Do you have Amazon Prime?

[PatronWizard11]

Would love to see the numbers

[radram]

I now should have over 1 years worth of data. I have no idea whether my shipping "savings" paid for my membership. I have watched very little prime content. I will most likely end my subscription in a few months. I am posting now to motivate me to actually look at the numbers and know for sure.

Think of this as an "educated"(read lazy guess) posting to follow lol.

[PatronWizard11]

I now should have over 1 years worth of data. I have no idea whether my shipping "savings" paid for my membership. I have watched very little prime content. I will most likely end my subscription in a few months. I am posting now to motivate me to actually look at the numbers and know for sure.

Think of this as an "educated"(read lazy guess) posting to follow lol.

I am basically in the same boat. If you can make sure your purchases are bundled to get over the $35 threshold, there really isn't a Prime savings, unless I'm missing something?

[Zikoris]

No - we had it for a long time because it got us a big discount (10%) on video games (pre-orders), but when they did away with that, it stopped being mathematically correct for us anymore. We just don't buy much stuff, period, and the stuff we do buy is generally above the amount for free shipping, or close enough that I can just add, like, a roll of aluminum foil or something to tip it over.

Here's everything bought in 2018 from Amazon, for both of us combined:

- One micro SD card
- One pair of rowing gloves
- Eight video games
- Three packages of underwear
- One Kindle
- One phone case

So it doesn't make a huge amount of sense for us to have it. I also generally prefer to shop locally.

[ixtap]

I needed something that I could only find on Amazon a couple of months ago. I told the committee that if it was important to them, they someone else should order it.

I mostly weaned myself from Amazon during a period where nothing I ordered was eligible for free shipping.

I paid for shipping for one item last year. This year, I have already paid for same day delivery of a replacement power cord when my connector got bent up. Since it wasn't in stores locally, I was glad to pay the extra for someone else to get it here from out of town in a timely manner. The stores wanted 48 hours, Amazon got it here by end of day.

[NotJen]

I have gotten several free trials over the year, but have never paid for Amazon Prime.

I don’t order much online; if I do, I group things together to get free shipping, or pay the shipping charge.  Certainly come out ahead that way.

[PatronWizard11]

yeah, since we started shopping local and cutting back and practicing "purposeful purchasing" Amazon has been cut by 80%. We value the Amazon Photo Membership but not Amazon Prime like we used too. I am leaning towards trying to not have it anymore.

[cats]

No.  Every couple of years we do a free trial to see if we are really missing anything.  This year I actually got a 3-month free trial and we did quite enjoy some of the streaming, but I also don't think it's great to watch that much TV.  And our library has a fair amount of streamable media also.

We buy things from Amazon very rarely and when we do it always seems we are over the $35 minimum or it's something that ships free anyway.  I find the free shipping is always very fast.  I don't know when the free standard shipping actually took 7-10 business days or whatever they warn might happen.  I recently ordered some stuff on Sunday night and it arrived on Wednesday. 

The photo pricing is very good but we do not order enough photos to justify a membership on that alone.

A friend of mine from HS was posting on FB recently about some irritation she had with Prime, that some items she ordered were apparently not returnable in the way she thought they should be.  I didn't follow completely (not having Prime), but she had ordered something like 10 different water bottles with the intention of evaluating them all in person and then sending 9 of them back.  From her post it sounds like this is something she does semi-regularly (orders a bunch of possibilities with the intention of sending most of them back). I'm really opposed to any sort of service that makes that sort of gratuitous shipping possible, so whatever they did to make it more irritating/costly to her, GOOD, but geez, the idea that it might have been possible ever just boggles my mind.

[Ann]

I have Amazon Prime.  I enjoy the streaming and free 2-day shipping.  I never really got to utilize the “free shipping when >$35” because I don’t order that often or very expensive things.  I have had it for several years. I will admit I ordered a lot more in the past year than I would have without it ... some of that is stress-spending because of a bad year and that I stopped recording my purchases (apparently I do need to monitor that).  I might not have actually gone to the store to buy everything, though (like a pack of incense).

In the greater scheme of things, I think I have come out ahead.  I cut cable and just use streaming content.  I think most real Mustachiand are already cable-free so that’s probably not much of a boon to this crowd.

[Mr. Green]

I can count the number of Amazon orders my wife and I may in a given year on one hand. We just don't buy much stuff.

