Monthly Amazon Prime membership fees are about to increase
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
By comparison, Google sends me an e-mail every month reminding me how much I'm paying for Google Play Music. I don't mind it, but I wonder if it affects their retention rates to do that.
They seem to artificially add delays to processing to discourage me, but I don't really order anything that I need immediately.
Not having prime also prevents me from impulse buying.
Also, majority of things that you purchase on regular basis, such as cleaning supplies, vitamins etc are often much cheaper in local store and are less likely to be knock offs.
All those other extras they throw in are just junk to me. Apart from The Grand Tour there's nothing on prime video I care about, have never used their music much because the interface is an absolute joke (same with video).
Prime Now is nice but for some reason my area doesn't get restaurants despite being in the Portland Metro.
So just looking at shipping costs, I think I've at best broken even. Rarely get things in two days anyways. Usually takes them 3 days.
> They've developed a prioritization process for picking which take items ordered _later_ via prime and picks them first.
What I meant to say is that with prime the order is shipped within hours, when without it takes days and it seems to be calculated toward the end of of the time range, but still so it will arrive before the deadline.
Actually any items that are not fulfilled by Amazon are delivered much faster when you don't have prime. When you do it is the reverse, which feels suspicious.
Yes, there's no way for me to completely prove, but statistically without prime items arrive at the later date of the spectrum given, but they also never late than the date given. This could be explained that when deadline approaches they start treating my order as if it was higher priority, but then that would still prove my point.
Non-prime items won't see similar shipping priority until near the end of their deadlines.
It's to minimize prime-order shipping latency as much as possible. Incenticizing prime is a happy side-effect.
Only downside is that the incentive rotates and some of them are simply terrible (prime pantry, women's fashion, and home services for example).
I love Amazon subscriptions. Never having to think about buying all those staples, and just having them show up at the right time every month is worth a little extra money, which is at least partially offset by the subscription discounts.
You stop price checking. Amazon is far from the cheapest place to order things now. Depending on the item of course.
Next time price check an item before just grabbing it on Amazon, I did. Saved over 40% by doing so.
The Google method of sending a yearly notification is the idiomatic and proper way of selling a service. The Amazon way is the scumbag way because that's how they charge you without you knowing.
My amazon activity is much less than it used to be. Too much cheap and down right counterfeit products.
The 2 day Prime shipping is great...but it’s been taking forever to just get my stuff shipped out.
Anyway, have been debating cancelling the last several months and this headline was the impetus I needed.
It seems pretty brazen to increase the cost of Prime in light of those issues, even if it is only the monthly subscription. I'm sure it won't actually hurt them since they have such a strange-hold on online retail, and even with these issues they do still offer the best service by far, but it really seems like Amazon needs some competition.
When there's a range of delivery dates specified, it often seems designed to show up on the very last day of that range. A significant fraction of the time they haven't even shipped the thing by the first day of the delivery estimate.
There are also an increasing amount of items that say they are Prime but when you try to buy them, it says "it can't be shipped to your address". Sometimes it's understandable, like things that are very heavy or hazardous, like Li-ion batteries. Other times it's completely incomprehensible, like 1/8" pipe fittings. And Amazon customer service can't give any info, they just say "sorry, we're not going to be able to send you that thing."
I'm considering putting together and sharing a script that could check your order history and delivery dates. They tend to give a free month of credit for late deliveries, but if I could show them "Well out of 12 months I've had late deliveries every month this year" I should just get the service for free.
I've purchased all kinds of 'restricted' things this way, high-power magnets, chemicals, flammable aerosols, commercial-grade fire extinguishers, etc. I think Amazon's rule is mostly based on what can't go by air, since they want all options (ground/sea/air) available. I have no idea what method the third-party sellers actually use but everything shows up in plain brown boxes no problem. Try it some time, and just pay a couple bucks extra for shipping and avoid the hassle.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
I suppose it could be more clear, but I do not see where they guarantee 2-day to Hawaii. You live on an island in the middle of the ocean, expect shipping delays.
I don't really understand the instinct to jump on people complaining about receiving sub-par service compared to the promise given to them when they signed up. Amazon makes an absurd about of money, they could almost certainly do a better job here.
>I'm considering putting together and sharing a script that could check your order history and delivery dates. They tend to give a free month of credit for late deliveries, but if I could show them "Well out of 12 months I've had late deliveries every month this year" I should just get the service for free.
I'm talking about that bit.
Edit: I assumed he expected two day delivery. In his comment below he says he understands it's 3-7 and many come in 8-12, so my mistake.
