A while ago Amazon announced an increase to their Amazon Prime fees. And even though there are ways to keep the fees at the $99 yearly for a bit longer, it still seemed to me I should take a closer look at whether or not I was getting value from having Amazon Prime even at the $99 rate.
I always say, “Let math be your friend” and in fact, I enjoy math. And I enjoy using spreadsheets, too. I’m not exactly Don in The Rosie Project, but I can come awfully close to his obsession with tracking things.
So let’s take a look at what I actually DO use Amazon Prime for, because I think a lot of people see all the potential uses of Amazon Prime but don’t really use them.
Let’s start with movies. Since I do keep a list of all the movies I see each year, noting the source and cost, this was a easy math problem. In a years time I watched one series from Amazon Prime (which I had seen before) and watched eight movies. I also use iTunes and go to movie theaters, though most often I get movies from my library! I also see a lot of movies on airplanes:) At this rate of movie viewing from Amazon Prime, that’s $12.38 a movie. I’ll admit to being shocked when I saw this number.
The other key benefit from Amazon Prime is the free and fast shipping. I’m probably not considered a heavy Amazon shopper if I judge myself by what others purchase on Amazon. Some of my purchases were not in the Amazon millions of items group that qualified for Prime shipping. When this happens and the price point works, which it often does, I’ll use local merchants for my shopping. Do I really need my purchases in two days? It’s nice, but not really necessary probably 90% of the time, in my case.
It’s been an eye opener to take a closer look and I’m not sure what I’ll do. Watching more movies or series might bring the price down to $6 a movie, but I don’t really see myself doing this. Am I missing something that I should be taking into the equation and conclusions I’m drawing about whether or not to keep Amazon Prime going forward? Do YOU run the numbers and know for sure Prime is worth it for you? Please let me know in the comments below. Thanks, everyone!
If you shop at Whole Foods this decision just got a bit easier:)
HI Geoff, I did catch the Amzn and WF story the other day. I don’t shop at Whole Foods enough to have that sway my decision. The question then becomes would I go out of my way to shop there. Not very convenient to me from my home, so I have to think a bit about the savings at WF vs what I’d actually buy there. Good point……thank you!
I’ve already had my Prime set not to auto-renew. I don’t really do the movies and stuff much , It’s not a big deal to do orders the size shipping (standard) is free anyway, I can live without the faster shipping, I will most likely not renew.
The price increase made me analyze what I really hadn’t before, but I doubt that 20% will drop Prime, so Amazon will still have increased Prime subscription revenues. Whether they get less real sales is the question.
Good point, Carl, and I think I’m heading in the same direction as you are. Like you, I doubt there will be a big drop off in Prime members. Still, it’s good to know whether these “deals” work for you and then decide. Thanks for reading!
If you carried the Amazon credit card (5% back on purchases with Amazon and Whole Foods) you might feel differently.
Between that fact the amount of shopping we do on Amazon, we are staying for now.
Interesting idea to use a cash back card. Thank you! I could see how that would offset any price for Prime when you do enough shopping. I wonder if the Amazon cash back card is popular. Any idea?
I buy often from Amazon. To me, the membership more than covers the shipping fees I’d otherwise face. I backup all my photos to Amazon Photos “free”. I have a Fire TV that displays photos from Amazon Photos as a screen saver. No one* does albums any more, but who goes through their digital collection? These are worth the price for me. Prime Video and Music are icing that I could use more.
*practically
You are the Amazon Prime king! Great use of the features, Marvin. Thanks for giving our readers some good ideas :)
We order stuff from Amazon more than once a week. There are just too many things that we buy that local stores don’t stock. Granted, we live out in the sticks – not the real sticks though – we have a pharmacy or two.
Over the years, we’ve been captured by Amazon Prime. At one point, we bought some things at Amazon but others from a variety of web sites. Does anyone else remember Yahoo Shopping? How about Staples? Once we had Prime, Amazon was usually the cheapest by the price of shipping.
Sounds like you’ve got a great Prime system in place to save and get what you need. I don’t remember Yahoo shopping, but I do have a Staples close by. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!