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Amazon Set to Increase Prime Membership Fee By 17% for US Customers
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Amazon isn't a trust (monopoly), though they are the dominant player in two of their markets. There are competitors in online shopping, online media and cloud services - Amazon's primary markets. There's competition in each of these markets. Feel free to use them.
I would love to see a noticeable exodus from Prime so they feel some pressure to lower the annual price. One can still order from Amazon and receive shipping at no extra charge, though it's not quite as convenient.
It would appear that the majority of objections here transcend the increase in price.
There a podcast series called Land of the Giants that covers this really well. Basically they invest most of what they make back into themselves and their growth. They bring in such a massive amount of money that anytime investors start to worry, they can drop the reinvestment on Amazon for a month or two and post record profits, then when everyone is happy again they go back to fully reinvesting in themselves again.
I loathe Bezos and his Dr. Evil Schtick. Just the other day I was discussing this with my wife. HOW rich can one person be? How much can a single person accumulate off the backs of others?
Eventually, Amazon will either keep pushing the price up, or realize people are all ready squeezed and accept a reduction in profits to pay their people a decent wage.
Folks who work for a living (myself included) are getting tired of being told there's no money for raises, or that benefits are being cut AGAIN while the higher ups ALWAYS do better. We always do WORSE.
I am a prime sub, and one of the main reasons is the streaming service. I watch a lot of old TV shows and documentaries, and purchase certain shows instead of picking up another streaming service (Yellowstone comes to mind) and I do order enough stuff off Amazon to justify the cost.
A couple things that will keep me with prime for now (my annual renewal snuck in before the price hike mind you).
Streaming services.
The ability to find specific things I want much easier than in local stores. Any more, it's just such a PITA to go buy a pack of socks, or something dopey like that when I can click a few times and find it on my doorstep a few days later).
The return policy. Amazon takes ANYTHING back. And I mean ANYTHING. So if I get it, and I don't like it I can just take it to the Rite Aid down the street and drop it in an Amazon box. The return policy is a big plus...
Eventually, Amazon will either keep pushing the price up, or realize people are all ready squeezed and accept a reduction in profits to pay their people a decent wage.
Folks who work for a living (myself included) are getting tired of being told there's no money for raises, or that benefits are being cut AGAIN while the higher ups ALWAYS do better. We always do WORSE.
I am a prime sub, and one of the main reasons is the streaming service. I watch a lot of old TV shows and documentaries, and purchase certain shows instead of picking up another streaming service (Yellowstone comes to mind) and I do order enough stuff off Amazon to justify the cost.
A couple things that will keep me with prime for now (my annual renewal snuck in before the price hike mind you).
Streaming services.
The ability to find specific things I want much easier than in local stores. Any more, it's just such a PITA to go buy a pack of socks, or something dopey like that when I can click a few times and find it on my doorstep a few days later).
The return policy. Amazon takes ANYTHING back. And I mean ANYTHING. So if I get it, and I don't like it I can just take it to the Rite Aid down the street and drop it in an Amazon box. The return policy is a big plus...
Oh you didn't know? His boat has a boat. (I'm not kidding.)
Couple that with wanting to avoid Amazon wherever possible, the loss of prime membership really would force me to look around. I hate myself for the fact that when I want something I always start there, then look about. Long term they will (if not a bit already) be such a monopoly that they will be able to charge pretty much whatever they want, including their marketplace seller fees. See eBay for details on that one...
Not sure what your point is, profit is why companies exist, customers choose to support them or not. Many flocked to Amazon during pandemic, worked great for me. Going forward I'm dropping Prime price shop and check stock locally. In US you get free shipping for most orders over $25 anyways.
I cancelled cable due to the cost and a large part of that was ESPN and other sports networks. When I cancelled Prime they had both added NFL and raised the rates. At this point I am tired of pro sports and view them as a complete negative.
My wife and I have separate Prime memberships. Like many others on this thread, I only use mine for the fast shipping. It just renewed last November and I think this will be the last year I'll be keeping it. In the last couple of years, I haven't been using Amazon that much and the upcoming price hike is the final nail in the proverbial coffin.
I came here to read this , and I was not disappointed.
It appears Amazon went to the Netflix school of subscription pricing.
If they had justified the price increase as inflation I would have “played frog” and quietly accepted it.
But their given reason causes me to
consider cancelling it. I only have a membership for the shipping. I don’t use any of their other services.
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The hike is pure nonsense, it's only because they can and many will suck it up.
They made SO MUCH $, profit in the height of Covid...so they know people need it.
One word. GREED!
3 more words, Bezos is evil.
They made SO MUCH $, profit in the height of Covid...so they know people need it.
One word. GREED!
3 more words, Bezos is evil.
I can set it to deliver in 2023.
Wondering if I can buy 2 back to back.
Never mind, I can only set the date as 1 year from today.
That was not discovered until I attempted to check out.
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I bank with a credit union which has a perk of reimbursing the cost of Amazon Prime membership as long as it's charged to my credit card! One of many advantages of banking with a credit union instead of a traditional bank. I won't have to pay this fee.
But I get it, inflation. The cost of everything is increasing. People think things should be free, low cost or the cost remain the same in perpetuity. But at the end of the day, when the business incurs an increases in operating costs such as raising hourly wages, they pass these costs along to the consumer.
But I get it, inflation. The cost of everything is increasing. People think things should be free, low cost or the cost remain the same in perpetuity. But at the end of the day, when the business incurs an increases in operating costs such as raising hourly wages, they pass these costs along to the consumer.
Yes, companies should be able to make a profit so they can carry on existing, thats a given BUT there is a huge huge difference between making enough profit to cary on existing and making enough profit so they can be greedy. Amazon is being 100% greedy. Amazon could easily fund any price rises it faces due to economic instability and still end up being in profit but they and like with many others, they would rather get their customers to fund any price rises than for the company to use any of it's profits. There is profit and then there is greedy profit. A huge majority of the worlds businesses go for greedy profit and the muggins customers allow them to do it. 'Vote with your wallet' comes the cries and you know what, it never happens.
If the 2day delivery is cheaper than delivery of an item or you need an item fast, just sign up for Prime for 1 month. No need to pay it every month non-stop. I only sign up when I need something and then cancel subscription afterwards. So maybe 1 or 2 months a year do I use it.
damn I'm lucky. I went to cancel but my auto-renew happens March 22nd (3 days before the increase) so I'm going to renew on time at the old price then turn off auto-renew. I use Amazon less and less these days and don't use any other prime services.