Amazon Prime: Wise Decision, or the Beginning of the End?

[gregkl]

We signed up earlier this year when they were offering discounts. I think I paid $73 or something like that. They were adjusting the fee according to the date.

I have been using the music portion which is sort of like Sirius/XM in my home.

I have also placed a few orders but haven't got into the regular household items yet. That will come.

I watched an episode of The Man in the High Castle but it didn't impress me.

 

[jamil]

I HATE Amazon.

Alas I cannot exist without them.

Maybe this belongs in the first-world problem threads.

I dropped my membership. But then they started making everything Prime-only. ****. That mostly just pissed me off. Then I saw where I could get Plants vs Zombies really cheap if I had Prime. So I reupped. ****ing bastards. Got me by the balls.

 

[eldirector]

We've been Prime members for a few years. I listen to Prime Music almost daily (alternate with iTunes Radio). My wife watches a few Prime shows (not sure which ones), and we watch a movie or some kid's shows now and then. We also get a delivery from Amazon once or twice a week. Hard to beat the price on some things, along with free delivery.

I think I posted on here before: my wireless headset died one morning. I ordered a new one from Amazon and had it here 3 hours later that same day.

I have been disappointed with the direction ebook prices have been going. When we started with Amazon, I was grabbing good books from well-known authors for $5 or less. Now, ebooks are the same price as paperbacks ($14 and up) for those same authors. I just don't see the value.

A couple of our tricks:
- We keep wish lists of items for myself, my wife, and our kiddo. If we are a few bucks short of a promotion, we grab something off one of the lists.
- If you leave something in your cart, it APPEARS that the price will drop a few days later. Happens to us ALL THE TIME. They must monitor that, and apply a discount to encourage the purchase. For anything more than a few bucks, we play the waiting game.
- For prime members, they almost ALWAYS offer $1 or more towards an eBook purchase if you choose "slow boat" shipping rather than the standard 3-day. The slower shipping has ALWAYS taken the same 3 days for us, and I have gotten some pretty good discounts on books that way.

 

[seedubs1]

Go for it. We're actually about net even vs. buying household stuff at Walmart when you factor in the Prime membership fee.....But damn is it nice not having to deal with Walmart. I just get stuff right at my front door.

We signed up earlier this year when they were offering discounts. I think I paid $73 or something like that. They were adjusting the fee according to the date.

I have been using the music portion which is sort of like Sirius/XM in my home.

I have also placed a few orders but haven't got into the regular household items yet. That will come.

I watched an episode of The Man in the High Castle but it didn't impress me.

 

[Cameramonkey]

- For prime members, they almost ALWAYS offer $1 or more towards an eBook purchase if you choose "slow boat" shipping rather than the standard 3-day. The slower shipping has ALWAYS taken the same 3 days for us, and I have gotten some pretty good discounts on books that way.

You are damned lucky. The last handful of slow boat orders I placed got lost, took 3 weeks, or both.

 

[CampingJosh]

- For prime members, they almost ALWAYS offer $1 or more towards an eBook purchase if you choose "slow boat" shipping rather than the standard 3-day. The slower shipping has ALWAYS taken the same 3 days for us, and I have gotten some pretty good discounts on books that way.

Last time I used the slow shipping, I got my item overnight. I was actually shocked by that, as it usually is a full week for me.

 

[ryan3030]

- If you leave something in your cart, it APPEARS that the price will drop a few days later. Happens to us ALL THE TIME. They must monitor that, and apply a discount to encourage the purchase. For anything more than a few bucks, we play the waiting game.

This isn't Amazon incentivizing you to buy items. Amazon uses pricing algorithms that adjust the price of items every day (possibly more frequently than that) based on factors like supply, demand, market trends, etc.

It's nice that they show you the decrease in price when it occurs, but you'll notice they don't indicate the price increase, which occurs just as often.

 

[Gadgetmonster]

I use the Prime thing for business.
It is just way quicker than getting stuff hither and yonder. I keep a clipboard outside my office. Staff writes what they need and when there are 3-4 things on the list I get it done in 10 min. Here in 2 days. No more running to Lowes, Staples, WallyWorld.
And I set up an Amazon Chase credit card... they drop little nuggets of credits in the account every time I make a purchase. That really adds up. Then, low and behold at Christmas staff gets goodies... nice!

 

[Alamo]

...

It's nice that they show you the decrease in price when it occurs, but you'll notice they don't indicate the price increase, which occurs just as often.

Mmmm, they show decreases AND increases in price for everything that is in my saved-for-later list or in my cart.

 

[Alamo]

Good point. Isnt there a way to gift items to folks at their default shipping address? Somebody post his email address so we can all start bombarding him with first aid supplies. (not sure if that should be purple)

You can put a wedding registry on Amazon, maybe Rhino can put a "blooding" registry on as well? Then he can specify the brand of quick-clot and the type of tourniquet he prefers...

 

[eldirector]

I've noticed both increases and decreases in my Wish List, but only decreases in my cart. I'll have to pay more attention. Granted, it is my wife that uses the Cart as temporary storage. I tend to "buy" while my wife tends to "shop", just as if she was in a brick-n-mortar store.

 

[OutdoorDad]

Your purchases will come in a cardboard box.

You know the tool that is used to open a cardboard box, don't you??

self enabled circle.

 

[WyldeShot]

It's just the beginning. I signed up several years ago for prime's 30 day trial because I needed something fast and they had the best price. Now we are 4 years later and I won't go without it. Before Prime, I found myself buying stuff I didn't need to get to that magical amount for free shipping.

Keep in mind that you get $3.99 next day shipping, free TV and movie streaming, discounted HBO and Showtime subscriptions and a lot of free Kindle books with your Prime membership. I have bought a lot of first aid and outdoor products on there including firearm related items.

 

[jamil]

I have to admit that one of the reasons I re-upped was Justified Season 6 finally went on Amazon Prime. I binged it last week.

 

[deseag007]

Your purchases will come in a cardboard box.

You know the tool that is used to open a cardboard box, don't you??

self enabled circle.

Would that be the tool that's in the box?

 

[eldirector]

Would that be the tool that's in the box?

The tool using the tool to open the box with a tool inside. Yes.

 

[Roadie]

Amazon Prime is a blessing, and a curse, lol.

I use it for the free/quick shipping, Music and Movies/TV shows. Well worth the money, IMHO.

AND if you are in the right area of town, Prime Now has some items, food, etc that ships to you in a couple HOURS or less. Very dangerous lol

 

[rhino]

I'm trying to figure out how to get amazon to deliver Brad and his tables to my house in two days.

 

[Rock River]

Another useful tip, if they don't actually hit your 2 day guarantee and you complain (which is a little complicated on purpose I'm sure) they will usually add a free month onto your prime account. Occasionally they just ship you the same thing you ordered again as recompense. I've gotten extra camera cards, trail cam lock, bullet holders etc.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

You'd think with the fees involved that amazon prime boxes could be delivered pre-opened.