# Amazon Free Shipping Increase **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629 "2016-02-20T17:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/41 "2016-02-23T16:31:19Z")
I took advantage of having an .edu email address and got Amazon Prime Student. 6 months free (with no streaming content), then four years of normal Prime at half price. A great deal, as long as you have a .edu email address. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/42 "2016-02-23T17:29:24Z")
I’ve tried a few times those promo shipping things where instead of Prime you get regular shipping plus some kind of deal/credit thing. None of them turned out worthwhile. I don’t need 2 Amazon coins for Kindle books, etc. Yeah, Amazon has gotten bad on claiming 2-day shipping on stuff that takes a week or more to actually ship. And worse, they don’t tell you it’s going to take a long while before you check out (and sometimes not even afterwards), so you could have decided to do something else instead. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/43 "2016-02-23T23:16:42Z")
I heard that cats all across America are in an uproar as the increase means less boxes for them. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/44 "2016-02-25T20:02:54Z")
Ooh boy, I didn’t like when they bumped the minimum from $25 to $35. I really don’t like it going up to $49. That will definitely reduce my Amazon buying. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/45 "2016-03-01T18:47:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I placed an order with Amazon a couple of hours ago, and had to modify the order to meet the new minimum amount. (Sometimes, though, it’s better just to pay the shipping fee rather than order something I don’t really need to save a few bucks.) Obviously, they’re trying push people to sign up for the Prime service. I like how when I’m selecting a shipping option, they offer the “free” shipping option if I just sign up for the Prime service (or at least the thirty-day trial). The two-day shipping isn’t really free, it’s just prepaid at the rate of 99 bucks annually. So you really need to order a whole lot to earn back that money. Well, with Prime you also get: - Access to a fair amount of music - Access to _some_ free video content (less than is included in a Netflix membership) - Access to a free ebook every month (though the selection is really crummy) Amazon _does_ allow you to share your prime membership with household members. It’s up to you and your sense of honestly as to how you define “household members”, e.g. your parents who live across town, your friendly neighbor, or whatever. The deliveries do NOT have to be made to the same place (my son could use it when he was at college, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/46 "2016-03-01T19:09:27Z")
Prime is such a lock in. Instead of buying things through a google search at various stores, because I have prime, I search on Amazon, first and primarily. I save much more than Prime costs me, that’s for sure. Looking at my order history, I’ve ordered 20 items this year, in a bit over two months. 20\*5= 100 dollars if they were all small items. They weren’t. My latest item was 8.99 shipping if I hadn’t gotten it prime. Not all items though, count as a “win” because I’ll often pick a seller that uses Prime (Fulfillment by Amazon) even if it’s more expensive (i.e the Widget is 20 dollars + 4.99 shipping, but the prime item is 25.99 - often I’ll pay that extra dollar over the total just for the two day shipping, or I’ll pick no rush and get 1 dollar off my next rental or ebook purchase) I’m a power buyer though, I certainly spend more than 100 dollars a month on the site buying stuff, so I realize my experience isn’t everybody’s. ---
**Author:** ![heartsplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@heartsplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heartsplayer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629/47 "2016-03-01T22:57:19Z")
The same thing happened in the UK a few years ago. It used to be £10 before you got free postage, now it is £20. I don’t know if they have increased it even more, but I haven’t checked in ages. It wouldn’t surprise me. It is very inconvenient but yes, sometimes it is cheaper to get the cheapest option of shipping/postage and pay for that. (Usually, the faster options cost more.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-free-shipping-increase/746629.md?page=2)