we don't have grocery service with Amazon in our location ). 

If the perks of Amazon Prime deteriorate further, we may think about dropping Prime and just go with their default free shipping, and get Walmart+ for the grocery service ( or not...we can just pick up the groceries for free ).

What was the Amazon Music debacle?

[farmecologist]

Judging from the current responses, it sounds like Prime is going to go under imminently...lol.

I'm sure this will be an unpopular take, but we still find tremendous value with prime...especially shipping.  The fact we can share Prime with our family members is a huge plus.  However, the Amazon Prime Music debacle really turned me off and Prime Video is going the same direction.  Not happy about that at all....and we were "sold" the hefty bump to $140 under the assumption that the additional "perks" would be included for no extra charge.  Seems like a massive bait and switch on that front.

Given that,  I would gladly take an alternative if one surfaces.  I haven't found one yet.   Walmart+ is pretty close in terms of shipping, and the fact grocery service is included is a huge plus ( we don't have grocery service with Amazon in our location ). 

If the perks of Amazon Prime deteriorate further, we may think about dropping Prime and just go with their default free shipping, and get Walmart+ for the grocery service ( or not...we can just pick up the groceries for free ).

What was the Amazon Music debacle?

First, I should have said Amazon Prime Music ( I edited my post above ).  They completely destroyed it.  Previously, they had a smaller, but unlimited use, music library.   They now tout a much larger library...BUT it isn't unlimited use.  It is now playlist based with limited skips...you can't listen to the music you want to anymore.  It is basically just a radio station.  They also constantly try to upsell you to their paid "music unlimited" service.   It pissed a bunch of people off, and was their first "experiment" at gutting Prime services.

BTW - Just remembered that I received an email from Amazon a couple days ago announcing a few "changes" to Prime Music.   Apparently, Prime Music now allows you to construct a single playlist with unlimited skips.  They must have had such huge pushback that they were forced to concede a bit on their crappy changes.  However, I haven't looked at it....because we stopped using Prime Music for good quite a while ago.


 

[SpinWave0704]

Oh...and as far as temu goes, for us it sucks.  Not sure why anyone would put it anywhere the same category as Amazon/Walmart.

Apologies for any misunderstandings - to clarify, I wasn't implying that Temu is in same category as Amazon/Walmart. Amazon's range of products is 100x larger than Temu. My suggestion was that if you are not using the Amazon streaming services, and want to quit paying $139/yr for Amazon Prime for "free" shipping, then you can continue to shop on Amazon for orders >$35, and use Temu to help fill the gap for smaller, cheaper orders >$10. IMO, Temu is useful for smaller household and beauty items.

[farmecologist]

Oh...and as far as temu goes, for us it sucks.  Not sure why anyone would put it anywhere the same category as Amazon/Walmart.

Apologies for any misunderstandings - to clarify, I wasn't implying that Temu is in same category as Amazon/Walmart. My suggestion was that if you are not using the Amazon streaming services, and want to quit Amazon Prime, then you can continue to shop on Amazon for orders >$35, and use Temu to help fill the gap for smaller, cheaper orders >$10.

Ahh ok, that makes more sense!  Sorry I misunderstood you.

[jnw]

Oh...and as far as temu goes, for us it sucks.  Not sure why anyone would put it anywhere the same category as Amazon/Walmart.

Apologies for any misunderstandings - to clarify, I wasn't implying that Temu is in same category as Amazon/Walmart. Amazon's range of products is 100x larger than Temu. My suggestion was that if you are not using the Amazon streaming services, and want to quit paying $139/yr for Amazon Prime for "free" shipping, then you can continue to shop on Amazon for orders >$35, and use Temu to help fill the gap for smaller, cheaper orders >$10. IMO, Temu is useful for smaller household and beauty items.

Would you buy batteries, electronics cables, thumb drives, etc. from Temu?  They have some really nice prices on those, but am worried about quality since they are electronics.   Don't want issues.   Like I see a thumb drive 128gb for $3.98 from Temu -- no name brand.  Similar size one on Amazon is like $11.99. 