USPS would be much faster if they just dropped it in the mail within a couple days. It would also cost less than fedex overnighting items after waiting 2 weeks.
The biggest problem are merchants that for some reason insist that they can only use UPS/Fedex, which is a complete ripoff to Hawaii. I don't understand how they get any business for their "ground" service here, given that it's usually about the same price as 2-day air but takes a week.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
There are times when 2 days is not the guarantee, which is slightly annoying, but for most items, 2 days is.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
You are complaining about free shipping speed to an island 2,400 miles off the coast of California
I'm in Southern California, so maybe the greater density here means different systems ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
From what I understand, the Amazon delivery people are contractors who are paid to deliver as much as they can. If they can't get to everything that day before 9pm, you don't get your package.
It has only really hurt me a couple of times where I ordered something for a trip, and it didn't arrive in time.
When I order something from Prime with 2-day shipping, it’s sometimes late, and sometimes shows up the next morning. It’s fast enough on average that I feel the price is easily worth it. If I really need something ASAP I’ll pay the extra few dollars for the one-day shipping (which would cost a lot more without Prime).
They’d have to raise the price a lot more to lose me as a customer. If there are a lot of customers like me and matte_black, it makes sense for them to raise the price.
By the way, if you do complain about late packages, they will give you a month of free Prime for each complaint or even put $10 as a credit in your account. So if it’s worth your time to complain, you could get Prime for free. It’s kind of like cloud provider who breaks SLA.
FWIW, you can request a free month of Prime anytime you get a Prime order late (up to 12 times per subscription renewal, from what I've read). I've done it a few times already; once you find the customer service page, it's pretty painless.
EDIT: Just want to make it clear that this isn't my isolated experience -- http://www.cbs46.com/story/36856477/mail-carriers-usps-warns...
When I asked amazon about it they really didn't want to do much but I was able to get them to block using their own drivers who were completely clueless on what an entrance to a building looks like (tip: it's not the emergency exit door...)
Not to mention the faster delivery times... The real benefit there has been changing the way I shop and think about shopping. I think I save massive amounts of time by almost never going to stores again. Even if the time savings is moot in the end, the psychological benefit of never having to go to stores has been wonderful. How much is that worth? I don't know, but it feels like almost zero cost given the value I get from Prime Video and Music (again, I admit that those services aren't "great").
But with Prime video, not only do they have highly praised original content, they fill in gaps that Netflix and Hulu have, with content from the HBO catalog, as well as TV shows that Netflix doesn't carry.
Add to that, the shipping for me, while not perfect, any time I've done free same day shipping, it's there.
My only request would be that I would gladly trade some of my benefits (Amazon music for example, along with others) in exchange for some type of access to audible.com content.
It would be nice if you could configure these services a la carte, but I doubt that's in Amazon's financial interest.
Overall, I do love their library, but they could evangelize it in such a better way.
Personally, I order enough things throughout a year that Prime pays for itself in shipping costs. Any additional items are just that to me. Nice to have, especially since I'm not being charged extra, but are not why I'm paying.
That's not how it works. Just because you aren't being billed by line item, you are being charged more. Those services come at a cost to them, and instead of being amortized across the users that benefit, they're being amortized across all users.
Case in point: this price increase. I'm sure it factors into account the price of all those services you aren't using/didn't sign up for Amazon Prime for. But you're paying it anyway.
EDIT:
The best example of this is one of the biggest complaints about cable tv services: to get channel x, you have to purchase a bundle of 2000 other channels too, which "justifies" an insane price of $80 more a month or whatever just for that one channel. The rationale is "but you're getting 20001 channels, not one, for that price!" and that's exactly what you're seeing here.
My example is more like:
I pay $80 for 200 channels.
2 years later I still pay $80 for 200 channels and 50 other channels that have been added.
3 years later I still pay $80 for 250 channels and 10 on-demand movies
4 years later I still pay $80 for 250 channels, 10 on-demand movies, and their new music channels
But in all cases, while your price for that channel hasn't increased, the market price for that channel has. Your son moves out and he can't get the package you're getting now on his own; you're an exception that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that - in general - this one service now costs that much more.
>But in all cases, while your price for that channel hasn't increased, the market price for that channel has.
The only important factor for what I receive for what I'm paying is the price I'm paying. Other people's pricing is irrelevant. Other people's prices are not what I am paying and are not a factor in determining if I feel I am getting value for my money.
If I think Amazon Prime is worth $99/yr and not a cent more - then if they ever increase my pricing then I simply cancel my subscription and now they lose my $99/yr. If they grandfather me in since I've been paying $99/yr for years then they'll likely continue to receive my $99/yr as long as I feel the price is still justified for what I receive. If they begin removing things (eg: Prime no longer is 2 day shipping) then I cancel as I'd no longer be getting my money's worth.
