Is Amazon Prime worth it?

Sure! Quick, free shipping is great. Then there's the instant video collection, which is basically Netflix. If you own a Kindle you can borrow one book per month free of charge. Really, the shipping is the big thing. If you order a lot of items from them, then go for it.

The only problem is coming down from it.

Ambien works great for me

Totally, and if you happen to be a student you can get it for a discounted price too.

How much do you plan to buy? And are you interested in video streaming?

If you plan to buy a lot, then sure. And if you like video streaming, even better. If you aren't going to be buying a lot and you have no interest in video streaming, maybe it would be best to hold off.

Just depends on what your needs and interests are.

If what you buy from Amazon in a year amounts to more than $80 in shipping and/or if you like free, two day shipping and/or if you like Amazon Streaming, then yea, it is definitely worth it. I've had it for years and can't go back.

Wait till Prime One comes out, it will be riddled with DRM. Your packages will show up in two days, but you will have to scan them every 24 hours.

can you just get it from the kindle app on android/iOS as well?

I don't have it, but I don't see how it's not worth it. 80 bucks divided by 12 months equals 6 and change; that's less than Netflix for more than Netflix, plus free 2-day on everything.

That's like, 10 nice hoagies.

In Britain it's absolutely a waste. If you use the free postage you get it as quickly as if you'd chose first class which is usually one day.

Yes it is. Free 2 day shipping, unlimited streaming(watching The Shield right now), and a free book a month(loaned) if you have a Kindle and I assume IPad Kindle app.

It's pretty awesome for the free two day shipping alone.

I'm fairly sure you actually have to own a Kindle device to take advantage of that. I just recently tried to borrow a book from the apps, but wasn't able to figure out how, so I resorted to my actual Kindle and found the option immediately.

Also worth noting is that not every book is borrowable, but there are some good ones on there.

I love it. Free two day shipping is amazingly addicting, and the instant video section has quite a few worthwhile options. If you plan on streaming or ordering enough to make up for however much it is a month, I highly recommend it.

It depends on how much you order. The video stuff is just a shittier Netflix. Once you have that fast shipping though it is impossible to live without.

Cool, thanks for the clarification. Definitely not a deal breaker or maker, but good to know.

Sure! But this thread reminds me that I'm unemployed, and won't be able to pay for this year if I don't get employed. Sad to have to turn off auto-renewal. Also, first I'm learning about this book loaning thing. Mother fucker.

If you buy a lot of shit from Amazon and also enjoy yourself some video streaming id say the money would easily pay for itself within no time. Actually all things considered its a pretty ridiculous deal.

I don't know if it's still going on, but if you're a college student, you can get Prime for half-price. That's how I first tried it out after my trial ran out (during the trial, I didn't really get into it and Instant Videos wasn't out yet). It's pretty great and it stays half-price until you graduate. After that first year, I wouldn't mind paying 80 bucks. The amount of shit I get from Amazon is worth it.

Absolutely. Especially if you order on a regular basis.

Thanks. I didn't know about the student benefits. I'm now using the student membership.

Amazon Prime is amazing if you order enough. Free release date delivery on video games is pretty fantastic, and free 2 day delivery on other items isn't bad at all either. I don't get as much use out of it currently since I buy most of my games for PC since there's such a large difference between PC and the current consoles, but it's still nice for the other stuff.

The free prime streaming is prolly ok if you don't have Netflix, but for the most part it's hot garbage. It's surprising how bad it is sometimes, luckily the free shipping is quite enough to make it worth it.

I buy things almost every week, so yes.

Yup. I rarely watch Amazon Instant Prime but would still consider Prime to be a worthwhile subscription. Just use Amazon to buy all the little things you need around the house. The last thing I bought from Amazon were rechargeable batteries and a 2-Liter water bottle.

This exactly. I've used Prime Instant video maybe twice, but the quick 'free' shipping is not only super convenient, but undoubtedly (for myself at least) encourages more shopping in general from Amazon. Good business strategy that I'll bet pays huge dividends.

If you order enough stuff it pays for itself in free shipping. Otherwise, no.

Here's what I've found- Cost of New Item with Prime = Cost of Cheapest Used Item with Paid Shipping. So generally I don't think it saves money, it just allows me to buy new stuff instead of used stuff, and allows me to get my stuff much sooner than I normally would have. I order enough stuff off of Amazon that the convenience is worth the cost, but don't expect to be saving a lot of money on it.

Yes definitely, my brother has it and he's the cheapest person I know so it must be!

But seriously, I do think it is. I don't have it because I still live at home but if I lived alone I'd get it. Think about it just for the convenience of it. Most things you don't have to go to the store for anymore if it can wait 2 days. You save money on gas every time, but most importantly, you save the time. Who can honestly go to a store for something and take less than 30 minutes to do it unless it's something you can get at a convenience store or pharmacy down the street from your house? A couple people at my work have it and actually buy drinks on Amazon in bulk because it's cheaper than getting it at the store and even though it's heavy, they don't have to pay shipping for it.