[SpinWave0704]

Oh...and as far as temu goes, for us it sucks.  Not sure why anyone would put it anywhere the same category as Amazon/Walmart.

Apologies for any misunderstandings - to clarify, I wasn't implying that Temu is in same category as Amazon/Walmart. Amazon's range of products is 100x larger than Temu. My suggestion was that if you are not using the Amazon streaming services, and want to quit paying $139/yr for Amazon Prime for "free" shipping, then you can continue to shop on Amazon for orders >$35, and use Temu to help fill the gap for smaller, cheaper orders >$10. IMO, Temu is useful for smaller household and beauty items.

Would you buy batteries, electronics cables, thumb drives, etc. from Temu?  They have some really nice prices on those, but am worried about quality since they are electronics.   Don't want issues.   Like I see a thumb drive 128gb for $3.98 from Temu -- no name brand.  Similar size one on Amazon is like $11.99.

Funny you ask, I had the same mental debate. Can a $10 power cord on Temu fry my $2K Mac? I decided not to find out. :-) I bought an Anker Surge Protector Power Strip, on sale for $26 on Amazon last week. (I like Anker products.) I had a few other items I needed on Amazon, so I easily met the $35 Amazon free shipping limit.

I wouldn't mind buying batteries on Temu, but Costco is probably still the cheapest option for us.

[Dicey]

I'm not particularly attached to AmazonPrime, but my husband is. He buys a lot of parts to fix things and he shops carefully, so it's no big deal to me. He also has an Amazon CC, which I never see, but I charge all my Amazon purchases to, hee.

Last Tuesday evening, just as I was finishing the Moab Meetup Nametags, I got a request for two more. In the middle of printing them, I got a death message that the printer could not be used until a part was replaced. WTF? DH hopped onto Amazon, found two of the item in question (Ink Bus??) for $7.99. He asked me what else I needed, so I added something I buy regularly, bringing the order to $25. The order was scheduled to arrive between 7-11am the very next day. It arrived before 10am, and DH had the printer fixed in ten minutes. This was important because we were leaving for Moab later that day. We're en route now, last two nametags in hand, whew!

I wonder how many people would just have bought a new printer?

He can keep Amazon Prime forever as far as I'm concerned.

[Telecaster]

Edit :  I feel strange saying this, but I really do think Amazon Prime started sinking after Bezos left.  Anyone else feel that way as well?

There's no question.   Bezos' success Andy Jassy is all about pumping revenues.  That's why Amazon pages are now filled with ads at the top instead of a few ads at the bottom.

[farmecologist]

Edit :  I feel strange saying this, but I really do think Amazon Prime started sinking after Bezos left.  Anyone else feel that way as well?

There's no question.   Bezos' success Andy Jassy is all about pumping revenues.  That's why Amazon pages are now filled with ads at the top instead of a few ads at the bottom.

Yeah..for all the hate Bezos gets, he was an excellent CEO.  And strangely enough, is one of the least "strange" billionaires out there ( at least in public ).

[evme]

Edit :  I feel strange saying this, but I really do think Amazon Prime started sinking after Bezos left.  Anyone else feel that way as well?

There's no question.   Bezos' success Andy Jassy is all about pumping revenues.  That's why Amazon pages are now filled with ads at the top instead of a few ads at the bottom.

Yeah..for all the hate Bezos gets, he was an excellent CEO.  And strangely enough, is one of the least "strange" billionaires out there ( at least in public ).

Yeah, even Warren Buffett has praised Bezos as a genius and what he did with Amazon a "miracle".

I do think Amazon.com is kind of a mess these days -- their search engine is terrible and you get bombarded with sponsored products. I don't think that Jassy will have nearly as much success taking over for Bezos as Tim Cook has had with Apple taking over for Steve Jobs.

[jnw]

I don't think that Jassy will have nearly as much success taking over for Bezos as Tim Cook has had with Apple taking over for Steve Jobs.

I miss Steve Jobs.  Just think of all the new inventions we'd be using now if he was still alive.  I haven't seen apple really innovate that much in the past 12 years.  Just improvements to existing products.