I am not stating "forced bundles" are good - but just that I don't pay for Prime because of any of the extra bundled items and the price I have been paying for Prime has not increased even with additional items being added. Even if the price point was set some time in the past under the assumption of these items being added before they had ever been added - I had no knowledge of it and deemed $99/yr to be a fair price to pay at the time, so they are viewed as value adds even if they (technically) might not be.
[0] http://time.com/23172/amazon-prime-hikes-price-to-99/ (Amazon's official announcement is in the second sentence but is a lengthy URL with querystrings)
I signed up for Amazon Prime for a month trial, and it seems pointless.
There's no Amazon Netherlands, so ordering from Amazon Germany instead who do have a lot. Not everything is subject to free delivery with Prime though. They wrote next day delivery. It took them 3 days. I can already order a lot from Bol.com with free shipping from 20 EUR order, and free return S&H. I suppose this is where, internationally, there's going to be larger differences.
Already got Spotify, not switching.
Already got cable, Netflix, and HBO. Not gonna add another. Already can't consume all this.
Free ebooks, I got a Kobo w/o DRM.
Twitch I don't touch with a 10 pole feet. I use Steam primarily, and bought various games on sale but I don't have time for games.
If you're using two of these services though, and it'd mean you'd ditch the competitor, then Amazon Prime is already worth it.
Not for me wrt Netflix vs Prime Video. The latter is much better if you value movies over shows and quantity over quality especially for older movies.
This is the only thing I worry about. Granted, I don't think I've personally ever gotten a knock-off but the fact that the possibility exists makes me much more cautious about ordering from amazon.
If you order a Lego set, you're going to get a Lego set.
But when it comes to industrial stuff, I can't even shop there anymore. Anything labeled as OEM (batteries, auto parts, etc) is a prime candidate for counterfeiting.
I order things like food from Amazon (Soylent), and I have relied on the shipping. But it is awful. I would say about 50% of the time my package arrives late, by a day or even 3-4 days. It's insane to pay $100 a year for a service that absolutely does not meet its promises. Just call it 4 day delivery and we'll be good.
Amazon Prime is a scam. I'm a loyal customer because there are few alternatives, but they do not deliver the service that you pay for.
I'd cancel Prime in a heartbeat if I had a remotely comparable alternative. They use to provide value in terms of making it easy to pick good products but the 3rd party seller thing has made this more difficult.
I'm noticing that too. If I'm going to go with standard shipping, they'll wait on it for 2 weeks and then try to ship it the day before the end of the delievery estimation. (I live in Chicago, so theres absolutely no reason to do that other than spite)
Also they push Amazon Logistics on you, which is terrible. I've had so many problems with them. The worst thing is they removed the option to "de-prioritize" them for your deliveries, like you can with any other problem delivery service. So you're SOL if you, for instance, USPS knows how to do its job in your area.
[1] http://www.cbs46.com/story/36856477/mail-carriers-usps-warns... N.B. I've personally had this happen a couple times now.
However, 2-day shipping is the only option available for most other places. I can see how Prime isn't as good of a deal for places like that.
once in a while they will miss the window but will notify right away and deliver it within the next day, pretty early in the day
I live almost in the middle of nowhere, except that I'm less than an hour away from a major shipping distribution center.
That said, I do live in the Greater Seattle area.
You can throw in in the trash, you know :)
Cancelling Prime is probably good for the same reason I shouldn't have gotten a Moviepass. I now have one less thing blocking me from watching a mediocre movie.
> You can throw in in the trash, you know :)
I prefer to build forts for my cats out of my leftover boxes.
Sure, but trees are not a good reason for that. I'll try to edit and add a better citation[0], but making cardboard boxes is more efficient than going into forests and cutting down trees.
[0]: http://www.internationalpaper.com/company/regions/north-amer...
But in most cases, yeah: I spend less money without Prime, and am rarely in a hurry, and don't mind waiting to hit the $25 minimum for super saver. Not having Prime has also lead me to shop elsewhere more: I buy stuff from Walmart, Target, and Best Buy a lot more in addition to Amazon purchases.
Additionally, most items that cost less than $6-8 each tend to be significantly cheaper at Walmart or Target, or you can by a single item rather than a 3-pack, which is a common Amazon strategy.
If you buy a decent number of higher price items, Amazon tends to have a price advantage, so the $99-per-year Prime subscription is worth it. However, you will throw a bunch of money away if you are buying a handful of small-ticket items from Amazon on a regular basis.
