It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription
slate.com
- The author canceled their Amazon Prime subscription on a whim and realized they didn't really need it.
- Leaving Prime meant slower shipping but the author was happy to wait and still found the selection and delivery speed satisfactory.
- Many people love Prime for its fast shipping and convenience, but some readers expressed ambivalence and considered canceling.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/3M27c
Some of us have been living without an Amazon account since 2007 and we're still alive. Go figure.
i have reverted to this lifestyle, and i love it. creating the 5-6 accounts for local platforms was a slight hassle, but now i can enjoy the benefits of a "small" company which still cares about what the customer thinks.
Can you please expound on this?
I gave up on Amazon last year. I do without many things which is fine, but there are some things that are more difficult to find without them. I am still doing without as I'd like to figure it out for the long term.
Can you give examples of the vendors that supplant Amazon for you?
Not the person you asked, but generally I just go to the manufacturer website. Amazon is useful for it's pictures and an aggregate of similar products, but now it's usually just a catalog of stuff so I know what to look for
Plus then you can be far more certain you are not receiving a Chinese knockoff of your desired product
Home Depot, Staples, B&HPhoto (decent selection of general tech merch, but tons of photo/video)
As much as I dislike it, google shopping helps me find where I can pick things up locally.
There are things that I’ve been unsatisfied with the alternative options, or particular brands that only sell on Amazon, so I use it occasionally. But I don’t have a subscription to prevent the compulsion to use it.
What "local platforms" are you referring to?
It’s kind of crazy how Amazon has dominated so much that alternatives pretty much aren’t a thing over there.
Here in Sweden we didn’t get Amazon until a couple of years ago, and they’re honestly so skeevy. Most of the stuff they sell is weird computer generated garbage, and the brand stuff they sell is usually available cheaper or for the same price elsewhere. They also use the same shipping all other companies use, so there’s literally no upside to using Amazon outside of buying weird little niche products. These niche things could be bought on AliExpress or EBay anyway though.
When it comes to “real” products, it’s just generally preferred to buy them from Swedish/Scandinavian retailers. You know they operate within our legal framework with consumer protection in mind, and if you ever have any issues, contacting support puts you in touch with real people that work for the store, not some outsourced representative that’s disconnected from the whole thing.
The only good thing Amazon has brought is hilarious machine translations. Like curtains of people frolicking in the sexual assault, or fondue sets with integrated email functionality.
Where I am (US), Amazon's anti-competition practices make it pretty hard for other companies to be cheaper. If Amazon doesn't think they're getting the best price, they can drop you, and so many people shop exclusively on Amazon that that can be a death knell. Which is part of the reason to stop shopping there.
seeking arrangements
I started boycotting Amazon back in 1999 when they pulled the 1-click patent bullshit. I loved them before that.
In 1999? Brah.
I was an edgy college kid who was raging against software and business process patents. Their 1-click patent started me on a 25 year grudge.
Not a lot of people hold onto such a niche part of their righteous rebellious college years for so long. I love that, and your bar was so high too!
A fellow Great Book of Grudges enthusiast! I too started writing mine early. I have not purchased anything Sony since they put rootkits on their CDs in 2005. Nothing. Fuck Sony. And anything Intuit makes for multiple reasons.
And I am absolutely passing The Great Book on to my kids. They know exactly why we don't buy certain brands.
What’s this one click patent ?
In 1999 Amazon applied for and was granted a US Patent for One Click Purchase. Before then, everyone had a shopping cart that you had to go into to check out and pay. Amazon realized that a huge percentage of people would add stuff to their cart and then leave without buying anything, either because they decided they didn't REALLY need that thing or because they found it cheaper somewhere else or whatever. They allowed you to save all your credit card info plus shipping preferences, then just hit "1 Click Purchase." It was convenient for shoppers because they didn't have to go through the whole checkout steps or add everything then come back later to check out. They could just hit a button and be done. For Amazon, though, it prevented the dreaded "items left in cart."
Other sites like Borders and Barnes & Noble, etc also implemented the feature, since it made a lot of money. Amazon filed for a business process patent (I think they also tried it as a software patent??) and forced the entire internet to go back to normal shopping cart purchases. They ended up losing the patent lawsuit in the EU, but that didn't stop them from enforcing it on US websites. Borders and BN both implemented "2 Click Purchase" to get around it, but the damage was done. In everyone's minds, Amazon was the place to go for convenience and speed. Amazon made more money, while others started losing money. With that extra money, Amazon was able to move into the "niche" of Walmart, since Walmart hadn't yet figured out e-commerce. Amazon out-Walmarted Walmart on the web and became the trillion dollar behemoth we have today.