[jnw]

Trying out TEMU for the first time.  We'll see!   Says I'll have within a couple weeks.
(I used Paypal to pay for it since I don't trust them with my credit card information.)

[economista]

My mom has been pushing everyone to download Temu. She would get credits for free things just for having people download it, even if they didn't purchase anything. The prices seemed too good to be true and it felt super scammy to me. I did some research and saw that Temu loses an average of $30 on each order/shipment it sends out. Plus, paying people just for downloading the app definitely alerted my spidey senses. The company has to make money and they don't make anything via sales.

It turns out there is a class action lawsuit against Temu because the app is full of malware and they make their money by selling the data they steal off your phone. I would rather pay a little more for products and give my money to a more reputable company. https://www.classaction.org/news/data-breach-class-action-claims-temus-in-app-web-browser-secretly-tracks-users

[jnw]

My mom has been pushing everyone to download Temu. She would get credits for free things just for having people download it, even if they didn't purchase anything. The prices seemed too good to be true and it felt super scammy to me. I did some research and saw that Temu loses an average of $30 on each order/shipment it sends out. Plus, paying people just for downloading the app definitely alerted my spidey senses. The company has to make money and they don't make anything via sales.

It turns out there is a class action lawsuit against Temu because the app is full of malware and they make their money by selling the data they steal off your phone. I would rather pay a little more for products and give my money to a more reputable company. https://www.classaction.org/news/data-breach-class-action-claims-temus-in-app-web-browser-secretly-tracks-users

Oh wow.   So, if this is true, what do I do on my Mac and iPhone then?  I can uninstall the Temu app from phone, but how do I remove any lingering malware/spyware from my Mac or iPhone? 

[economista]

My mom has been pushing everyone to download Temu. She would get credits for free things just for having people download it, even if they didn't purchase anything. The prices seemed too good to be true and it felt super scammy to me. I did some research and saw that Temu loses an average of $30 on each order/shipment it sends out. Plus, paying people just for downloading the app definitely alerted my spidey senses. The company has to make money and they don't make anything via sales.

It turns out there is a class action lawsuit against Temu because the app is full of malware and they make their money by selling the data they steal off your phone. I would rather pay a little more for products and give my money to a more reputable company. https://www.classaction.org/news/data-breach-class-action-claims-temus-in-app-web-browser-secretly-tracks-users

Oh wow.   So, if this is true, what do I do on my Mac and iPhone then?  I can uninstall the Temu app from phone, but how do I remove any lingering malware/spyware from my Mac or iPhone? 

I have no idea. I’m not a techy person.

[eyesonthehorizon]

Temu set off all my alarms - below-cost pricing to a strong degree of too good to be true, aggressive marketing begging recruitment. Then there’s the general ick - ecological considerations of persuading people to consume vastly more than they ordinarily would because everything was so cheap, no way the products are meant to last, there’s no way they’re paying even normal sweatshop rates to workers to make the products. I was a little confused why they’d be endorsed in a thread about dropping Amazon, they’re like everything wrong with Amazon turned up to eleven.

The idea that the shoppers are the product makes a lot of sense, the money here just goes a lot further & there are well-funded buyers for data on wealthy, trend-hopping customers. If you aren’t paying enough to turn a profit, either the public business model is bait to lure in the real merchandise, or a front at best for something else nasty.

[jnw]

Well if I do continue to use Temu, it will be in a virtual machine via VPN.  When done I'll roll back the VM.  Or just use Tails linux off a thumb drive.  Or perhaps Tails in a VM which I roll back after each use -- using ZFS snapshots in Proxmox cluster. And only use Paypal to pay, never giving them my credit card number.  I don't care if they have my name and address; that's been breached dozens of times already at various web sites / financial institutions.

All the stuff sold on Amazon is stuff bought from these Chinese companies anyways, Temu just bypass the middle man; I don't buy useless stuff; like you I don't like harming the environment.

I agree the site looks so scammy lol, with the spinning wheel, saying you get $200 coupons.. just doesn't make any sense to me and I just ignored that part.

