Should I keep Amazon prime?

[Cowardly Toaster]

My Amazon Prime is a about to renew: Do I keep it? I ordered very little from them last year.

Is there something I should be ordering from them (diapers?) that would make it worth it?

[horsepoor]

I quite for a while to reduce the number of things I ordered.  Now I'm using it again for the music and TV shows.  I find that the main benefit for shopping is that if I decide I require A Thing, it's faster to just purchase online and saves the hassle of trying to find Thing in the store.  Price usually seems about equivalent for most things.

[Raenia]

For myself, the only reason I would get Prime is if I was using the free Prime video a lot.  The free shipping is great, but the way I tend to shop online, I just put things I plan to buy in my wishlist until I've got enough in there to get the free shipping anyway.  It takes a little longer, but I don't buy things I need urgently from them anyway, so I've never had a problem.  Worst case, if I need something quickly, I'll add in enough consumables that I use regularly (flour, tea, etc) to bring it up the the threshold for free shipping.

[GoBigRed]

There was a post a few weeks ago that may be of help to you.  http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/amazon-prime-66157/

Diapers via subscribe and save has been a great savings for us.  We also use Amazon Prime Photos (there is also a app for the phone), which stores your photos/videos in the cloud.  They also will print and deliver photos for free at $0.09 per 4x6 print and you can even send photos to other recipients for free if you have prime.  Cheaper than Costco and much easier for taking photos on our phones.

We also use for hard to find items or if we want to ship items to out of town people as gifts.  I watch various shows on Amazon, as well.   

[intellectsucks]

I was actually considering canceling Netflix in favor of Amazon Prime, mainly because they have really stepped up their game over the last year in terms of TV and movies that you can stream for free.  It has a lot of other great features too though, free streaming music, free shipping, the amazon photos, free e-books and a digital library available on kindle.  If you buy the Fire TV, you can use it to replace a lot of other pay forms of media, plus get free shipping and other benefits.  Prime easily gives me more value than any other service I pay for currently.

[Tiger Stache]

We use the music all the time to stream in the car via Bluetooth and at home thru the Sonos.

[SomedayStache]

Dr. Who!

[MsPeacock]

I do this every year when it is time to renew. I'm busy and I hate errands. I don't care about the music or videos or kindle books. I care very much about trying to cram three more errands for random stuff into my overscheduled weekend. I don't auto-renew and then re-up when I do need something, which is typically a few weeks. I split the membership with my boyfriend who has all his packages sent here, and he likes some of the videos.

[FIRE me]

My Amazon Prime is a about to renew: Do I keep it? I ordered very little from them last year.

Is there something I should be ordering from them (diapers?) that would make it worth it?

Since you are getting very little use out of it, dumping it is a no brainer. $100 is a lot of money saved. And if you find that you need it, you can sign back up at any time, and still be ahead for the time you weren't paying for it. 

As you know, the default is auto renew. You'll have to click the “cancel” button and at the last minute they give you the option to let the Prime run out when it expires.

[ltt]

We buy throughout the year, so we like Prime.  However, if you really aren't ordering, then I would drop it.

[Aggie1999]

One downside if you let it lapse and then re-signup is I don't think new accounts allow a second shipping address. With that said one should really look at whether prime is worth it or not. I have Prime but 95% of what I order can be had cheaper over ebay, etc if I just am patient to wait on the slower shipping. Only reason I renewed Prime is because another family member still wanted it.

Also, I've become more and more annoyed at the reduction in Prime benefits. Seems like more stuff is becoming an add-on, no free return shipping, etc. IMO, it's not worth it.

[chemistk]

I would keep it. My wife and I have had it for four years now, though for 3 of those years we were able to use her .edu email address to get the $49/year Amazon Student option (which is exactly the same as regular prime). It's paid for itself a few times over now - where we live, there aren't too many shopping options other than grocery stores within a few miles of us, so getting other stuff can be a pain if it has to be purchased at the store. This, coupled with the very tidy discounts you can find on essentials, and it makes it a no-brainer for us.

