Is Amazon Prime still a good deal ?

[Smokin Okie]

My Prime sub comes due at the end of this month. At one time, the free shipping and quick delivery made it economical. I'm not so sure any more.

First, since the pandemic, one day shipping has become sporadic. And they now offer a free option if your willing to combine items accept longer delivery. Which for me, is no big deal. Rarely do I order something that I must have the next day.

We don't watch Prime Video. I've got so many options as to TV entertainment, I can't sort it all out. Thursday Night Football is something I'll watch, but heck, I can't stay up for the second half of night games any more, anyway. And most games I don't have an interest. Paying a $140 a year for maybe one or two football games is not economical for me.

I'm supposed to get unlimited free photo storage, but I think they're charging me $2 a month for that, anyway. And I use Microsoft OneDrive to back up everything, which I pay a hefty price for.

Unless I can find some other reason, I'm gonna cancel and see how it goes without Prime.

I've got too many subscriptions. It starts to add up.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I love my Amazon Prime but I order several times a week. I do not really need the fast shipping most the time but it is nice. If they still do free shipping over $35 that would work.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I love my Amazon Prime but I order several times a week. I do not really need the fast shipping most the time but it is nice. If they still do free shipping over $35 that would work.

What I see a lot of, say for example, I have three items. Two have a 2 day delivery date and one is one day Prime. They will ask me if I want to combine the items into one shipment and they will ship free.

As long as I have Prime, I've no incentive combine the items. Its all gonna be free. But without Prime I would just get everything in 2 days with free shipping.

From what I can gather, I could still get free shipping by combining items and accepting longer delivery times. Which neither one is a problem for me.

 

[jcam222]

I still have it and do order very often making the shipping an ok deal. They have really destroyed the value of their music streaming to the point I don't even use it. I do watch shows on Prime from time to time.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I still have it and do order very often making the shipping an ok deal. They have really destroyed the value of their music streaming to the point I don't even use it. I do watch shows on Prime from time to time.

When I became a YouTube Premium subscriber, I switched from Amazon Music to YouTube Music. That makes YT Premium far more economical. And Google is constantly improving YT Music. I'm very happy with both. And my wife loves the no ads on YT.

I'm gonna give up Amazon Prime for a couple months and see how it goes.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Pre pandemic(?), everything I ordered as an Amazon Prime member hit my front porch within two days. These days, it's a crap shoot. Also, the movies us old timers like to watch that used to be free on Amazon, are now pay to play rentals. Methinks Smokin Okie is onto something.

 

[chopsaw]

I've been asking myself if it's worth it for awhile now . Some of the stuff is more expensive , and that covers the shipping . I do watch Prime video .
I'm good with it ,,,, if I get my order !! Seems to be stuff is on the way , until it's not .
Waiting on a set of pipe legs for a table . Was at the hub , 5 minutes from my house , now it's going back to the seller . No reason except " if it's not here by the 14th look for further direction " .
Same thing a couple weeks ago , then before that I got an empty bag that was supposed to have a 6 " cast iron skillet in it . That was a pain to get a return . They kept saying " says it was delivered " I have it for now , but this latest thing just might change my mind .

 

[jcam222]

I can say luckily for me the shipping performance is close to flawless. The customer service has always been a positive experience as well. Recent example my woozy bottle order showed up with all the included blank labels bent. Quick chat with customer service online and full credit for the bottles with no need to return..

 

[Brokenhandle]

We really enjoy Amazon... but then again we live in the country. 15 miles to a small town hardware store, 20 miles to the next bigger town... two decent grocery stores, and a decent sized farm store. 45 miles from 4 separate Walmart stores ( never go there anyways). And about 60 miles to a big enough town with lots of choices. So time and gas savings easily make up for any shipping... don't think we ever pay for shipping anyway.
Also, on the bright side... I don't have to put up with idiots.

One other bonus... my 3 dogs love the big brown truck... he brings treats!

Ryan

 

[chopsaw]

I can say luckily for me the shipping performance is close to flawless. The customer service has always been a positive experience as well.

It's more positive than negative for me too . One reason I still have it . The empty bag thing is on the driver . He never should have left it . Took a picture and said it was delivered . I'm sure they get enough scam from people that they had to question me about it .
Like said , I'm 5 minutes from the warehouse . I get a fair amount of stuff the same day . Prime or no prime , or it asks me if I want to go pick it up .

 

[zwiller]

Been thinking about this myself. Sold a rental last year and lived high off the hog, but getting tight now. I think grocery costs are the main culprit but there are others. We gotta sit down and run numbers (which is not easy as I am busy). Last month cleaned out a storage unit and cancelled it. We gotta cut the cord ($300 no premium), change homeowners (near $2k), etc. All gonna be a PITA to do but has to get done. From here, gotta trim the grocery tab. I think we do OK food wise but houswares could lose the fancy wash and dish tabs and go boxed, and ditch the small serving snack stuff, etc.

 

[Fueling Around]

My wife runs the Amazon account in our house. She tried prime a few times and said it wasn’t worth the cost
She just combines orders to get free shipping and calls it good

…
One other bonus... my 3 dogs love the big brown truck... he brings treats!

Ryan

Back when Schwans trucks roamed the streets the neighbor’s dogs knew the sound of the truck

 

[BigW.]

