I get my money back from Prime every Christmas. The amount of stuff I order for gifts, house stuff, decorations, whatever… all free shipping. Fast Free Shipping. Works for me. And then the movies are an extra bonus.
I noticed this as well just the other day. Nothing special, just a cheap laptop case. I have Prime (don’t pay for it, you can share it with another - but you don’t get the video etc. content). But I had to order this through a work account, so I had to tell the person to try another brand of case. Interestingly, “Amazon Basics” brand did not have this restriction.
A couple of years ago(?) they also brought out “Add-on Items.” Usually cheap stuff that you had to bundle with a regular item before they’d ship it.
And that bar is surprisingly low. I frequently buy $5-10 items that come with two-day shipping. Add-On items are… erratic in that respect. I assume it has something to do with weight and net shipping cost, and some axis of profit/market drive.
There’s also this website, where you can find cheap items under a specified price needed to meet the $35 Super Saver minimum, if that applies to you. I suppose it could also work for Add-ons as well.