Amazon prime

[Helvegen]

If you are interested in Costco, but don't have access, you might want to consider Google Express. They have a wide delivery area. They deliver to my sister who lives in a satellite internet only rural part of the country.

[Chris22]

It's pretty widely reported that Prime members spend more at Amazon than non-Prime members (same goes for the Amazon credit card):

Seems like there's some correlation/causation questioning to do there. 

Or it's just that people figure out that IF they're going to shop on Amazon a bunch, it's cheaper in the long run to spring for Prime because you'll save money.

[GoBigRed]

As someone previously mentioned, photo and video storage has been a great perk.  Amazon also has a newly added photo printing service, that connects to its cloud storage.  Has made printing photos from our phones seamless.  And with Prime, ships for free so we don't have to search for a coupon code at other sites like Shutterfly.  We send hard copy photos directly to grandparents this way (and we don't have to pay for separate postage).  I do think Costco's print quality is better, but overall, this makes things very easy and saves us a lot of time.


   

[HipGnosis]

I bought the month to month subscription. First month is free. It's 10 bucks a month.

Try it for the 30 day free trial. Get more toilet paper than you can use in a year and then cancel membership=Profit !

This is quite an enlightening idea.  I wonder if there's any extra charge for signing back up after cancelling.

I dropped prime last year.  My low cost cell plan doesn't allow me to stream music.  I didn't see much on Amazon Prime video the last few months...  But I've paid over $10 in shipping since then for things I needed.

Pro tip:  you can have multiple lists other than just the wish list.  I have one for small things I kinda like, that I can add to a shopping cart to reach reduced or free (and now, add-on) level. 

[Sean Og]

For those that are students here, Prime Student is a great deal - 6-month free trial and then 50% of the regular Prime price.

[Laura33]

FYI, you do NOT need to be a Prime member to use Subscribe & Save, which comes with free shipping, plus 5% off (and 15% off for 5 or more items).  You can set the delivery schedule for anything from every month to once every 6 months, so you can group together Costco-style quantities of staples every few months.  Check the prices -- some are screaming deals, some are not -- and they may not offer the specific brand of everything you want, but I have found it to be a useful alternative to Costco for bulk stuff (especially as I am very susceptible to the "oh, look, what's in *that* bin?" Costco impulse buys).

For me, the shipping minimum was a feature, not a bug -- I definitely buy more stuff without it.  But I did join Prime on one of those 30-day free trials, and I like it for the convenience, so I'll probably stick with it for now.  But if you just need TP, paper towels, and baby aspirin (or whatever) every month or two, you really don't need it.

[Pigeon]

For those that are students here, Prime Student is a great deal - 6-month free trial and then 50% of the regular Prime price.

One thing to note is that you don't get the streaming music or Ebooks lending during the trial.

[Dicey]

Also - please consider linking your Amazon account to Amazon Smiles. 1/2% of your spending will be donated to the charity of your choice.


https://smile.amazon.com/

Also note that you must shop and checkout on smile.amazon.com in order for the charitable donation to take place. In other words, even if you have set a preferred charity using smile.amazon.com, if you later shop on (plain-old) amazon.com, the donation will not occur.

Yes and just to be clear it's 1/2 of a percent  or .05  but no cost to you so worth the extra effort to try to help out a charity.

Hmmm, shouldn't 1/2 of one percent be represented as .005? As in for every dollar you spend, they give one half of one penny to the charity of your choice? IMO, BFD... this is just a marketing gimmick Amazon is using to make you feel good about spending your money there. And please, never assume Amazon has the best price without doing your homework. Yeah, that's why they have stuff like Prime and Smile. Gotcha, sukkas!

[boarder42]

Also - please consider linking your Amazon account to Amazon Smiles. 1/2% of your spending will be donated to the charity of your choice.


https://smile.amazon.com/

Also note that you must shop and checkout on smile.amazon.com in order for the charitable donation to take place. In other words, even if you have set a preferred charity using smile.amazon.com, if you later shop on (plain-old) amazon.com, the donation will not occur.

Yes and just to be clear it's 1/2 of a percent  or .05  but no cost to you so worth the extra effort to try to help out a charity.