Case-in-point: We're visiting friends who are expecting and are bringing a few gifts (the same gifts we give at all baby showers - cloth diapers, white onesies, and a few other esentials). We were at target and a pack of 5 infant white onesies was $10.99 in the store. I pulled out my phone and scanned the barcode with the Amazon app (you can do that for easy comparison shopping!). $8.99 for the exact same pack.

When our son was on formula, we were able to buy a value pack of formula for 40% less than buying the same formula at the grocery store.

We needed a rocking chair when our son was a few weeks old, and I wanted a glider rocker that reclines so that we could sleep in it. The ones at babies R us, buy buy baby, etc. are all pieces of junk. We got a beautiful model for less than the top of the line one at the big stores, shipped right to our front door at no cost. We used it every single day for hours those first few months and it's still in fantastic condition. The others would have been trashed by now.

I was able to snag a pack of 6 LED lights for around $8 once. Those have paid for themselves.

But I think the biggest thing, by far, is the ability to order obscure or difficult to find items with ease. The lights went out in our microwave and none of the local stores carried the bulb we needed. I was able to get a pair of LED bulbs for the undermount lights for dirt cheap.

Sorry for the rambling. I also like the free paid Android apps they offer, the videos, the music, etc....

Worth every penny

Oh, did I mention the Amazon Chase Visa? 5% off everything? $70 sign up bonus?

[I'm a red panda]

My Amazon Prime is a about to renew: Do I keep it? I ordered very little from them last year.

Is there something I should be ordering from them (diapers?) that would make it worth it?

Since you mention diapers are you signed up for Amazon Mom (which is available to Dads as well if you happen to be that.)  You get like 20% off diapers on that one, and the sign up is free- it just requires Prime.

I also found out recently that Amazon Prime gets you 15% (maybe it was 20?) off pre-orders of products. I saved a crap ton on video games with that.  There are also a number of prime exclusive deals that are much better priced than the regular products (for instance- a crib mattress I just bought is $80 in white; the blue version of the same mattress was prime exclusive for $40.)

[charis]

Can you join the membership of a relative for free?  We have prime for free as a household membership through my father's prime account.

[Hall11235]

Can you join the membership of a relative for free?  We have prime for free as a household membership through my father's prime account.

I think we can all follow the old adage here: "Don't be the guy who owns the truck. Be the guy who has the friend that owns the truck."

[Vanguards and Lentils]

+1 for sharing an account with a relative. The first downside is that she gets all the emails/order confirmations. However if it something pressing, she will just forward it to me. The second is that she is the only one that can use Amazon music on her device. It is limited to one device per account.

Because she has a student membership, and wants the music more than I, my portion is 1/3 of $50/yr.

[JLee]

One downside if you let it lapse and then re-signup is I don't think new accounts allow a second shipping address. With that said one should really look at whether prime is worth it or not. I have Prime but 95% of what I order can be had cheaper over ebay, etc if I just am patient to wait on the slower shipping. Only reason I renewed Prime is because another family member still wanted it.

Also, I've become more and more annoyed at the reduction in Prime benefits. Seems like more stuff is becoming an add-on, no free return shipping, etc. IMO, it's not worth it.

New Prime accounts have more restrictions on sharing, i.e. you can't split a Prime membership four ways and have isolated payment methods anymore.  I've never heard of a restriction on shipping addresses...this would mean you can't send gifts directly to people, which would be absurd.

[aschmidt2930]

+1 for sharing an account with a relative. The first downside is that she gets all the emails/order confirmations. However if it something pressing, she will just forward it to me. The second is that she is the only one that can use Amazon music on her device. It is limited to one device per account.

Because she has a student membership, and wants the music more than I, my portion is 1/3 of $50/yr.

If she's comfortable with you seeing everything she orders, she could set up an auto rule to forward anything from Amazon to you. 

To the OP -- Prime is ROI positive for some, and a waste of money for others.  If you find yourself ordering frequently, it's probably a good deal for you.  Also, if Prime video replaces a Netflix or Hulu account, it's probably a good deal for you.

