In fact, I have only found that to be true if you make a large order. For example, with Disney, the order must be over $75 after discounts, and before taxes. And you have to enter a 'secret code" which is pretty easy to find, I admit.
With Wayfair you need only $35.
And with Amazon, you get free on a $1 order.
Well…you are spending $11.66/month for free shipping from Amazon (and their shitty video service they want to charge you more for now).
So, if you order one item that month that costs $1 it really cost you $12.66. What a bargain!
Amazon is being sued because their “free” Whole Foods Delivery is no longer free. ($9.95)
I am saving well more in shipping than Prime costs. That’s because I order whatever the fuck I want whenever I want. If I was more careful and waited until I had $25 saved up, I’d never pay shipping. I just need be be incrementally more patient going forward.
Same here. Besides the free stuff I get from reviewing, we order about $100 a week from Amazon.
Target has their “Red Card” which also gives you free shipping.
Walmart has “free” shipping for $155/year (a bit more than Prime) but that includes food which Amazon charges for unless you buy a lot.
Best Buy has free shipping on orders more than $35 (not hard to do at Best Buy).
Newegg has free shipping on orders over $25.
Since @DrDeth is spending $100/week it would be trivial to get free shipping from all these places.
Nope, since I, just like hajario “That’s because I order whatever the fuck I want whenever I want.”
And it wont work like that for the free items I get from Amazon, in return for reviews. I’d often have to pay more for S&H that the product is worth. And you know what total you get if you add $0+0+)? And, no, you cant combine a free order with a $35 item to get free shipping, in fact you cant combine free items with anything (altho sometimes Amazon will ship them together).
And sure, I could get free shipping from Walmart by… spending more than Prime. big whoop.
Since when do you get money for reviews? How much money? I have reviewed things and never saw any income. How much do you get? Do you have to report that on your taxes?
Sign me up! I will review every damn thing and get free stuff!
Also, as noted, Amazon keeps giving you less every year for the same fee. Maybe increases that fee too. Is there a line where that matters to you? You are ok with spending another $36/year for no ads on content that had no ads this year? Content you already got for your fee? You are not getting more for that $36. Why are you ok with that?
(and I’d bet that fee will only ever increase)
I suspect that’s what they’re counting on. Perhaps you notice you need toothpaste, so you just order it from Amazon, even before checking if it’s on sale at the supermarket or Walmart you also shop at. It might have been cheaper at your local Kroger. You might do this out of convenience or habit or even (subconsciously) because now that you’ve paid for Prime, you feel the need to order often enough to get your money’s worth from it.
I object in principle to the idea of paying money for the right to shop somewhere. (I have the same problem with Costco. I have one of their cards, but my mother pays the annual fee, not me.)
IIRC, Netflix is currently the only streaming service making money. The rest are operating at losses (and some like Disney+ and Peacock are operating at substantial losses).
I think Netflix is just about the only “pure” streaming service. Everyone else has another business (often much larger) to support the streaming service. Also, Netflix has been doing it longest.
You don’t rent anything on Amazon Prime. You rent things on Amazon Video, which is clumsily linked into Prime Video because Amazon can’t design a user-friendly interface to save their bottom line. Well, I guess they CAN design a sales-friendly interface for that, and they’ve done so.
Complaining that you have to pay to rent a first-run movie but you pay for Prime is like complaining you have to pay for any of the other things you buy on Amazon.
This is their fault, not mine. I’d say it’s intentionally confusing on their part. I don’t trust corporations.
At any rate, I very rarely even use Prime Video. I watched all of The Expanse** and that’s about it. So this idea that a Prime subscription includes a “suite of services” is a bit thin. Because as far as I can tell, the only service worth a damn (used to be) Prime shipping.
**Before you cancel, go watch it
It absolutely is. They also seem to sell subscriptions to other streaming services, which confuses my aging parents to no end.
It’s a portal, like Apple TV. As opposed to the completely unrelated Apple TV+, which is a streaming service like Netflix. Portals being confusing seems to be by design.
Where did I say I get money? I dont. I get merchandise, mostly books to review.
You seem resolved to try and talk people out of prime. If it means that much to you, I suggest you dont get Prime. Prime is an excellent deals for me. Netflix keeps going up to, are you going to stop all your streaming?
You do not have to pay any membership fees to shop at Amazon. Prime is 100% voluntary. It makes sense for many shoppers, but not all.
Apparently Hulu also makes a profit.
And we dont know what, if any “profit” Amazon is making.
I know that Amazon Prime is voluntary, which is why I don’t opt for it. I just wait until I accumulate $25/35 in ordered stuff before placing the order. (So my cart will sit there for days or weeks until I find enough to order. (And then once I do place that order, I get email from them offering free shipping on anything for the next 24 hours. Given that it already took me time to think of $25/35 worth of stuff, I often have nothing else in mind.)
I didn’t even know they had free shipping over $25. It really does change the equation.
It really does. As long as you’re willing to wait until you find enough items to hit that minimum amount, you don’t need Prime.
There’s also stuff that I get regularly but only order when I am almost out of it. I can order my Vitamin D pills a month early to put me over the top.
Ah right, to the chagrin of Disney - because they still have to pay out Xfinity for their 30% and this drives up that price.