In December of last year my husband decided to pay the $79 annual fee to purchase access to Amazon Prime. I wasn’t sure that the benefits outweighed the costs, but I was willing to give it a try. The year before my husband spent nearly $100 in shipping costs when he decided to order Christmas gifts a week before the holiday, so I figured at the very least we’d save some money on last minute shipping supplies.
Well now that we’ve had Amazon Prime for nearly six months I can say without a doubt that it has been worth the money. In an effort to receive free shipping at Amazon I used to add items to the cart to hit that magic $25 number Amazon uses to send items for free. A lot of times I ended up buying things I didn’t really need, but figured it made more sense to pay for another item then to pay for shipping.
With Amazon prime I pay $79 up front, but I no longer find myself throwing extra items in the cart. I can’t say for certain but I bet those extra items added up over the long haul.
Lately I’ve been turning to Amazon more and more frequently to purchase baby related items like diapers, wipes and safety gear. God bless all of those earth conscious parents who are willing to use cloth diapers. I commend your efforts, but we currently use disposables. If you join Amazon Mom and Amazon Prime you can find diapers and wipes at prices that are much cheaper than most stores.
The best thing about Amazon Prime is the two-day shipping. These days I want to spend time enjoying activities and games with my son. I’d rather click a few buttons on my computer than waste time shopping. With two day shipping I can get items nearly as fast as I could driving to the store.
As a bonus Amazon Prime also gives you access to movies. We cancelled our subscription to Netflix this year, so it’s been nice to use Amazon for that too.
I will definitely renew our subscription when the year is up. The discounts on diapers and wipes as well as two day shipping definitely make it worth it for us. Once my son is out of diapers we’ll reevaluate the options again.
I am in the UK and free shipping has no minimum amount anymore, so I just wait the extra day or so for shipping and go for the free. But I agree before the scrapped the minimum i was buying things just to get to the minimum shipping amount
That’s great that free shipping has no minimum in the UK! Then Amazon Prime just guarantees you faster shipping?
I didn’t know about that perk. It’s a good one!
I’m on the fence still, but think we’ll eventually do it. More and more items we use are available, and with rising gas prices, and a 6 month old that I’d prefer to spend time with at home, shopping online is GREAT!
My husband is into the movies idea too.
Two fringe benefits – if you have Prime your order takes priority at Christmas time over non-Prime orders. And books you pre-order are shipped so they arrive at your house the day they are released to the public.
I was dubious when my husband first got it.
1) All relatives our live out of state. Free shipping on Christmas presents probably pays for itself.
2) Almost everything I order comes in two days. I’m always surprised at how long it takes things to come from other sources.
3) Sometimes I am offered MP3 credit for shipping things media mail instead of 2-day.
4) No more rounding up to get free shipping
5) I go to the store less often; time, my gas money, less impulse buys.
6) Subscriptions to things we buy regularly. Check prices. We’ve found some things cheaper as subscriptions; other things we still need to buy in person. The kids also eat less sugar cereral. We get 4 boxes a month and one is for Dad only. The other 3 get dated and cannot be opened until that date.
7) Streaming. We mostly use it for Sesame street, but it saves buying DVDs that will get trashed.
As Ed mentioned, you get a free rental from the Kindle lending library every month~ I DO make regular use of this and I was able to read all 3 books in The Hunger Games trilogy for free!
Also, when I find something in a store that I like, I check Amazon and frequently find it cheaper. I can place an order and have it in 2 days with free shipping.
Recently a friend’s daughter did her baby gift registry on Amazon~ first time I’ve ever seen that and it was wonderful! I ordered a gift and had it delivered to me to take to the shower, but I had an option to have it delivered free in 2 days to the recipient in another state.
I wish everyone would use Amazon’s gift registries… imagine how easy that would make shopping for birthday, Christmas, wedding and baby gifts!
I’ve found Amazon Prime to be well worth the cost, and I haven’t even gotten to Christmas shopping yet~ It will definitely come in handy this year!