Wow. Thank you for all of this I had no idea. That helps put a lot of amazons growth and lack of competition into perspective.
It’s kinda weird knowing I advertised for them (word of mouth) back around ~2007.
Cheaper than brick & mortar! INCREDIBLE customer service! No sales tax (until you paid it at tax time of course)!
Didn’t realize I’d be concentrating power, helping create just about earth’s richest human.
I barely manage, but I suvive.
Sometimes shop around on amazon. Find something I like or need: look for the website of the producer or distributor, order directly from them. Usually same price, sometimes cheaper. Fuck the middleman.
Buying anything on Amazon hardly seems viable anymore. There's so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.
Shop local when you can, and at least shop not-Amazon for the rest.
Not sustainable for me, I price it from time to time and local stores are usually, at best, double what Amazon or even Walmart has it for and that's if the local store even has what I'm looking for to begin with
So my choices are Amazon or Walmart (or similar big name stores) and going to Walmart....yea fuck that it's a last resort for everything but groceries...
I keep seeing this over and over, but I order a lot off Amazon and I've never had a problem with it. Don't know if I'm just incredibly lucky or what, but the only times I get counterfeit / cheap Chinese crap is when I order it on purpose.
Ofc, those things I can just get off AliExpress too and sometimes I do when I don't mind waiting which is the biggest issue with AliExpress, the waiting
I, and probably millions of others, are shopping where the best price/value is and nothing else because we can't afford not to. I wouldn't mind shopping locally owned and paying the premium...if I could afford it. Stop pushing for expensive alternatives people can't afford and push for regulations instead.
Ya simple solution: don't buy no-name chinesium crap regardless of the storefront and you won't be disappointed
I can't say that I have ever gotten anything counterfeit from Amazon. What I have been victim to is no name garbage that has 4.5 stars due to thousands of fake reviews. Generally it is stuff that is difficult to research good brands and the review websites often simply redirect back to Amazon. It's also very little use leaving a bad review because Amazon will remove it. For an example, Louis Rossman bought some fuses on Amazon. The 2A fuse did not blow until 10A was passed through it. That was not a fluke either. He left bad ratings which were removed and those products continue to be sold on Amazon. That is shit easily that can start a fire. If there actually was blow back, the manufacturer would simply stop selling that named version but keep the half a dozen other identical ones up they use to flood the results. So while this may not have ever been an issue for you, it can easily get someone killed. Your conclusion is spot on. We need regulation for this garbage. While Walmart is generally seen as garbage, there is at least someone responsible for purchasing shit to put in the stores and they generally have it tested. That is not the case for Amazon or Walmart's online marketplace or AliBaba.
And not only are there a lot of crappy products with inflated scores because fake reviews, there are also a lot of good products with low scores because of fake negative reviews but competitors. The reviews are pretty much useless now.
If I see something on Amazon that I want, I just go to the manufacturer's website and order it directly from them. If they don't have a site that sells it, then I try other online stores besides Amazon. If they only sell on Amazon, then I decide I just don't need it.
Except a lot of times it's cheaper on Amazon, with faster shipping, even without prime. Most recent example I ran into.
$75 direct
$65 Amazon
Cheap items/electronics can be more expensive on Amazon than direct, though.
Amazon:
Direct:
Only 50% risk of counterfeits, but you save $10!
damn right
every time i've intentionally picked the ASNDSZYY brand i've been disappointed in the thing and in myself. now i'd rather just spend up front for something actually good rather than waste time and effort going back and forth returning things
It's getting to the point where even searching for specific products is almost pointless. I did a search for a specific phone model recently and the phone showed up as the fifth result after four prompted results and several ads. When it becomes a chore to even track down a very specific thing you want, why would I keep going back?
The only search worse than Amazon is probably Wayfair.
What do you mean? You don't want to buy PRAZO USB-C CABLE FOR DATA TRANSFER AND CHARGING, 3M LENGHTH, COMPATIBLE WITH LAPTOP, DESKTOP, IPHONE, ANDROID?