If you are like me and order tons of stuff from there then absolutely. I never want to miss prime again^^

A fun anecdote: One day at like 7:30 PM on a Wednesday I decided that I wanted a particular game and had to choose between ordering it that night (and expecting to get the game somewhere between Friday and Monday) or swinging over to Best Buy on the way back from work the next day. I ended up ordering it (I think I had a gift card or something), and found the game had already arrived when I got back from work on Thursday. So even with the free 2-3 day shipping selected (as opposed to the next day delivery option) and placing the order at around 7:30 PM, the game got to my house earlier than it would have if I'd bought it at a store. Not that it would have made a difference, since I wouldn't have been home to play it when it arrived at like 2:00 PM, but it did save me a trip to the store. And if you don't count the cost of the Prime membership, I probably saved a bit of money too (from sales tax).

Just a warning: once you get Amazon Prime and turn on 1-click shopping, you will encounter this phenomenon where you start getting packages and realize you ordered something and forgot about it.

If all you care about is the free 2-day shipping, just find someone who has Prime and have them share their membership with you. Someone who has Prime can choose to "share" their membership benefits (just the shipping, not the instant video) with I think 4 other people. It's pretty sweet if you can get a group together to share the cost of a subscription.

Free two day shipping and a streaming service that is a little behind Netflix but not by much. Yeah it's worth it and being a student I get it for 40 bucks and that's just a god damn steal

Free 2 day shipping on almost everything we buy is awesome. Not having to go to a store is awesome'er. Then there is the kindle library and content streaming.

Well worth it.

@sergio: that very phenomenon is why to this day I have yet to turn on 1-click. I fear for my bank account

I didn't vote, the US version seems really great, but the Canadian offer is pitiful, it's the same price yet there is no streaming and the store only offers about 10% of what you can get in the US (It's really just books/movies/video games/and some random electronics up here) when you have to buy over $1,000 worth of stuff in a year for the membership to be worth it on shipping alone, it's really hard with such a limited selection.

Personally, I order maybe a dozen things from Amazon a year and keep a Netflix sub going for the disk service. Given that Amazon can not replace the latter and given that the former is driven largely by the holiday season, getting a one month free trial when available has always seemed more practical to me.

Most of the stuff I buy on Amazon I can stand to wait the time for free delivery, so overall no, I also don't order that regularly.

The free 2 day shipping has saved me so much money in the past that prime pays for itself. Sometimes you just need fast shipping.

First, I have Prime and first started it over 5 years ago. I reside in the U.S.

I'm often pushing myself to be more frugal in various ways--and when you consider that if I'd consolidated my orders to use free super-saver shipping, it may really be that I'm not getting my money's worth in shipping costs. BUT! If you consider the cost of gasoline (1 yr. Prime roughly = 1.3 tanks of gas for us), it definitely becomes worth it. I go through phases where I am disenchanted with Amazon--recently, many of the household items I purchase most often (e.g. coconut oil, non-latex surgical gloves) have recently become "add-on items", which means that they are prime-eligible only when shipped as part of an order greater than or equal to $25--but I have yet to cancel for reasons other than financial hardship yet.

Video streaming is urmn, okay. I use it occasionally to watch West Wing and TNG (which is incomplete). I wouldn't consider it a replacement for Netfilx (which I don't use). You might watch some things.

The kindle lending is not available on non-kindle devices, and though I do have an original kindle I've used it less than 3 times. I just want to read what I want when I want; I feel turned-off by having to choose from a pool of "x-hundred Best Sellers and Great Books!" at a proscribed rate of 1/month.

For games, the often-available release day delivery (on pre-orders) is pretty cool. And, FORGET GAME SLOP (Spot)!

Later this year, the state I live in will become one which has Amazon collecting sales tax on orders originating therein. *shrug* I'm hoping their physical presence will make my prime orders be next day (as they sometimes coincidentally are when shipping from a distro in an adjacent state).

Finally, I'm pretty sure you can cancel Prime mid-year and get a refund equivalent to the "unused" months, so that helps defray the risk of the experiment. Try it out.

If you use Amazon frequently, then yes it's definitely worth the cost.

Are you a student? Get that Amazon student son. Six months of free prime shipping and then half off a full prime membership after the six months is up.

TMI?

In the US? Absolutely. In Canada? No way. Amazon Prime is definitely not worth it for Canadians. No streaming or any of the non-shipping perks of American Amazon Prime. Plus, at least for me, Super Saver Shipping is almost as fast as Prime shipping anyway (It usually takes 2-3 days to get an order max for me).

It's the kind of thing that pays for itself pretty quickly if you order most of your stuff from Amazon. Assuming you're based on the US.

if you order a lot of stuff plus you get 1 day shipping for $4

It depends if you order online or plan to order online a lot it will be worth it because it will pay for itself. Prime offers some nice benefits and having things ship 2 days free is great. I know other places are getting more better with their online store and doing free shipping more often but i feel amazon still has an edge on delivery speeds. they are on time 95% of the time and customer service is one of the best i have dealt with in the online store department.

Keep in mind that you can add other family members or 'household' members and invite them to use the same shipping advantages your main account has. They don't even have to technically live with you.

Hell fucking yeah it is.

Yes Yes and more Yes. Even though I'm a student and get the student rate, I will still keep it around at 70 a year. Totally worth it for free two day shipping and prime videos