Hmmm, shouldn't 1/2 of one percent be represented as .005? As in for every dollar you spend, they give one half of one penny to the charity of your choice? IMO, BFD... this is just a marketing gimmick Amazon is using to make you feel good about spending your money there. And please, never assume Amazon has the best price without doing your homework. Yeah, that's why they have stuff like Prime and Smile. Gotcha, sukkas!

Amazon is the lowest price if used correctly in conjunction with a site like Slickdeals

[Mezzie]

My Prime membership is up for renewal in March, and so far I'm considering cutting it. There are a couple shows that are free on Prime and not on Netflix, so that's something to consider. I just started a subscribe and save for my dog's food at considerable savings (though I feel guilty not supporting my local business... but, really, it's a huge difference in price). I get my Kindle books through the library, and... that's about it. I'm not sure I could justify renewing.

Right now I'm thinking if I can cut my internet costs by $20/month, I'll keep it, but if not, I'll cut it. That seems fair.

[boarder42]

My Prime membership is up for renewal in March, and so far I'm considering cutting it. There are a couple shows that are free on Prime and not on Netflix, so that's something to consider. I just started a subscribe and save for my dog's food at considerable savings (though I feel guilty not supporting my local business... but, really, it's a huge difference in price). I get my Kindle books through the library, and... that's about it. I'm not sure I could justify renewing.

Right now I'm thinking if I can cut my internet costs by $20/month, I'll keep it, but if not, I'll cut it. That seems fair.

Slickdeals alerts will save you lots of money on everything

[snogirl]

As someone previously mentioned, photo and video storage has been a great perk.  Amazon also has a newly added photo printing service, that connects to its cloud storage.  Has made printing photos from our phones seamless.  And with Prime, ships for free so we don't have to search for a coupon code at other sites like Shutterfly.  We send hard copy photos directly to grandparents this way (and we don't have to pay for separate postage).  I do think Costco's print quality is better, but overall, this makes things very easy and saves us a lot of time.


 

Oh no I'm joining prime!

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

[marble_faun]

I am a heavy Amazon Prime user, placing probably about 100 orders per year.  (I also order groceries online from a local place.  It costs $5 per delivery but many of the same benefits apply.)

* It's super-handy if you don't have a car.  No lugging heavy stuff around on a bus or bike! 

* It's also handy if you're the kind of person who hates spending time in stores, particularly big box stores. To me, navigating huge parking lots and wandering down endless aisles to find a single, particular object is a hellish, life-sapping experience. Amazon obviates the need for that.  And it's one-stop shop. You can quickly place one order for a miscellaneous but highly-specific variety of things that it would take all day to find in the physical world.

* I find it much better to shop for things from the comfort of my home -- can quickly price-check with other sites, read reviews, research comparable products, etc.

* If you have Prime and use an Amazon credit card, you are refunded 5% on Amazon purchases to use on future orders.

* The free movies are a nice add-on.  The selection isn't large, but they occasionally have really great arthouse or other quality films.


All in all, it is well worth it.


The downsides and worries include environmental issues, labor issues, and the fear that Amazon could someday become a monopoly and drive prices way up.  I do patronize our neighborhood mom & pop hardware store, buy used furniture and other goods off Craigslist, and so on. But for many kinds of products, Amazon has been the best option, so I use them despite my misgivings. They do what they do really well. And I don't think replacing Amazon with big-box store purchases would be much better. 

[Milizard]

We have prime, but really don't get the value out of it.  I can find most consumables cheaper at the local store. For toilet paper, the best deal we've gotten was a one year supply from Staples.com.  You just have to find the deal at the right time, however.  My DH checks dealnews frequently, and most likely found out about on there.  Since we have plenty of space in our basement to store extras, having a year's worth of TP on hand is awesome.

[Telecaster]

All three of my adult children and their families live out of state.  That's six adult birthdays and three child birthdays a year, plus Christmas gifts.  If not for Prime with free shipping, I'd have to go shopping, pack the gifts in appropriate materials, and go to USPS or FedEx or the UPS store and pay to have the goods shipped.   That alone makes the price of membership worth it in my book.

^ This.  I (excuse the language) fucking hate Christmas shopping.  You spend countless hours in painfully crowded stores hoping to find something somebody might like.  Then you still have to wrap and ship.  Each one of those steps is a giant pain.