[Dicey]

It was bundled in a package from our cell phone provider for about 5 minutes. We just happened to catch it. Its in DH's name, which is fine. He buys more online (mostly for our flip project) than I do. I don't expect it to last. When it's not part of our cell package at no extra charge, it will be gone.

Funny thing, we typically start at Amazon, then find better prices on eBay. Oh, and he recently got a letter asking why he wasn't watching their "free" shows and movies. Who has time? Not us.

[marble_faun]

I have it and get a lot of use out of it.

We make regular orders for dog food (huge, heavy bags we'd rather not carry ourselves) and specialty items that aren't readily available at local stores.  It saves us a lot of time not to have to chase these things down in person.

We also get a lot of use out of the streaming TV, which has replaced Netflix for us.

Another feature of Prime is the maximized Amazon credit card points. You get 5% back on Amazon purchases to apply to future orders. Purchases from other sources also become points (something like 1-2% depending on what it is).  Last year I averaged more than $30 per month in Amazon bux.  Plenty for dog food! 

[alsoknownasDean]

Yes I've got it, but I don't buy an awful lot on Amazon. eBay is generally much cheaper than the Australian Amazon store for the same items and has a much larger range.

The Australian Prime subscription has fewer added features than the US Prime, but it's cheaper.

I'd use the video streaming more if it worked on my Chromecast (or my Android TV box). I'm not sure how keen I am to buy another streaming device to use the service.

[dragoncar]

We got it when our son was born because it basically ended up being free once you factored in the $100 in baby products they give you when you spend $1k on the registry (including a larger completion discount @15% vs. 10%).  It was nice, but we didn't renew.  I would consider renewing for a month here or there around the holidays or for other promotions.

There were a lot of perks that we liked, but just don't add up to the annual fee.  We sometimes save a few bucks at Whole Foods.  We can order just a few 7 cent photo prints.  Prime Music.  One or two TV shows.  Any time I'm in a store, I would sanity check the price by scanning the barcode with the Amazon app - if cheaper I wouldn't hesitate to just order it.

[PhilB]

I'll stick my head above the parapet for a face punch on this one.  We have it and probably don't get our full money's worth from it, although we do buy a lot of things from Amazon.  We are comfortably FI so for us it is worth the relatively small amount of money we may be 'wasting' just to no longer have to faff about trying to get enough things together for a £20 order and free delivery.  I'm happy that the time and angst saved more than compensates for the amount spent.  Yes that makes me a wuss and no I don't care.

[I'm a red panda]

I share with my sister. I'm grandfathered on her account, so prime shipping shares to my account but none of the extra features. I don't use her login.

[accolay]

I don't order enough junk to justify Prime. I think it probably makes me think about ordering stuff I don't particularly need. Couple those with not really liking Amazon as a company and that the more orders made the worse it is for the environment... I'll pass.

[facepalm]

I got rid of it.

And spend far less money on Amazon as a result.

[Khaetra]

I have it and use it often.  I love the streaming, the music and free book I get each month.  I use Prime Pantry and have an Echo so all I have to do is tell Alexa to add things to my list and when to put in the order.

[AlotToLearn]

I have been a Prime member since 2013, originally for the streaming content, however over the past 3 years relying on it for purchases of every day items I was too lazy to go to the local store to buy.

[HipGnosis]

The pole is missing my answer.
I don't have prime.   I put things in my Amazon wish list until I have enough for the free std shipping (but growing annoyed at the growing # of items that don't qualify for that).
But.. if I NEED something sooner, I sign up for monthly prime and place my order.   I set up a reminder to place a final order (from my wish list) and cancel the monthly prime the day before it renews.

Note:  I still have prime video after I've cancelled prime.  Lucky glitch.

[Cranky]

I do, and it's a good value for us. I don't drive, so anything that I can't walk to in my neighborhood, it's easier to make a weekly order from Amazon and have it show up in a week. We also watch the streaming, and we are great friends with Alexa.

[daverobev]

No.

I do buy things from them occasionally but I try not to because

a) they are a nasty company (maybe that has changed in the last year?), to their employees
b) I feel bad about packaging
c) I 'never' pay postage because you just have to reach a certain amount to get it free (and there are sites that help you find fillers to get to that threshold... which I try and find something I would actually use to do, not just more junk... eg http://www.fillerchecker.co.uk/); or I'm going to pay postage because it isn't Fulfilled by Amazon anyway (or it's coming from out of country etc)

They are revolutionary-evolutionary, but the bad goes hand in hand with the good.

