Amazon Set to Increase Prime Membership Fee By 17% for US Customers

MacRumors said:


Amazon is increasing its Prime membership subscription prices in the U.S., the company has revealed in its Q4 2021 earnings results.

amazon-prime.jpg

According to the company, the fee for a Prime subscription is set to increase for the first time in four years, rising to $15 per month (up from $13), or $139 per year (up from $119).

The price hike, representing an almost 17% increase, will go into effect for new customers starting February 18, 2022, while current members will see their plans go up after March 25, 2022.

Amazon says the increase will pay for the "continued expansion" of Prime perks, along with higher employee salaries and more expensive shipping costs. Amazon hasn't said whether the Prime price change will apply in other countries.

An Amazon Prime subscription includes "free" one-day shipping on purchases made on Amazon, access to Prime Video, Prime Music, and other Amazon digital platforms and services.

As noted by Engadget, Amazon's recent Prime Video spends are also likely to have been a factor, with the upcoming first season of the new "The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power" series reportedly expected to cost $465 million. Amazon last year also acquired Hollywood studio MGM for $8.5 billion.

Amazon's net profit jumped nearly 57% in 2021 to $33.4 billion, due in part to the lingering effects of the global health crisis, which has had a positive effect on Amazon's core shopping business. Amazon stock jumped 13% in pre-market trading on Friday following its strong fourth-quarter earnings.

Article Link: Amazon Set to Increase Prime Membership Fee By 17% for US Customers
Click to expand...
Oh great, my garbage bill went up too
 
LarryBaker said:
I as well signed up originally for the "free 2 day shipping". In the beginning it was exactly that, things would get delivered in 2 days.. These past two years more than half of my orders were delayed or lost altogether. I kept it when the price went from $99 to $119, because I was using prime video.. Now everything I want to watch isn't included and I'd have to pay even more.

Usually when I order its over $25, so free shipping anyway. I just canceled my membership as there doesn't really seem to be a point (for me) to keep paying more.
Click to expand...
I’m considering canceling as well. I’ve been a prime member for several years but I’ve seen a sharp decline in service in the past six years. I didn’t know that if I order something that’s $25+ it will ship without a fee. I seldom use their other services like Prime videos which in my opinion, are the titles that are old or B-rated films.
 
AlphaGuitarist said:
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.
Click to expand...

FYI - a single membership can be shared by two adults in the same houshold, using separate email addresses and separate payment methods.

Share Amazon Prime with Your Family - Amazon Customer Service

Learn how to set up an Amazon Prime family account and share your benefits with your family members.
www.amazon.com
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Might have to let Prime go. Seems like more order on a Monday and get Thursday. You used to could pay a couple of bucks and get next day shipping.
Prime Video doesn't really have good original shows. Amazon Music that is included is ok but I can stream free stuff with ads off other services so no big lost there. The only real good perk is Amazon photos allows unlimited photo storage but that may have changed
Amazon needs tier their service. One for shipping only, another for shipping and videos and then the everything package.
 

Time to Say Goodbye?​


It is getting harder and harder to renew as the main benefit seems to be the shipping and Walmart and others are catching up fast. I really don’t love the Prime video options (although watching Leverage, Monk, and Psych is nice).

Music is a nonstarter as Spotify and Apple Music are way better.

For me they could keep me with a few audible credits as I use that a bunch.

But they know their business and they know how far they can push things…time will tell
 
Another thought I had - Amazon is already planning to increment the price $20 every 2 years until it hits say $200 in 2026. They know this price increase will cause significant customer churn but they're ok with that over the next few years. When the price hits $200, they can start to unbundle products. Want just Prime video? That's $100/year. Want only prime delivery? Yep that's $120/year. Wait...what? Now you're back to spending $120/year for just shipping! This is how Bezos board will get us to spend > $200/year for the privilege of using his product(S)! Don't let Bezos own us!
 