With Prime, you look up their wishlist, click on it, and you're done.  Christmas shopping takes an hour and people get stuff they actually want.  Prime restored the joy of Christmas for me.

[FIRE me]

Tell me why amazon prime is worth paying $99?

I have Prime. I'll renew it when the time comes. But it is my opinion that Prime is becoming less and less worth it for the following reasons:

Prices have been creeping up on Amazon for many years now. Now you can get most items at big box stores, for the same price, today. Many Amazon items are a LOT cheaper on e-bay, from experienced high volume sellers with impeccable satisfaction ratings and free shipping.

Counterfeit items on Amazon have become a real problem, and Amazon shows little interest in eliminating it. It is now even worse because Amazon has chosen to commingle products in their warehouses.

So that “Shipped and sold by Amazon” item that you select, was quite possibly actually physically from some scumbag knockoff third party seller.

On the plus side, a few Prime perks are sometimes useful to me. Lots of free steaming video, a few free Kindle books (that can be read on Android and don't require a Kindle), and a few items ship free next day instead of two day (only in some cities). The free music streaming and free photo storage are not useful to me, but your mileage will vary.

Last, when something goes wrong, I do find their customer service to be excellent.

[geekette]

Counterfeit items on Amazon have become a real problem, and Amazon shows little interest in eliminating it. It is now even worse because Amazon has chosen to commingle products in their warehouses.
<snip>
Last, when something goes wrong, I do find their customer service to be excellent.

Yes and yes.

We had a problem with a counterfeit fridge water filter, and we'd had it for a couple months (filter flowed WAY too fast, and it tasted awful).  They refunded us without problem.

[COEE]

Honestly, I've been very disappointed with amazon lately.  I do like that I can order it and it be on my doorstep a couple days later.  But honestly, none of it is cheaper.  In fact, I think a good majority of the prime offerings are more expensive than if I just went to the store and bought the stuff. 

Because of this thread I thought I'd check out the 'Subscribe and Save' service.  For our dog food it was the same price.  ~$1/lb.  And it's taxed for CO residents now too.  Blah.  If I subscribe for a few other subscriptions then I get another 10% off.  So I looked up my central air filter and fridge water filter.  They have them both - but they don't have a 12 month subscription cycle which is the replacement rate on these.

What am I missing?  Convenience?  So what?  I have enough time to go to the store when I need to so convenience isn't really a driver for me.

I do have a prime membership, but it's mostly for hard-to-find home repair items, Christmas, and the videos (which are mediocre).  I'm really on the fence for resubscribing next year.

[Mezzie]

I actually like that it's taxed in my state because I don't have to tally up what I spent over the year when I do my state taxes. Also, I think my state and local taxes generally do good.

[accolay]

I do shop on amazon but aim to limit it. Sometimes there just isn't a place to purchase a product locally. I know the OP is just about toilet paper, and I'm all for getting goods cheaply, but I do not want to have an amazon prime account for a number of reasons. My reasons, not yours. Shop there or don't.

1. Economic shit. Aware of what shopping online without paying tax has done and continues to do to our economic landscape and cities, how their workers are treated and payed. Also corporate welfare policies.

2. Already have Netflix. Don't need another service to give me an excuse to sit on my ass anymore than I already do.

3. Over shopping/overspending because it's easy and convenient.

[FiguringItOut]

Thanks all.

I ended up getting prime membership.  Will see how it works out.

[Nothlit]

1. Economic shit. Aware of what shopping online without paying tax has done and continues to do to our economic landscape and cities, how their workers are treated and payed.

Just because Amazon doesn't collect sales tax in every state doesn't mean people aren't obligated to pay the tax if their state has one. Most states require you to pay "use tax" on items for which sales tax was not collected at the time of purchase, and typically provide an opportunity for you to do so on your annual income tax return (as Mezzie alluded to above). If your desire is to be a responsible tax-paying citizen, nothing is preventing you. Anyone who doesn't pay up is technically breaking the law.

[accolay]

1. Economic shit. Aware of what shopping online without paying tax has done and continues to do to our economic landscape and cities, how their workers are treated and payed.