It makes even more sense if you comparison shop. With Amazon, you can pick the _exact right item_, whereas a big box store like Walmart or Target will only stock a few options at best, 0 at worst. I was looking for a specific light bulb at Home Depot the other day. Didn't find it. Went to Lowe's. Didn't find it. Ordered the exact item from Amazon while walking out of Lowe's. I only went to stores for the time convenience (I obviously needed it urgently), but they failed for lack of stock. That's what Amazon offers to me -- instant availability of a huge range of items, and ridiculously fast shipping on the smallest of those items.
I am referring to shopping at walmart.com, jet.com and target.com, which tend to have many of the exact same small-ticket items as amazon.com, but at cheaper prices and without a subscription for 2 day free shipping. It seems they tend to ship the items from a local store, and thus can use low-cost ground shipping and get it there in two days.
Why didn't you go to lowes.com or walmart.com? This isn't an apples to apples comparison.
The items seem to vary but range from rulers to multipacks of soap, duct tape, packs of pens, USB sticks and even once a big exercise ball that I was considering.
Nowadays I usually go straight to eBay for small items and pay the Royal Mail postage for them.
This past week I paid $12 for ground shipping at another site and was reminded about how much shipping added to the price of the product.
Update: Also forgot about the convenience of using Amazon lockers.
I always figured I could just pool purchases and get free shipping. I didn't anticipate my change in behavior. So many things that I could spend 30 minutes to pick up at a local store, I can now order from Amazon and get them before I'd make it to the store anyway.
I also travel a lot. So having confidence that I'll get a package before I take off on a trip is worth a lot.
It's also the case that a lot of the fillers I used to use to get free shipping like books, CDs, and DVDs, I don't order much any longer because of online content.
But I also don't order as much I did. So I might cancel.
Your conclusion to me is an odd one; maybe you wouldn't have ended up making those purchases were you forced to give them more thought which would save you _more_ in the long term.
I too am lucky to be grandfathered in. But can’t really say it is a current Prime benefit anymore.
It annoys me greatly that I'm subsidizing Prime Video when I have zero interest in using it
Amazon really needs to do a better job of clearly showing which products are sold by third-parties and how well-vetted those third-parties actually are. I've not seen anyone say that a "Sold by Amazon" product is counterfeit.
This said... I've come to rely less and less on Prime for actually meeting its 2-day promises. Most of the time I don't care when it shows up, but when I do care, I've lost all faith that Amazon will actually pull through so I end up just buying locally.
If volume is the issue, they really could incentivize the "no rush" shipping more than the hokey $5 credit things.
I've had it happen to me with Levi's, and word of mouth tells me this is a problem in general with big name clothing.
Realistically speaking, probably not, no.
Amazon's Antitrust Paradox: https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-parado...
I have a realized this too, but my response has been to explicitly try to shop elsewhere, to spread my dollars around. I've found Amazon often isn't even really that competitive anymore, they're just coasting on people's habits. I also don't want them to end up an unassailable retail monopoly or near-monopoly.
Also they probably are working to lock people in initially with low prices and hike prices overtime once they are dependent (monthly scheduled shipments, etc)
So we just don't spend it as much, as we have excellent cheap health care and in America, it seems you can go broke if one thing happens due to extreme costs -> more spending. That's seems to be my current opinion of reading HN, feel free to correct me
I have this to back me up :https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_financi...
But I'm wondering what the averages would be if we exclude the top 2%. Which probably skew the numbers for the USA ( not sure)
It's relatively new, only added in April, 2016: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/amazon-prime-now-available-mon...
The upside of course, is that Amazon's customer service remains top notch and any issues that I have are ultimately resolved to my "satisfaction." It'd be nice if I didn't have to spend so much time in chats with Amazon customer service.
When I use other resellers online it takes upwards of a week to get things. For the few situations where they're less than amazon, their shipping fees and shipping times lose the sale.
Fedex seems to go out of their way to sit on packages. UPS, on the other hand, seems to go to extra lengths to get packages through their system as quickly as possible, regardless of shipping type. As in, things ordered UPS Ground regularly get here in 2 days. Fedex, though, when they say a week, it'll damned well be 7 days.
I'm planning on cancelling my Prime subscription when it goes up for renewal since I rarely use it (it would actually be cheaper to pay for 2-day shipping every time).
On the other hand I think prime was a useful influence on other e-commence sites. Shipping times have become dramatically shorter in recent years.
So, thank you Amazon for forcing your competition to ship faster while allowing your own site to become overrun with fake reviews and crappy knock-off products!