Quu said:
I literally only have Prime for fast and "free" delivery and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
Click to expand...
You likely are not alone but failure to utilize other services isn't Amazon's fault. I use Prime Video and Prime Music often. Between those and the free shipping it is still easily worth it with the price increase.

If treatment of workers is one of the major concerns for anyone, I'd suggest many may want to reconsider any tech they buy that is made in China, including Apple.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
JasonSuave said:
Another thought I had - Amazon is already planning to increment the price $20 every 2 years until it hits say $200 in 2026. They know this price increase will cause significant customer churn but they're ok with that over the next few years. When the price hits $200, they can start to unbundle products. Want just Prime video? That's $100/year. Want only prime delivery? Yep that's $120/year. Wait...what? Now you're back to spending $120/year for just shipping! This is how Bezos board will get us to spend > $200/year for the privilege of using his product(S)! Don't let Bezos own us!
Click to expand...
The latest history has been $20 every 4 years (2014, 2018, and now 2022). No reason yet to expect the next $20 increase prior to 2026.

If you look at it it’s cost has been increasing much less than Netflix has (which is like $1-2 a month every 18 months)

Yeah it’s sucks, but when you’re dealing with service that involves actual humans for actual tasks like shipping and delivering those costs tend to rise with inflation. Or do you still want your Amazon driver being treated like slave labor and pissing in a bottle in between stops?
 
Considering Prime comes with free shipping and other retail perks, and considering that Prime has way more video content and of a higher caliber than that garbage Apple calls TV+, it is worth the price to me. Maybe TV+ is okay for the fan club base of rather young viewers who think caped superheroes in tights makes for good entertainment, but Prime has a way more diversified library for all ages. I do have both services, but I often wonder why I keep TV+, whereas I am quite happy with Prime.
 
steggerwoof said:
So their net profits jumped 57% to $33 billion but they have to charge customers more to increase salaries, if this comes to the UK I'll cancel my membership.
Click to expand...

I am a bit suprising by the costs in the US, but maybe not.

Here in the Netherlands, I pay 2.99 euro / month for Prime, which includes Prime Video, free shipping, Twitch and Photos. Looking the US site, you get much more.
 
As a person that lives in a city I find this service ridiculously good value.
A lot o things arrive next day, prime has plenty of movies and CS is great if something is off with the order.
 
diggy33 said:
Perfect time to get rid of Amazon Prime membership for me. We've reviewed our subscription services, and how much in a given month we actually use the service, and realized that for the most part, we're giving money away to these providers.
Click to expand...
That's the conclusion we came to with Netflix. Today is, ironically, our last day on the service.
 
Hey Amazon, why not offer a discount service to those who only want it for the free 2 day shipping? I couldn't care less about your other "perks".
 
TinyMito said:
It's time to support smaller business or shopify.
Click to expand...
Nope. Mom and pop stores can’t compete anymore. I personally prefer Amazon because I have a good record with them. Pretty much any return is quick and easy, and they don't dispute faulty items, even those that come from another source than themselves. Mom and pop can’t do that, and most small time Amazon wannabes can't either. Sometimes you just have to deal with the devil. Case in point, Apple is the greediest darn company around, but I still buy their overpriced items because they are better than the competition. Fandom means nothing to me, it is all about getting quality and getting a fair treatment as a customer, whether with Amazon or Apple or any other company.
 
I'm surprised that Amazon didn't roll in a couple perks in that $20 increase, maybe giving all Prime members Music Unlimited instead of the included option they have now of a limited catalog of music. Or, some Kindle or Audible credits each month. Or, roll in one premium Prime Video channel into your subscription. That would have helped people swallow that $20 increase.

But, for me, I use Amazon a lot (for personal and business) so $140/yr is cheap compared to the gasoline and time I'd use driving all over the place trying to find something I am looking for.
 
This past year I’ve had fake Birkenstocks and used empty gift cards show up from my orders. It’s crazy you pay a premium to order these products and Amazon then has such an issue with quality. And now the Prime logo on something doesn’t even mean two days, it could be a week or more. I was ready to cancel before, but this is just the push I needed.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top