Just because Amazon doesn't collect sales tax in every state doesn't mean people aren't obligated to pay the tax if their state has one. Most states require you to pay "use tax" on items for which sales tax was not collected at the time of purchase, and typically provide an opportunity for you to do so on your annual income tax return (as Mezzie alluded to above). If your desire is to be a responsible tax-paying citizen, nothing is preventing you. Anyone who doesn't pay up is technically breaking the law.

Right. No offense, but a pretty useless argument. It may be the law, but it's crappy policy. I'll bet the number of people who do that is close to zero percent. If it's not hard policy people don't do it, and it doesn't matter.

[Helvegen]

I do have a prime membership, but it's mostly for hard-to-find home repair items, Christmas...

That's about all the value there is for me. I don't find Amazon to be necessarily cheaper or faster, but some random crap I just can't find easily anywhere else. It also makes Christmas/birthday shopping lazy.

I try to avoid shopping on Amazon when I can. I sometimes find that going to the third party seller's websites offer up the same kind of deals with free shipping. I'd prefer to buy direct when the cost difference is negligible to none so sellers I actually like don't have to pay Amazon.

[seanc0x0]

I use Prime.  I work at a university and one of the perks is a free class per term. Based on taking advantage of that, I'm eligible for Amazon Student (essentially half-price on Prime).  That said, being in Canada a lot of the extra perks aren't available, so I was about to cancel until they added streaming video just recently.

I order a bunch of small things (mostly hobby related) via Prime, which probably breaks even on shipping alone. You do need to be careful though, as some third party vendors misrepresent the MSRP on their marketplace. Definitely need to do a comparison shop with a non-Amazon site to make sure you're not paying an inflated price.  Not sure if this is changed though, since Amazon just got nailed with fine here in Canada for MSRP shenanigans: https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/01/11/amazon-agrees-to-pay-11m-in-penalties-and-costs-over-list-price-concerns.html

[robtown]

Amazon also occasionally has quick "sales" on Amazon Prime.  The last one was in November, though, so it might be a while.

If they ever screw up shipping and it doesn't come on time, just do an online chat and they'll give you an additional month of Prime free (up to 12 per year).  Details here.

But seriously - check out target.com to see if they have your TP.

The one month extension is good to know --  I've had more than one failure to deliver on time.

[postvmvs]

I am surprised at the level of support for Amazon Prime on a web forum geared towards frugality. The whole idea of the service is to compel you to buy more items by lowering the barrier to purchase by offering "free shipping" and then lock you into buying exclusively from one source, since you already have the membership fee invested and feel the need to "get your money's worth" from it by using it as much as possible. Sounds like a consumer sucka double-punch to me!

Now that they have more people locked into buying almost exclusively from them, they have taken the opportunity to raise their prices. They have not done this on all items, and typically still are the best price on a few very popular high visibility items. For everything else there prices have steadily and silently gone up over the last few years.

Anecdotal evidence: In December, I was shopping for a pair of 40lb hex dumbbells for a gift. Amazon price was about a third more than Walmart online price. Last week, I was shopping for parts to service my heating system. Amazon prices were higher on every item I looked at. Some items were 10 to 20 percent more, but at least one was 100 percent more. I ended up buying five parts, none from Amazon.

News article: The Reason You First Started Shopping at Amazon Is Disappearing http://time.com/money/4010101/amazon-lowest-prices/

[Just Joe]

Lately we have found Sears (SEARS!) beats Amazon on some things. We like Sears b/c we were kids of the 70s. We still prefer their appliances and tools.

I wish Sears would get their act in order and come back from the edge.

[Midwest]

I am surprised at the level of support for Amazon Prime on a web forum geared towards frugality. The whole idea of the service is to compel you to buy more items by lowering the barrier to purchase by offering "free shipping" and then lock you into buying exclusively from one source, since you already have the membership fee invested and feel the need to "get your money's worth" from it by using it as much as possible. Sounds like a consumer sucka double-punch to me!

Now that they have more people locked into buying almost exclusively from them, they have taken the opportunity to raise their prices. They have not done this on all items, and typically still are the best price on a few very popular high visibility items. For everything else there prices have steadily and silently gone up over the last few years.

Anecdotal evidence: In December, I was shopping for a pair of 40lb hex dumbbells for a gift. Amazon price was about a third more than Walmart online price. Last week, I was shopping for parts to service my heating system. Amazon prices were higher on every item I looked at. Some items were 10 to 20 percent more, but at least one was 100 percent more. I ended up buying five parts, none from Amazon.