Now, I *have* used the free trials to get stuff on Prime Day. But I wouldn't pay for it. Convenience is... tricky. It comes with a cost.

Plus, I'm a skinflint.

[PatronWizard11]

The pole is missing my answer.
I don't have prime.   I put things in my Amazon wish list until I have enough for the free std shipping (but growing annoyed at the growing # of items that don't qualify for that).
But.. if I NEED something sooner, I sign up for monthly prime and place my order.   I set up a reminder to place a final order (from my wish list) and cancel the monthly prime the day before it renews.

Note:  I still have prime video after I've cancelled prime.  Lucky glitch.

I didn't know that was a thing..That's pretty cool

[geekette]

We had it for years, but recently let it lapse.  They used to have good prices for the cat food we buy, but they doubled it.  Other things crept up too.

My recent order without Prime (first since cancelling) was for a UPS for a family member.  Amazon sat on the order for 9 days, and then shipped it in one day (from the warehouse about 10 miles from her house).  I can only assume they were trying to annoy me. 

I'll probably get the free trial to watch the next season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is the only thing I found on their streaming service I liked.

[froggie]

I got rid of it.

And spend far less money on Amazon as a result.

This.
I got cranky when I saw the annual cost go up and ditched it all together end of 2018. Was a Prime member for over 10 years!
I don't even miss the streaming! We don't watch much TV, and we only have Netflix now (shared account).

[nancyjnelson]

I signed up with Amazon Prime when it first launched (2005? 2006?).  It made a lot of sense for me because I was often posted overseas for my job, and I wasn't able to get what I needed locally (i.e., books in English, certain spices and vitamins, etc).  I considered dropping it after I retired and moved to the midwest, but found that stores in small town Wisconsin also lacked many of the things I'd like to buy.  I would end up spending two hours driving to three different stores in pursuit of what I needed - so much time and energy wasted. It wasn't like I was living in a consumer desert - while I lived in a small town, there were lots of big name stores nearby.  Still, it doesn't help much if you have a Barnes and Noble in the next town over if you're looking for a book that's not on a best seller list. 

[CupcakeGuru]

We cancelled about six months ago when the annual price went up. We were finding fewer and fewer items available for prime shipping and that the costs we not as great in the past.

For some reason we do still have the streaming service, there is not much I like on it so we rarely use that too. Just not worth the price anymore.

[Adam Zapple]

We have it and I have to admit that we have also added music and audible membership as well.  We use it all the time.  I love audible.  Music service is just ok but it keeps the kids occupied.

[innkeeper77]

We had paid for a few months for a number of purchases, but I don't think we will be needing much more from amazon for quite a while. Thanks for the thread- I just cancelled preventing the auto renewal that was going to happen tomorrow!

[DragonSlayer]

We do. We got it because we live in the sticks and driving to anywhere is a huge pain. There aren't many stores "local" around here. It's much easier to go to the store once a week for perishables, etc. and fill in other needs from Amazon or any other online service. (I'm a big walmart.com shopper, as well, plus Chewy for pet stuff).

That said, I thought abut getting rid of it this year when the price jacked up but then we finally cut the cable cord, so now I actually use their streaming. I felt like I was getting my money in shipping before, but now I really feel like it's a good proposition for us.

[Just Joe]

We use it but not very much for "ordinary" stuff that can be purchased locally. We live in a small town so occasionally there is something we want that might require a drive to the big city to source - and run all over the city looking for that oddball thing for a hobby or repair - so we just order it from Amazon or eBay or somewhere similar. Saves us a tank of fuel and a weekend day.

We seldom buy anything in bulk (ever from anywhere) nor order that which we can easily pickup in town.

If I need a computer part or a hobby thing, that is different. Once upon a time Amazon was the cheapest option anywhere for the hobby stuff I wanted.

We do watch a fair amount of the streaming TV and movies in the winter. As the warm weather comes on I finish up the series I'm watching and don't start a new one. Occasionally at the end of a long tough day outside (chores, repairs, work) I'll sit down and watch something to veg and cool down.

