Writing here a few thoughts on Amazon Prime membership after seeing the discussion in the recent post about Amazon Prime adding a fee to keep Prime Video ad-free.Â
For years I’ve had both Walmart+ and Amazon Prime. Walmart+ came cheaply for me: first a year came free courtesy of Swagbucks, and then I got another 1.5 years very cheaply by stacking an Amex Offer and another deal they sent my way. While I found Walmart+ useful, when mine expired a few months ago I decided against renewing it.
Then, in August, my Amazon Prime membership expired. I have a bunch of years locked in the old rate of $119 with Gift of Prime, but decided to see if I really need Prime. (The Gift of Prime memberships can always be converted into Amazon gift balance credit.)
For two weeks I tried managing without Prime. The $35 minimum shipping was annoying, but it also gave me a couple of days to think before each purchase, while waiting for my cart to reach the minimum. I was also very surprised at how slow everything shipped. I kind-of assumed that if, as a Prime member, I got everything within 24-72 hours, then without Prime it would come 2-5 days. That’s what I often experience with eBay or other retailers. But the few experiences I had without Amazon Prime offered extremely slow deliveries – it would take a solid week for anything to arrive.
Why did I finally rejoin Prime? For a completely different reason. I use Amazon Pharmacy, which for me turns out to be much cheaper than using insurance. While you don’t have to be a Prime member to use Amazon Pharmacy, the steep discounts are only for Prime members. See, Amazon always gets you somewhere. 🙂 (Mark Cuban’s costplusdrugs I believe offers similar prices to Amazon Pharmacy. I’m not sure they have everything available there.)
I’m still holding on without Walmart+, though I might rejoin if there’s a good deal or maybe if I get the Amex Platinum card which comes with free Walmart+. Having free Instacart+ with Chase Sapphire Reserve is a helpful alternative, especially in conjunction with the monthly/quarterly credits there from Chase.
Update: Another point I forgot to mention: without Prime I lost the 5% cashback rate on my Amazon Prime Visa card. (Rate is just 3% without Prime). The extra 2% on Amazon, plus various Prime Day promotions probably does help cover a good chunk of my annual Prime fee.