News article: The Reason You First Started Shopping at Amazon Is Disappearing http://time.com/money/4010101/amazon-lowest-prices/

I buy quite a bit on Amazon.  Sometimes higher and often lower on the things I'm buying (not groceries).  When I didn't have prime, I often paid for quick shipping for convenience or paid more locally.  I've bought shoes and clothing at a discount with convenience of shipping to my house.  These are things I would have purchased regardless.

On heavy items (ie dumb bells), I expect them to be higher.  Walmart/brick and mortar has a huge shipping advantage on heavy/large items.

[beastykato]

I haven't read everyones reply so this may have already been stated, but these are my reasons for it:

1.  Video Streaming Service (Netflix Alternative, no where near as good as Netflix overall though)
2.  Audio Streaming Service (Very useful for me, but free alternatives are available)
3.  Gas you save from going to the store.  I order ALMOST everything off of Amazon via subscribe and save.  This alone negates a large portion of the cost for me.   Even if a price is slightly higher than local in-store I still order from Amazon to reduce the gas, mileage, car wear, etc. this easily pays you back IMO
4.  I always choose slow shipping and get $1 credit toward digital items on Amazon.  (Not sure if this a Prime only benefit?)  This allows me to buy videos games and stuff for my son for free.  Digital content includes movies, games, rentals, music, etc.  (I easily get at least $50 a year doing this alone.)
5.  Special Prime member only pricing.  Many items on Amazon are cheaper for Prime members. 
6.  Amazon's excellent customer service.   They have given me free products when the UPS guy lost them.  So, they deserve $99 for just the service they give me IMO.  Amazon is taking over the world and I also purchase there stock because I want to take over the world too.
7.  I'm sure there are more reasons, but stopping on 7 because it's a luck number.  Sign up =)  (Not an Amazon Spokesperson, but they can pay me if they want to)

[microwaves]

Order a bidet from Newegg using their free gift cards or from Amazon and that'll solve your toilet paper problem. It's something like $20-$30 and you'll never look back. Or if you're more on the thrifty side and less on the morals side, go store to store trying to find unlocked rolls of toilet paper in their bathrooms.

Joking aside, I haven't had much of a use for Amazon Prime either, but if I did, I'd wait for a promotion to come along. I hardly ever order things online anymore, so the shipping isn't particularly valuable to me and I can already watch the same movies through Netflix. The music's actually a more compelling reason to get it: If you're looking at spending $10/mo for music anyway, that's a 20% discount for the membership. If you read lots of books, I suppose that could be worthwhile, but I have nothing to contribute there.

The free and fast shipping's probably the best reason to get it, honestly. I just ordered a backpack for a trip I'm going on next weekend and I have no guarantee that I'll receive it before I leave, which will somewhat defeat the purpose of ordering it in the first place.

[Chris22]

Things like worrying about whether I got the absolute best price possible on TP are where frugality and optimization clash for me.  I don't give a shit (heh) if I paid an extra $1 for TP if I paid it by making two finger clicks on my phone and passively letting it show up instead of wasting 30 minutes of my free time going to the store to bargain hunt, or even spend 15 minutes on various sites seeing who has the absolute lowest price when combined with shipping and coupon codes and crap.  That's not "optimization of my life" in my world.  Amazon is stupid convenient, and if that costs me an extra buck or two per purchase but saves me literal hours of my life, that's a fantastic deal.

[Milizard]

I don't think the buck saved on toilet paper is the issue so much as the $99 cost of Prime.  The question should be, are you going to save enough time/money to fully offset that $99?

[marble_faun]

Things like worrying about whether I got the absolute best price possible on TP are where frugality and optimization clash for me.  I don't give a shit (heh) if I paid an extra $1 for TP if I paid it by making two finger clicks on my phone and passively letting it show up instead of wasting 30 minutes of my free time going to the store to bargain hunt, or even spend 15 minutes on various sites seeing who has the absolute lowest price when combined with shipping and coupon codes and crap.  That's not "optimization of my life" in my world.  Amazon is stupid convenient, and if that costs me an extra buck or two per purchase but saves me literal hours of my life, that's a fantastic deal.