We still have it but it is getting pricey. If you only have it for free shipping I don't think it's worth it. We use the video and music often. I have several thing coming next week, but I chose to push it out a week. Got several dollars of free movie credits if I didn't need it next day or two. I'm not a fan of the company or their politics, but they make it so simple for a guy like me who hates going shopping.

 

[gmc2003]

Never had prime and we don't do a lot of online shopping anyways. The biggest reason is it's hit or miss with deliveries. We've gotten packages delivered to our house that we didn't order. Some of them were for people that live in another town and once another state. We try to buy local and from the brick/mortar stores. I live in a small state and in an even smaller town so lines and crowds are very rarely an issue.

Chris

 

[02ebz06]

Never saw the need for Prime.
Free shipping isn't necessarily free as shipping charges are built into the price of many items.
The free shipping for $35 order was $25 a month ago.
Rarely I need something faster than the standard time, and if I do, I will pay the charge to get it quicker.
For items under the $35 I just wait until I have enough to cost that much before ordering.
As for cutting costs, We will be dropping Satellite by the end of the month.
Going with OTA antenna and DVR to cover the main 4 networks and Sling to get all the other channels we watch on Dish.

 

[civilsmoker]

We have used the crap out of Prime and still do but we do watch lots of prime video..... We had the discussion the other day about dropping it but that quickly ended after reviewing our order history

I've been asking myself if it's worth it for awhile now . Some of the stuff is more expensive , and that covers the shipping . I do watch Prime video .
I'm good with it ,,,, if I get my order !! Seems to be stuff is on the way , until it's not .
Waiting on a set of pipe legs for a table . Was at the hub , 5 minutes from my house , now it's going back to the seller . No reason except " if it's not here by the 14th look for further direction " .
Same thing a couple weeks ago , then before that I got an empty bag that was supposed to have a 6 " cast iron skillet in it . That was a pain to get a return . They kept saying " says it was delivered " I have it for now , but this latest thing just might change my mind .

Chop, I learned this the other day. Amazon has recently added "overflow" delivery drivers that are like door dash drivers, i.e. they "pick up" orders they believe they can deliver..... It so happens that if one of those drivers doesn't make the delivery the day they pick it up and they return it to the center, all the package orders get automatically cancelled by the scanning software and then those packages are set a side.... many centers just send them back, but others will sort through them and redeliver them a few days later.

I got this info from our regular contract Amazon delivery person last week and they call these delivery guys yahoos (which was funny cause he was a youngen for such a term). The above story was related to me by him, because I asked about a delayed package, and after he related the story, he said I actually have your package on the truck, I'm just not authorized to deliver it till it is accounted in the system.... he delivered it the next day..... The package had the temp controller for my knife quenching tank...... Man that was a killer wait!!!

 

[Steve H]

The money I save on shipping more than offsets the annual fee. Though, you do need to comparison shopping. We use Amazon prime streaming quite often.

 

[noboundaries]

We have Prime, and I've had the same Prime/no Prime debate. We rarely watch their movies and never their music.

Between my wife and I though, we do use Amazon Prime quite a bit because local retailers (big box and small guys) are a total crap-shoot for inventory and pricing. And with gasoline now north of $5.20/gal locally, I'm not about to drive my 13mpg in-the-city truck fifteen to twenty miles searching for something I need.

Example. Recently I needed two CR2032 batteries for a device in the house. It's a common friggin' battery. The last time I needed those batteries I had to drive to three big box retailers before I found them at a small battery retailer that charged $8 for two, $12 for four. That retailer is always my last choice due to their pricing. Money, gas, and ninety minutes of my time gone.

So, as I was making a grocery shopping list last week, I habitually included stops at the retailers to look for the batteries when a little voice in my head said, "Look at Amazon." Guest what - $5.99 for 10! I never left the couch to buy them and they arrived in two days. So far the two I've installed are working fine. I could throw the rest away and I'm still ahead of the spending curve. That one purchase paid for a month of my Amazon Prime subscription with gas savings and local pricing alone.

Prime debate solved for me.

Ray

 

[Norwester55]

I'd been an Amazon user clear back to when they only sold books but a few months ago I decided Prime wasn't worth the expense and frustration. Deliveries being made days if not weeks late, trying to speak to an actual human in CS, etc. I switched to Walmart+ for $13 monthly. So far all my deliveries have been on time with the exception of a few that have come a day early. I've ordered a number of things that are available in local Walmart stores and have gotten them the same day which saves me a 25 mile round trip to get them myself. The only problem I've had is when a 2 item order was missing one of the items. Clicked the "Contact Us" button on the website, opted to be called. CS was on the line within 15-20 seconds and my money was refunded and in my bank account before I hung up. Kind of like how Prime was in the early days. It has some perks like 10 cents off on gas, food delivery, free Paramount+ Essential, etc.

 

[MJB05615]

I've been using Prime for a long time, a lot for my Company. Planning on continuing to do so. I'd say 95% of the time they deliver complete and on time. I always check pricing at various places as a comparison before purchasing. For most of my Companies' needs, Amazon is a lot less expensive for the same items. We're lucky enough to live within 3-5 miles of Walmart and Sam's and Grocery stores. I rarely get grocery items through Prime. And we do watch Prime video occasionally. For me, it's well worth it.