I love these.
EXTRA HIGH QUALITY PREMIUM KNIFE AND FORK AND SPOON CUTLERY EATING SET COMPATIBLE WITH RICE DISHES, ASIAN FOOD, CHIPS, SAUSAGES, CHICKEN, GALAXY S24+, SALAD.
plus i have gotten several obviously used items when it wasn't even available as used and cost full price.
I got a motherboard once where it was obvious that someone bent the pins then returned it. I had purchased new item though
Every trip to Amazon overwhelms me with choice, then I realize it's all from Ali, then I close the tab.
I really only buy things from it now if I know what I'm looking for already
You're kidding right? Are there actually people thinking they just can't live without Amazon Prime? Seriously? Fuck even if you HAVE to order something off of Amazon, which you absolutely don't HAVE to do, you don't fuckin need prime just for... what... slightly faster shipping?
Free shipping, but at that point you should question why you are buying so much from amazon in the first place
I effing hate amazon and what it stands for. Yet, it's one of the very rare companies here (krautland) that actually give a damn about support and reliability.
Got a prob? It's solved saturday night.
Got a prob with {most other german companies}? You can call us mo-fr between 11:00 and 12:00 but only when it's not fullmoon. Also your estimated queue time is 2hrs. And wait till you hear our mind-dissolving on-hold-"music"...
When amazon says "it's in stock and can be with you tomorrow if u order within 2hrs from now" then it is like this.
You get the gist...
So, on topic: i only buy prime when i plan to order a lot of stuff the coming month. For occasional orders i don't need prime. Most of the time i can just use another free trial instead of actually paying.
It's the Walmart problem. People buy from Amazon because they can't afford some necessities at MSRP when going to a local store.
Some of the stuff I can get in bulk on Amazon are as much as 50% cheaper than getting those same things in bulk from a restaurant supply (which is cheaper than buying them at a grocery store). And that's before Subscribe&Save's 15% off. Coffee (for example) costs would drive me into the poor house if I didn't get my beans from Amazon... and I end up getting higher quality beans than my grocery store at that lower price.
Do I NEED coffee to live? No. But it's not exactly a luxury in the modern world, and beans are much cheaper than going to Dunkin. There are things I buy that I need; there are things that I buy that I want. And as much as I hate it, most of them are not available locally or are FAR more expensive locally. I never go to Amazon first, but I very often find myself landing at Amazon last.
And yes, that doesn't justify Prime on its own. But because I have Prime, I get those things that I couldn't find cheaper elsewhere the very next day. Prime will never be necessary when there's free shipping options, but boy have they packed it out with more features than (for example) Walmart's subscription model.
Here's what I get with Prime that I appreciate:
I mean, a lot of it I could get on the High Seas as it were, but it's the law of convenience. They make it easy and there's a value prop there for me.
If I JUST wanted free shipping, Prime would be a complete waste of money to me. But I'd still end up giving Amazon my damn paycheck because the alternatives are just not there where I live.
Interesting. For me it's the other way round 😂 The games are on their app (nope, thanks) or epic (no thanks). The digital goodies are only nice if you game any of those. The tv stuff is the worst I've seen back when i actually paid for my series/movies. Rarely nothing there and the interesting stuff still asked for money.
Books i can't judge... I have a tolino full of epubs 😁
$25 gets you free shipping anyways unless they changed it!
Might be 35 bucks now. Can't remember.
It’s not really how much you buy, but how conveniently. I also thought it was silly to pay Prime, until pandemic. Then I discovered it’s silly to goto stores.
I go to the grocery once a week, and very rarely goto other stores. Al those trips to Walmart and target and kohls and those horror that are malls, just gone. I save all that time and all that driving. I want free shipping on my shampoo, for example, because it saves me a trip to the store. If I had to wait until I had $35 worth of stuff to get free shipping, I’d probably end up with anther trip to a store for emergency items: my time, my car costs.
Granted I also get things like shampoo in larger sizes than my local store Carries, so arguably more efficient in many ways. In some ways, it’s like Costco: why waste a trip to get a bar of soap or two, when i can get a 16 pack and just not worry about it?
but... if you really like your shampoo, why not buy $35 worth at once?
On the contrary, during the great formula shortage of 2021/2022, Amazon Prime and the recurring delivery option was the only way I was able to get formula for my twins. Speed was important l, but so was Amazon's huge supply chain.