I'm completely with on you this!  My time is worth a great deal to me. I'm happy to spend more time on a task if it means I'll get exercise, learn something, save a significant sum, or feel a sense of fulfillment -- like walking instead of driving, cooking instead of eating at restaurants, etc. The time-intensive TP bargain-hunting you describe does not fall into those categories.

[accolay]

Things like worrying about whether I got the absolute best price possible on TP are where frugality and optimization clash for me.  I don't give a shit (heh) if I paid an extra $1 for TP if I paid it by making two finger clicks on my phone and passively letting it show up instead of wasting 30 minutes of my free time going to the store to bargain hunt, or even spend 15 minutes on various sites seeing who has the absolute lowest price when combined with shipping and coupon codes and crap.  That's not "optimization of my life" in my world.  Amazon is stupid convenient, and if that costs me an extra buck or two per purchase but saves me literal hours of my life, that's a fantastic deal.

I'm completely with on you this!  My time is worth a great deal to me. I'm happy to spend more time on a task if it means I'll get exercise, learn something, save a significant sum, or feel a sense of fulfillment -- like walking instead of driving, cooking instead of eating at restaurants, etc. The time-intensive TP bargain-hunting you describe does not fall into those categories.

I understand what you're saying, but how much time does one really need to spend on bargain hunting for toilet paper? The few dollars you might save might not be worth the time. Just buy the cheapest stuff you can when you're running your other household good purchases.

[Chris22]

Life's too short for cheap toilet paper.

[Vilgan]

$100 is a lot for more convenient "free delivery". How much are you really going to order?

The video offering is mediocre with limited original content
Prices are not nearly as good as they used to be
You can usually find free shipping at the same price from other places

[accolay]

Life's too short for cheap toilet paper.

Rephrase: The least expensive brand that agrees with your nether regions.

[Pigeon]

I very rarely make an express trip for TP or any other single item.  The grocery store and Target are right on my commute to work.  There's very little advantage to having stuff delivered to me and I hate all the extra unnecessary packaging, even if I recycle it.

[marble_faun]

I very rarely make an express trip for TP or any other single item.  The grocery store and Target are right on my commute to work.  There's very little advantage to having stuff delivered to me and I hate all the extra unnecessary packaging, even if I recycle it.

It seems to fit your situation, but since I work from home in an urban environment and don't own a car, getting to a place like Target is a significant hassle.  Paying $99 to Amazon is nothing compared to all the time I would waste on that sort of errand over a year's time.

[FiguringItOut]

I very rarely make an express trip for TP or any other single item.  The grocery store and Target are right on my commute to work.  There's very little advantage to having stuff delivered to me and I hate all the extra unnecessary packaging, even if I recycle it.

It seems to fit your situation, but since I work from home in an urban environment and don't own a car, getting to a place like Target is a significant hassle.  Paying $99 to Amazon is nothing compared to all the time I would waste on that sort of errand over a year's time.

THIS except I don't work from home.  But yes to no car, urban, no excess to any of Costco/BJ's/Walmart/Target, etc. 

[triangle]

I haven't read all the responses, but if you are looking to reduce toilet paper usage a washlet is potentially an alternate solution. Something like what was recently discussed in this thread: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/the-best-$40-i've-ever-spent/ to the more full featured models.

[MrMoneyAbsent]

Buy Amazon prime - then buy the $20 bidet on there. Worth every penny. You'll only need a couple rolls a year for the "ick" people that come over.

[Chris22]

$100 is a lot for more convenient "free delivery". How much are you really going to order?

72 orders in 2016, including several drop-shipped to family scattered throughout the country.  Basically my daughter's whole Christmas was via Amazon this year.  The $99 Prime fee is worth it just for keeping me out of stores at Christmastime. 

The video offering is mediocre with limited original content
Prices are not nearly as good as they used to be
You can usually find free shipping at the same price from other places

I only watch the Grand Tour on the streaming, but I look at that as a bonus. 
For everything else, again, I'm comfortable that I may not be getting the absolute best deal on everything I buy from Amazon, but given the average price per order of mine is probably $25, the discrepancy is not likely to be much (for purchases over around $100 I'll shop around) and the convenience of not having to spend 15 minutes trying to comparison shop every single thing is worth it.