[Josiecat22222]

If a service is "free" (or too inexpensive to be reasonable) then YOU are the product.

These superlow cost sites (Temu, Shein, etc) are selling cheap products and getting access to your data at the same time they are filling up the landfills.

Buy it for life.  Pay for quality. 

[Dicey]

If a service is "free" (or too inexpensive to be reasonable) then YOU are the product.

These superlow cost sites (Temu, Shein, etc) are selling cheap products and getting access to your data at the same time they are filling up the landfills.

Buy it for life.  Pay for quality.

Amen, especially if you can get it lightly used.

[jnw]

Ideally I buy things used at below fair market value, with little chance of further depreciation.
E.g. these Emeco Navy chairs I bought for $50 each.  They were heavily used at an Arby's restaurant for 20 years and still look brand new.  There is a 150 year warranty on them as well.  I'll have them for the rest of my life, never having to buy a kitchen chair again.  $200 for a set of these four chairs which currently retail for about $3000.

[tj]

Ideally I buy things used at below fair market value, with little chance of further depreciation.
E.g. these Emeco Navy chairs I bought for $50 each.  They were heavily used at an Arby's restaurant for 20 years and still look brand new.  There is a 150 year warranty on them as well.  I'll have them for the rest of my life, never having to buy a kitchen chair again.  $200 for a set of these four chairs which currently retail for about $3000.

Where did you buy these from?

[jnw]

Where did you buy these from?

I got them from a local woman on FB Marketplace. Her and her husband bought like 100 of the chairs from an Arby's auction if I recall. She got them really cheap.  But she had so many she was having a hard time offloading them quickly.  So she was selling them for $50 each on FB Marketplace.  I just checked and don't see her ad now.  I'll PM you the city and state.. I think I might have her phone number in my phone as well.

[baludon]

So $139 per year for membership plus $2.99 per month to turn off commercials -- I can't tolerate commercials myself.  Comes to $139 + $35.88 = $175 per year subscription.  INSANE!  I remember when it was $69 per year.  I could tolerate $99 per year.  $119 was bad.. $139 caused me to quit.. I couldn't imagine paying $175 per year.  What is it next year? $200?

I did not know about the new $2.99 monthly fee to turn off commercials until I read this today. That’s not good.  I hate commercials. I would quit Amazon prime as I don’t use it enough to buy stuff.  But I watch enough movies/shows (though their UI is progressively getting worse) and my credit card reimburses Prime membership. I guess I’ll have to see if $36 a year is worth it for the ad-free experience next year.

[jnw]

.. and my credit card reimburses Prime membership.

Which card is that? I know Amex Business Gold card I currently have now -- 150k MR sign up bonus -- reimburses Walmart+ monthly fee.

[baludon]

.. and my credit card reimburses Prime membership.

Which card is that? I know Amex Business Gold card I currently have now -- 150k MR sign up bonus -- reimburses Walmart+ monthly fee.

It’s a Navy Fed Flagship Visa card.

[jnw]

.. and my credit card reimburses Prime membership.

Which card is that? I know Amex Business Gold card I currently have now -- 150k MR sign up bonus -- reimburses Walmart+ monthly fee.

It’s a Navy Fed Flagship Visa card.

Thanks for sharing. I spoke to a couple acquaintances regarding this card and they said that some of these card members have reported getting free Amazon Prime subscription , year after year.  Is that the case for you as well? If so, this is totally worthwhile card to have in arsenal!  Problem is I don't have any living family members who are veterans.  My dad fought in Vietnam but he's deceased now.

[tj]

.. and my credit card reimburses Prime membership.

Which card is that? I know Amex Business Gold card I currently have now -- 150k MR sign up bonus -- reimburses Walmart+ monthly fee.

It’s a Navy Fed Flagship Visa card.

Thanks for sharing. I spoke to a couple acquaintances regarding this card and they said that some of these card members have reported getting free Amazon Prime subscription , year after year.  Is that the case for you as well? If so, this is totally worthwhile card to have in arsenal!  Problem is I don't have any living family members who are veterans.  My dad fought in Vietnam but he's deceased now.