Since then, we live in a remote place and getting some stuff just isn't possible at the one store near us. Amazon is really one of the best ways to get things we need. Now, of course, I hate them, but I also hate Walmart and don't really have choices beyond those or a gas station convenience store.
The practices of those businesses, and people choosing them over other options, is exactly why you don’t have other choices now
It's an extreme-case prisoner's dilemma. For shoppers to prevent a Walmart/Amazon monopoly, people would have to both give up convenience AND affordability in hope that everyone else had the same radical values. There were PLENTY of boycotters for both, but they just weren't anywhere near enough.
At some point, when you're starving and Sam Walton comes by and offers you food your family can afford, you pull the trigger. And I don't fault someone who does that.
For real. It would obviously be better if they didn't use such destructive and predatory practices, but "vote with your dollars" isn't an option for a lot of the people these businesses earn most of their money from.
It turns out that there is, in fact, a case to be made for regulation and labor organizations in these situations.
And what should they do now? Protest it by not having any formula? Don't victim blame
I agree. Buy formula, but not non-essential knick knacks that can be purchased for the same price on another website
And when the other website costs more, has worse return policies, slower shipping, and possibly is even a scam site? The problem with Amazon is how good it is even when it's being evil.
As I said elswhere, I look EVERYWHERE before Amazon first. That involves me checking out BBB on mom&pop storefronts and trying to filter out the scam stores or the ones with significant issues. It involves me price-checking, coupon-checking, seeing if services like Rakuten can get the price to match Amazon's. I don't expect most people to do all those things and neither should you.
And even then, I end up buying from Amazon about 2/3 the time. Because I won't pay 20% more in some meaningless protest that isn't going anywhere.
I’m not blaming them. I acknowledged they may not have any other choice. Just pointing out the harms for the benefit of anyone with the option to do something about it
I cancelled Prime late last year, and haven't really missed it, either.
While I had Prime, I think there was 1, maybe 2 instances where I wanted to watch something and it was actually included with Prime. Every other time, Amazon Video had the movie, but they wanted an additional fee to watch it, so this was absolutely no loss.
One thing to note: Every time I check out on Amazon, now, they offer me a reduced price 1-week "trial" of Prime, to get the expedited shipping, for like... $5 or so? If you cancel yours, and also see this offer: You can take the offer, submit your order (and get the free 2 day shipping), then once you get the shipping confirmation, go in and cancel the Prime subscription. Since you've had it for only a few hours, Amazon actually refunds the price you paid. In effect, you get the shipping benefits for free. We'll see if they close this loophole, but for now, it works.
If you decline a few times they'll eventually offer you an entire month of Prime for free. I've thus never paid for Prime, ever.
No gain or loss there. Amazon's logistics are so grabasstic now that delivery lead times are about the same with or without Prime. So I don't particularly care.
I only buy commodity bullshit on Amazon anymore, and sometimes not even then. If they have it for a good price I might get a pack of crimp connectors or a roll of 3D printer filament or nuts and bolts or something. Otherwise it's just wall-to-wall Chinese word salad non-brand knockoff shit on there anymore. You may as well just shop on AliExpress since at least they're honest about hawking tat from Shenzen and it's cheaper to boot.
You might find this very interesting
https://youtu.be/B90_SNNbcoU
He tests crimps and various Amazon electical products.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/B90_SNNbcoU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
There have been zero times Amazon video has had something I wanna watch
I canceled my prime subscription when it was announced they would be putting ads on prime video. I don't even use prime video but I cancelled out of principle.
Same here. It's a future that I don't want. Ads everywhere and you cannot escape.
Same. Gonna have to find some way of pirating the shows I 'purchased' on prime so that I can still go back to them.
I think that you can still watch them.
If you link your account to Vudu, Google, and Movies Anywhere they should appear on the other platforms I believe?
Oooh, I did not know that!
Same. The shipping was still 2 days or more to my location. No point.
Prime used to mean something. Guaranteed 2 day shipping with no minimum for no extra charge. $5 for next day shipping. Then next day disappeared. Then the 2 day guarantee disappeared. Then delivery times were in the 3-5 day range for most things. Then, in my university town, around the time of students returning to school for terms it would be 1-2 weeks. I’m not paying an ever increasing annual fee for that.