[Radagast]

I used the free trial. It was totally not worth it because 1) I don't buy that much stuff anyhow, 2) 2 day shipping to anywhere I have lived is a flat lie, and slower than competitors 3) I don't buy anything on Amazon if I need it anytime soon anyhow. They upgraded my Amazon card so I got five percent back on purchases. When I cancelled Prime, they cancelled my store card and I immediately signed up for another store card, receiving a $40 gift card for doing so. So cancelling Prime was totally worthwhile.

[Sibley]

I don't stream videos. And while I do buy stuff on amazon, I bundle purchases. If I need prime for some reason, I can use a family member's account.

[Slow2FIRE]

Just jump on the occasional free trial offers for some videos.
Usually bundle orders to get over the free shipping threshold and probably only do about 10% of our purchases on Amazon anyway.

[Gyosho]

I have an .edu email address and was able to get Amazon Prime Student for several (8?? - they've cracked down since then) years, at $59 a year.

I transitioned to non-Student Prime when necessary because:

1. I hate shopping, as in: going to an actual store and trying to buy something.

2. Actual stores don't have as many choices as Amazon, and they certainly do not have the customer reviews that allow you to make the best choice.

3. I love 2-day (sometimes 1-day or even same day!) free shipping. I also love the easy return policy.

4. I don't have cable/Netflix/etc. so Amazon Prime video is one of my two non-antenna-tv viewing options. The other is checking out DVDs from the library. (My friends with hundreds of cable channels laugh at me about this).

5. I read a lot and Amazon Prime offers free Kindle books for checkout.

6. I have the 5% off Amazon Prime Visa, also good for 5% off at Whole Foods.

[lilsaver]

I use to have Amazon prime for many years, but once I started cleaning up junk, I wanted to do more with less. Haven't looked back. The few times I buy stuff from Amazon, I just use the standard shipping or I try to buy from another big box store with local pick up to get it faster.

[ForeverPoor]

Haven't paid a dime for AP. I used to create tons of throwaway emails and then using the same CC # to sign up for Prime trial, then tossing them in the bin after expiration. They finally started catching on a couple of months ago with CC # detection and so that's thrown out the window.

After not using Prime for the last few months I can say with pride that I don't depend on Prime. The majority of items on there are overpriced anyways - you're just paying for the convenience. The only thing I use on a daily basis now is Amazon Music Unlimited, which was something that hasn't been canceled yet for my account ever since I opened and then closed an ATT Wireless Unlimited plan with them a while ago. Not getting charged for it.

[Overfocused]

Amazon has by far lost money on my Prime membership. Prime allows 2 users to have a joint account, but they must trust each other with the access to spend on the other's credit card. This is a fail-safe since 'households' of unrelated people used to sign up 6 to an account and pay only $100 annually for 6 people. In my case, me and my dad share one Prime account and split the bill.  I've gotten hundreds of dollars in free shipping on items that were actually the best cost on the market. Keep in mind you can't save much buying inflated prices because the shipping is simply slapped on top of it, you still have to shop around and make sure the market price is really lowest or close to lowest on Amazon. Also, I thoroughly enjoy Prime video and the various entertainment they have produced in-house, and Prime music to test music I'd otherwise never even consider buying, so the media is just an added plus at that point.

$60/yr is great and you don't even need to live at the same address with your account 'partner', so find a family member that would get the benefit out of it too.

[NorthernMonkey]

I've just face punched myself because I forgot I had use a 3 month free trial of amazon music, and had not cancelled the auto-renewal.

[soccerluvof4]

I have it but a bit by accident. I got it on free trial a little over a year ago and binged watched a few shows then cancelled. I did it again this year when some of the shows came out with there new seasons and forgot to cancel two months in a row now. But we do use prime a lot with 2 at home and 2 in college. Plus with CC churning I use it at time to put money there but I am religious to my budget so I don't order things just because or find myself spending more. In fact it saves me money and like I said is a helpful tools at time. Not sure if I will keep it forever or a year or? but for now I like the versatility it all has to offer. We don't have regular cable either we get Hulu for free via our phone and Netflix which I am about ready to cut for a year or so because its getting stale.

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

Yes, but I'm cancelling when my year is up. They raised the price and I really don't use it all that much. You can subscribe by the month, so I'll probably do it for a couple of months a year to see the few shows I want to see and then cancel again.