That doesn't matter. They opened it up to family members a few years ago. I thought you were very proud of dumping Amazon Prime though? You're supposed to only get the free Amazon Prime the first year, it's not intended to be an annual benefit in their marketing of that card, so it's interesting that others continue to get it.

https://www.navyfederal.org/membership/eligibility.html?intcmp=nav|mbrspmenu|||eligibility|10/19/2017|||

If one of your immediate family members serves or has served in the military but is not a Navy Federal member, you may still be eligible for membership.

Immediate family members include:

Parents and grandparents
Children and grandchildren
Siblings and spouses
Once your family member joins Navy Federal, you'll be eligible as well. If they can't or don't want to become a member right now, you can still join. You may need one of the following documents from your family member:

Driver's License with Veteran's designation
State-issued Veteran ID Card
Military orders
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Earning statement (LES)
Enlistment papers
Proof of direct deposit from DoD
Pension papers from DoD
DD 214
NGB 22
Give us a call at 1-888-842-6328 or visit a branch to finish signing up for membership.

[jnw]

I wouldn't mind have a free amazon prime membership, year after year, by just holding onto a card.  A card that also has a $300 sign up bonus :)  EDIT:  Oh I forgot about the $50 annual fee..oh well :)  Maybe not :)

[jnw]

I just subscribed for Walmart+ today for $12.95 per month, because I recently got the American Express Business Gold card; Amex reimburses the monthly membership fee, making it free.  (I got the card for the 150K MR sign up bonus which for me is worth $1500 -- spend $10k in 90 days .. had a bunch of home repairs which needed to be done.)

I am not impressed with Walmart+ at all.  I just attempted to do my first "free" delivery of groceries from a local store.  You have to put $35 worth of stuff in the cart to get free shipping btw; I am fine with that.   However, when it came time to check out they have an option to tip the driver and they auto-defaulted it to 10%.  I am not happy about this at all. Amazon doesn't do this and it means Walmart is too cheap to pay the drivers a fair wage.  I cancelled the order b/c I wouldn't not tip a driver.  They have an option to not tip but that makes me feel really cheap and uncomfortable.  I rather just pick up my own groceries like I've been doing for decades, rather then pay a monthly subscription to have them delivered for "free", only to have to pay again with a tip.  Doesn't seem like a good deal. I think Walmart is going to fail with this.

The Paramount Plus subscription was pleasantly decent though with a lot of movies to watch along with shows.  So far have been without commercials, but I don't know if that will last.

The rest of the services they offer with Walmart+, to me, don't really provide me with any real value.

So I might just cancel this even though it's free, on principle. I don't like their gig economy, tipping model, and charging a subscription for it on top of that.  They need to pay the drivers a fair wage and remove the tipping thing.

[tj]

I believe Walmart+ comes with a free annual subscription the version of Paramount Plus that has commercials, not the ad free version.

[eyesonthehorizon]

...So I might just cancel this even though it's free, on principle. I don't like their gig economy, tipping model, and charging a subscription for it on top of that.  They need to pay the drivers a fair wage and remove the tipping thing.

Good principled choice but also probably a good economic one. This is pretty par for the course with Walmart. Depending on how you slice it they leverage billions (it was six billion a decade ago) in public subsidies because their wages are so low that a lot of their full-time employees still qualify for federal food & housing aid.

I am pretty positive I save more by avoiding the ad blitz of Amazon & Walmart's sites than I would recoup in discounted goods.

[jnw]

I believe Walmart+ comes with a free annual subscription the version of Paramount Plus that has commercials, not the ad free version.

I haven’t seen any commercials yet.  Been watching several things.  The amount of content they have now is quite amazing.  I’d say more than any other streaming service I’ve seen so far, but I’m no expert. One thing they have is all the old Twilight Zones.. doing a little Twilight Zone marathon today.. like they did on thanksgiving when we were kids :)

[iris lily]

I’m confused because a few of these posts seem to tie Prime membership with buying from Amazon.

Uh, anyone can buy from Amazon without paying for a Prime membership.