[charis]

+1 for sharing an account with a relative. The first downside is that she gets all the emails/order confirmations. However if it something pressing, she will just forward it to me. The second is that she is the only one that can use Amazon music on her device. It is limited to one device per account.

Because she has a student membership, and wants the music more than I, my portion is 1/3 of $50/yr.

I was not referring to sharing one account with someone else.  I am talking about "Amazon Household."  This where a Prime member invites another "household" member to share their Prime benefits.  So I have my own Amazon account, but I am not a Prime member.  My relative sends me an invitation for Amazon Household through their Prime account to share prime benefits with me.  I accept.  I still have my own separate account.  I think you can share some digital content purchases if you choose that option, but they don't get your emails or have access to your orders. 

The catch is that billing information is linked, I guess.  So if you have an untrustworthy primary member, they could use your payment options to buy things.

[CmFtns]

My I use my parent's prime account directly which is also used by my two other brothers who live in two other households as well as my parents. If you have family or other friends who you can trust with your credit card then this is the way to go. We each just have our own card and shipping information and make sure to change it to our own address and payment method whenever we order something.

You can split the cost as many times as you have people who you trust this way.

Two times this has messed up for us... I forgot to change shipping address one time and a bike light went to my brothers address and i had to wait till holidays to get it =(... Also my other brother accidentally didn't change payment method from my GF credit card one time but he just transferred her money back right away.

[Vanguards and Lentils]

+1 for sharing an account with a relative. The first downside is that she gets all the emails/order confirmations. However if it something pressing, she will just forward it to me. The second is that she is the only one that can use Amazon music on her device. It is limited to one device per account.

Because she has a student membership, and wants the music more than I, my portion is 1/3 of $50/yr.

I was not referring to sharing one account with someone else.  I am talking about "Amazon Household."  This where a Prime member invites another "household" member to share their Prime benefits.  So I have my own Amazon account, but I am not a Prime member.  My relative sends me an invitation for Amazon Household through their Prime account to share prime benefits with me.  I accept.  I still have my own separate account.  I think you can share some digital content purchases if you choose that option, but they don't get your emails or have access to your orders. 

The catch is that billing information is linked, I guess.  So if you have an untrustworthy primary member, they could use your payment options to buy things.

I see. Since my relative has Amazon Student (the $50/yr one) there is no sharing through Amazon household as there is with the usual $99/yr membership. So she literally lets me use her account and login. I've added my own shipping addresses and payment methods. This works since we trust each other and wouldn't use each other's payment methods. The upside is we're splitting a $50 membership!

[socalteacher]

We use the videos and the music almost every day. If you use Netflix you could probably justify the Prime cost by canceling Netflix and using the Prime Video.

The BIGGEST thing that I think Prime helps with is buying extra stuff when you go to places like Target. My wife always ends up buying more stuff when she goes in for only one or two things. With Amazon Prime it is more likely that she gets just what she needs. She has remarked in the past that she feels less pressure shopping via Amazon than going to a traditional box store.

[akzidenz]

I canceled my Amazon Prime subscription two years ago.

imo, if you are questioning whether you need it, and trying to find new things to buy to justify the cost…it has not produced value for you. It didn't for me. Prime has many great perks but I didn't use them, and I think keeping the subscription another year "just in case" isn't a wise use of your money.

I prefer Spotify over Prime Music. I can borrow Kindle books from my library. There was only one series I followed on Prime, but then I finished it and moved on to other things. And so on…although it's important to note here I don't live with an SO/family that would increase my bulk-buying needs.

If you're an infrequent buyer, the two-day shipping makes impulse purchases easier—two-day gratification of all your consumerist desires! I found I was much more circumspect about my "necessary" household purchases when I didn't have Prime. Not to mention the environmental impact of shipping a bunch of tiny items across America!

If you find that Prime is very helpful for a new need (e.g. a new kid, sudden need for discounted diapers) you can always resubscribe.