Back then, Amazon was the shit. My GF at the time and I cancelled our Costco membership because shipping was good and selection was better.
Now, Amazon is shit. And now back to buying in-store whenever possible. And got a Costco membership again.
I have a running cart in my Amazon and about once every two weeks I'll hit the purchase button.
Just not worth it anymore.
Yeah it has definitely gotten worse outside urban centers, but there it's actually gotten better with same day shipping options on orders over $35. I can impulse buy shit at work and it's there when I get home.
I literally had an Amazon CSR tell me "Prime" shipping was an estimate
I thought this meant the writer is forgoing Amazon as a service completely.
Cause that would be something worth reading. Not these first world problems ffs
Seriously. I have stopped doing as much business with Amazon as I can. Terrible company. Bad for the planet.
I dropped Scamazon Slime a long time ago when I figured out they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise. I really have never missed it.
I hate Amazon for a variety of reasons, but I can't you seriously after you said scamazon slime.
I can't you either.
Twinklebreeze.
I can both of you.
The can is the seriously we along the way
I'll beach you all off
Ooo, yes please
Oh. That's like visiting Canada for a bit, where 'prime' usually feels like a week.
The crap people write nowadays.
It's surprisingly easy to live without any subscription. I don't have any. If you're tech savvy you can either block most ads that subscriptions give you, or bypass the service entirely and get free premium or just dl videos/music etc.
And as the services get worse there's little incentive to actually keep a subscription. Netflix is becoming pretty dogshit for example.
I've been living without it my whole life so I guess it's possible
Lmao it's surprisingly easy to live without AMAZON.
Eh. I live in the middle of nowhere. It's fucking awesome cat litter comes delivered cheaper than the store 40 miles away.
Good luck using the internet without using AWS.
Dude... We're trying to live without Amazon and this guy is just giving up prime??? What a martyr...
This may be true at the moment, but Amazon can control how shitty the non-prime experience is.
Personally, I'm trying to avoid Amazon altogether. It's much worse now, and flooded with cheap defective shit. I've also been noticing that a lot of manufacturers don't sell on Amazon (guessing Amazon takes a big cut).
My retired mother was trying to look for a new Nintendo Switch dock for my niece. She asked me if she was looking at the right one on Amazon and showed me one with a picture of a real looking Nintendo Switch dock except the logo was blurred out.
I scrolled through the Amazon results and was having trouble figuring which was the real one. instead I went to the official Nintendo store and sent her the link to the switch dock from there.
Amazon is really a horrible user experience for buying anything that isn't cheap junk.
Your retired mother is the ultimate Amazon mark. Like you said, Amazon is full of sellers with photoshopped images of shitty Chinese knock offs. Regular people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You basically have to be a forensic expert in your chosen field to have any luck on Amazon.
The quality of good is the big thing for me, and you can't discriminate through the reviews. They are all astroturfed.
Basically, if I can buy from anywhere else, then I will, but finding goods out there is harder now that web search is shit.
Someone shared THIS LINK a couple of weeks ago and it hit me hard. Keep swiping.
I haven't bought anything off of Amazon for a decade, I get most stuff used, refurbished or not at all.
Honestly ridiculous state of things we have got to, that the majority of wealth in the world is owned by a group of people so small they can't even fill a relatively small 2-aisle airplane
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
stuff
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I can't imagine being such a simpleton that this is a revalation worthy of a write up
Breaking news: Local man finds he had two arms instead of one.
Christ, we cancelled it a month ago and I feel so fucking stupid. Stupid that we had it for so long for... what? I don't need anything so quickly that a couple of days delivery makes a difference. Food, water, heat, somewhere to sleep are things I need on a strict schedule. Knock off earbuds and some silicone molds for frozen shot glasses can absolutely wait. AND IT'S STILL FREE SHIPPING, you just add to cart and buy once you hit $35.
I've never had prime. Whenever I look at Amazon now it's basically a local AliExpress with loads of cheaply made Chinese stuff. Amazon is not cheap anymore either. eBay is always cheaper.
I can't live with Amazon, so I NEVER use them out of principle.
'surprisingly easy' is laughable because I have never lived with Amazon prime
Exactly, it's like people are addicted to Amazon, like they need therapy to get out of an addiction.
Amazon sucks, it's a toxic company, just don't do it!