[dignam]

My GF and I share an account and love it.  It has replaced about 90% of the trips we'd otherwise need to take to a store (obviously saving gas/wear and tear/our time).  It's been great for minor home improvement items/repairs, as the house is at about the age where original stuff is starting to break down.  I just installed a new curtain and rod this morning that I ordered on Friday to replace some broken blinds.  Boom, so simple.  I've even purchased pretty inexpensive clothes on it too; their return policy is fantastic and easy.  Personally I despise shopping in general so that I'm sure is part of it.

Plus The Grand Tour is on Prime :D

[kimmarg]

A friend of mine from HS was posting on FB recently about some irritation she had with Prime, that some items she ordered were apparently not returnable in the way she thought they should be.  I didn't follow completely (not having Prime), but she had ordered something like 10 different water bottles with the intention of evaluating them all in person and then sending 9 of them back.  From her post it sounds like this is something she does semi-regularly (orders a bunch of possibilities with the intention of sending most of them back). I'm really opposed to any sort of service that makes that sort of gratuitous shipping possible, so whatever they did to make it more irritating/costly to her, GOOD, but geez, the idea that it might have been possible ever just boggles my mind.

Your friend seems like an extreme example but I recently did exactly that. I ordered an item in 2 sizes as I wasn't sure which would fit. I tried both on and returned the one that didn't fit. I don't do it a lot but in this case I wasn't able to go shopping easily and it was super helpful.

[OtherJen]

We’ve been placing considerably fewer orders with Amazon and shop at Whole Foods maybe once a year. Now that husband’s watched all available episodes of The Expanse, I’ve turned off the Prime membership. We’ll probably turn it back on for a month or two when the next season of his show is released.

[I'm a red panda]

A friend of mine from HS was posting on FB recently about some irritation she had with Prime, that some items she ordered were apparently not returnable in the way she thought they should be.  I didn't follow completely (not having Prime), but she had ordered something like 10 different water bottles with the intention of evaluating them all in person and then sending 9 of them back.  From her post it sounds like this is something she does semi-regularly (orders a bunch of possibilities with the intention of sending most of them back). I'm really opposed to any sort of service that makes that sort of gratuitous shipping possible, so whatever they did to make it more irritating/costly to her, GOOD, but geez, the idea that it might have been possible ever just boggles my mind.

Your friend seems like an extreme example but I recently did exactly that. I ordered an item in 2 sizes as I wasn't sure which would fit. I tried both on and returned the one that didn't fit. I don't do it a lot but in this case I wasn't able to go shopping easily and it was super helpful.

This is basically how I clothing shop. On Amazon you have to be careful to watch for "free returns". I try to shop at stores that let me buy online and return in-store, but clothes so rarely fit me, it would take days or weeks going through stores to find anything at all.  Mostly I just don't buy clothes, but sometimes things need to be replaced.

[WhiteTrashCash]

My father-in-law has a Prime membership and he shared his password with us so we could use it for free shipping and to use Prime videos to watch shows. It wouldn't have made financial sense for us to get a membership of our own, because we don't buy enough stuff to make the membership worth the cost. Over the past year, I think I bought a few pieces of workout gear over Amazon and that's about it.

[Eurotexan]

This is a very timely thread. I have been on the fence for a while, I currently have it (I’ve only had it for 2 years) and I just checked and it’s up for auto renewal in two weeks.

I am leaning towards not renewing. Main reason is their packaging, it’s ridiculous. I am trying to be more environmentally friendly and I need to do more, even if it’s a little painful. Time to use my reusable totes and shop local!

Membership cancelled. Thanks for the push.

[kanga1622]

We don’t buy that much from Amazon to make it worthwhile. My typical Amazon order is big enough to qualify for free shipping anyway if I can just wait a couple extra days for delivery. Most of our spending lately has been on our new puppy and we’ve found better prices for almost everything  on other websites.

We also happen to live within blocks of Wal-Mart so can free ship most anything there as well.

I have used the free trial of Prime a few times to help with Christmas shopping and to expand our tv viewing options. I do enjoy some of the older series that are on Prime but have more than I can possibly watch with Netflix and Hulu.

[Cool Friend]

I don’t order much online; if I do, I group things together to get free shipping, or pay the shipping charge.  Certainly come out ahead that way.

Same.  I have no need to pay for Amazon Prime.