I have a Prime membership for access to its video catalog which is deep and rich. Also, I order regularly from Amazon, but I am indifferent to the “free” shipping. Sure, I suppose true shipping costs would add up but really they are just rolling those shipping costs into the price of the object.

[draco44]

Temu set off all my alarms - below-cost pricing to a strong degree of too good to be true, aggressive marketing begging recruitment. Then there’s the general ick - ecological considerations of persuading people to consume vastly more than they ordinarily would because everything was so cheap, no way the products are meant to last, there’s no way they’re paying even normal sweatshop rates to workers to make the products. I was a little confused why they’d be endorsed in a thread about dropping Amazon, they’re like everything wrong with Amazon turned up to eleven.

This exactly. As much as I gripe about Amazon, I'll give Bezos a hug before giving my money to Temu. Aside from the general environmental destruction encouraged by selling a million tiny things at low prices and low product quality concerns, Temu's business model is inherently designed to take advantage of a loophole in the U.S. tax code to lower prices and reduce the likelihood that anything they sell will be inspected for compliance with labor or safety laws. China-based direct-to-consumer businesses like Temu ship small individual packages rather than bulk orders, and if a shipment from China to the US is valued at less than $800 there's a part of U.S. tax code (originally designed to allow tourists to ship souvenirs home to the States) that says you don't have to pay import taxes to the US (https://www.americanmanufacturing.org/blog/why-you-should-be-leery-of-shopping-app-temu/).

Temu's business model has also been flagged as enabling them to skirt the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a law meant prevent the import to the US of cotton and other wares from Xinjiang Province, which grows about 85% of China's cotton and is also the main location of China's forced labor camps for Uyghur people. Chinese shipments to the US are supposed have documentation showing the goods in them weren't produced in Xinjiang. It's debatable how effective that requirement is but it's something at least and Temu isn't doing even that.

And while other companies may be trying similar tactics, the shear scale of what Temu is up to alarms me. A report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party recently estimated that Temu and the similarly-structured Chinese-based hyper-fast fashion retailer Shein together accounted for more than 30% of all packages (valued under $800) that came into the U.S. in 2022. https://globalaffairs.org/bluemarble/how-shein-and-temu-get-around-us-labor-laws-ban-products-made-forced-labor

[farmecologist]

I just subscribed for Walmart+ today for $12.95 per month, because I recently got the American Express Business Gold card; Amex reimburses the monthly membership fee, making it free.  (I got the card for the 150K MR sign up bonus which for me is worth $1500 -- spend $10k in 90 days .. had a bunch of home repairs which needed to be done.)

I am not impressed with Walmart+ at all.  I just attempted to do my first "free" delivery of groceries from a local store.  You have to put $35 worth of stuff in the cart to get free shipping btw; I am fine with that.   However, when it came time to check out they have an option to tip the driver and they auto-defaulted it to 10%.  I am not happy about this at all. Amazon doesn't do this and it means Walmart is too cheap to pay the drivers a fair wage.  I cancelled the order b/c I wouldn't not tip a driver.  They have an option to not tip but that makes me feel really cheap and uncomfortable.  I rather just pick up my own groceries like I've been doing for decades, rather then pay a monthly subscription to have them delivered for "free", only to have to pay again with a tip.  Doesn't seem like a good deal. I think Walmart is going to fail with this.

The Paramount Plus subscription was pleasantly decent though with a lot of movies to watch along with shows.  So far have been without commercials, but I don't know if that will last.

The rest of the services they offer with Walmart+, to me, don't really provide me with any real value.

So I might just cancel this even though it's free, on principle. I don't like their gig economy, tipping model, and charging a subscription for it on top of that.  They need to pay the drivers a fair wage and remove the tipping thing.

We tried a trial run of Walmart+ and came to the conclusion it wasn't worth it.  Like you said, they really push tipping the delivery drivers, etc...which I totally get.  However, the tipping renders the subscription pointless to us.  And the tipping is NOT advertised when you sign up for the service....pretty lame.

Instead, we order groceries from Walmart and pick them up...the store is close to us and we only order every couple weeks...so it really isn't a burden at all.