Its sur... ok its not that surprising to me that so many people shop with a company that is so terrible to its workers and for the climate.
hey, its €2 cheaper on amazon, what do I care if their workers aren't allowed to unionize
Wow, never thought I'd see a headline like this. I've never had Amazon prime except for the free month trial. I had no idea it was such a problem for others that there are articles written about it.
I think what a lot of people are missing in this thread is that not everyone has access to convenient physical stores and many people do have good reasons to want faster shipping.
For example, young families who don't live near a Walmart. When you realize you need a few things for the kid, it can be pretty tough to pack them up and drive however far to the store that may or may not have what you need. If they do have it, you aren't going to get reviews or many options.
My recent prime purchases have included bottle brushes, a crib mattress protector, a replacement remote for our sound bar (dog ate it), and a cheap car camera to check the baby since he started daycare last week and I'm completely paranoid about my ADHD brain leaving him in a hot car and killing him.
Did any of these need to be prime purchases? I guess not but you can see how I would want them sooner rather than later.
Walmart near me didn't have any good car cameras in my price range.
The sound bar remote was online only and was required for us to watch TV since our TV speaker doesn't work.
The bottle brushes were just convenient.
The mattress protector could have waited but would have been a gamble on ruining our very expensive crib mattress. This could have been a a Walmart purchase for sure though.
I'm not saying these were life or death purchases. They weren't and people got by just fine before Amazon. But does the convenience and reliability outweigh the monthly prime cost? For us, yes. And I admit we have become pretty dependent on it.
Thanks for explaining this. I'm a childless guy living in the UK in a big city, close to many big markets and specialty stores, so I guess my experience is totally different than what you're describing and you gave a few pretty good reasons why there's such a gap in how much the convenience of Prime is worth for someone like you and someone like me. I guess the article just isn't aimed at people like me.
Prime is a waste of money.
You missed the opportunity to say
"A prime waste of money"
Every time I've ordered something from Amazon, they always push Prime for fastest shipping. Then when you turn that down, they give you an option to pay a little more this one time to get your order shipped faster. I always pick the cheapest shipping option. The order generally comes just as fast as the fastest shipping, without paying the extra money.
They are going to ship according to whatever is easiest and cheapest for themselves if you pick the cheap shipping option. By now in most large population centers, Amazon warehouses are already stocked. Until they start cutting shipping costs, it will almost always arrive well before their estimates. So just save yourself the money and ditch Prime.
Exactly this. Once you place the order Amazon still has to get it from the wearhouse and ship it too you. If someone is already picking orders in that part of the wearhouse it makes sense to just grab it now rather than wait a few more days. Same with shipping. If the order is together they aren't set up to just hold it, they ship it.
From what I've seen, the difference is that they either ship it same day, or wait a few days to ship it. It still arrives in the same amount of time from when it ships until I receive it, they just take their time (maybe artificially) in getting it out the door.
I wait for "try prime for 30 days" offers. I'll sign up for it, instantly cancel it to prevent recurring bills, and then order whatever it was I was thinking of over the last six months. Because once upon a time I'd be on Amazon all the time, browsing this and that, but it has become such a cesspool that I infrequently bother. If I wanted to wade through a sea of Chinese OEM crap and counterfeit products, then I might as well use Aliexpress and be done with it.
Is saving $6 on shipping really worth waiting 6 months to buy the thing?
It’s a joke unless you need something overnighted or next day and as a bonus - it will usually be improperly packaged and delivered with malice.
Prime Video catalogue is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Exclusives have dwindled. Now they want 3 bucks for no ads on top of paying for Prime? Naw.
Counterfeits are everywhere. That’s what Aliexpress is for (half joking). Frequently have to check the manufacturer’s site when pricing or picture seems dubious.
One delivery driver commandeers our neighbors’ empty driveway, swings the back doors open and blasts shitty pop music at full volume while fumbling through deliveries for 30 minutes every other day.
Buying direct is now often the same price more or less and you can get in a week anyway for negligible shipping price. Or even free shipping if you spend x amount.
So we cancelled too.
Yup, it's so easy now to buy direct. Same price, same shipping, no counterfeits. One of the things that was really annoying me about Amazon was how often my "new" item was so obviously already opened and returned, often with parts missing. I cancelled and haven't looked back.
I been anti-amazon for about 5 years now.
Nothing lost or needed. If I need something I go to local store to find it.
My only issue with Amazon is tools that uses their cloud services and Twitch. But since last December I decided to switch to YouTube with ad blocker.
Planning on de-google and de-microsoft within the next two years.
There's weird stuff I can't find anywhere else or they're on sites that I don't trust my payment info with. Otherwise, planning ahead takes care of shipping times.
I use privacy.com to guard my actual payment data. Works amazibg
Just be aware of the Plaid issue!
https://programming.dev/comment/4986651
Yup. I stopped using Amazon for anything but maybe searching the closest thing to a unified search engine for goods, and when I find good information or a product I need, I will find somewhere else to buy it.
Turn Amazon into a search engine. Buy somewhere else.
We just dropped Prime a month or so ago and I can't see ever getting it again.
Water is wet
But is it surprisingly wet?
This is news to whom? Many "Prime" items don't even get to you in 24 hours as they used to claim.
I come out ahead in a sense without Prime because if I pay for overnight, it's late 80% of the time. I get the shipping refunded and the item arrives before the Free Shipping deadline.
With ads being put on the videos now it's definitely not worth it.
But how will I recycle 3 tons of cardboard a year?
The cardboard I don't mind, it's the packing pillows that I mind (better than the old fashion packing peanuts or bubble wrap, from a recycling perspective). I bring them to Publix for recycling because my local waste company doesn't recycle most plastics. I suspect Publix isn't either, but it's better to try than to just throw them away.
I just order from aliexpress. 10 day shipping (to canada) is worth the ~30% discount and the mask-off, low-cost chinese product offering. I'm sick of getting ripped off by useless garbage with 5 stars from amazon.
And Jeff, I am coming for you.
When the revolution comes, you won't even be able to get to your car to drive to jeff before his housekeeper beats him to death with a dyson.
I agree. Unsubscribed to Prime and Netflix. I'm not missing anything. Good riddance.
Who the hell has a prime subscription? Bigger question is how to live without using amazon at all. We need some kind of improved
In my country I can finally start to pay vendors by wiring money instantly without the need for third party payment services. Fucking banks took their sweet time. All this inefficiency basically leads to a tax on all internet commerce that empowers people like Musk or Thiel via paypal.
Musk, bezos, guillotine
What's common between the three? "They are all headless"
What do you people need prime for? Like, how many times a year do you order on amazon, and what products? Its really a mystery to me.
I ordered 76 items from Amazon in 2023. It’s mostly hobby stuff or things for my cats.
I found out that even without prime the delivery speed is sometimes the same here in Germany. They say it would take 1-2 days longer but quite often my amazon packages arrived early. Same for packaging cost. Sometime they adverdise the 0€ shipping costs with prime but it literally is also 0 without prime. I mean they are not lying, just not telling the whole truth xD
I hate to be honest, but I used Amazon Prime a lot because:
I also save a shit ton of money. When I used to browse Walmart or Target, I used to buy a lot of shit I didn't need. I don't get as distracted with focused buying. I also order from Aliexpress if I can wait 30 days, and I have only been ripped off three times in several years, for a total of maybe $35.
I'm not saying my way is better, and certainly not if it's better for you, but it's been a godsend to the house-bound.
I wanted to cancel Prime for a long time due to all the creeping enshittification. The last straw were ads on the Fire TV boot screen (I switched to Shield TV Pro) and the notice that ads were coming on Prime Video. I immediately canceled after that mail. 90 EUR less from me. Next incentive: order less.
I decided to not renew my amazon prime account when it expired in November. I did end up using Amazon once since then. Products on Amazon are overpriced, in addition to the annual fee. I didn't feel like I was getting my money's worth. I didn't like that there were ads on prime video, or fees for grocery delivery that used to be included in the annual fee.
I found a bento box at Marshall's for about $6-7, and the exact same one on amazon for $20-25. Also fuck Bezos and the exploitation of workers, and Amazon's aggressive union busting. and they stole Amazon fresh delivery peoples tip money.
I've never really understood what prime actually is. They nag me about it on the occasion I might buy something from amazon. weird to think someone perhaps couldn't live without it.
Free two day delivery and access to prime video
One thing I've noticed is that it pretty much always takes two days to deliver your items. The only difference is that Amazon will let your order sit in their warehouse for a few extra days if you don't have Prime.
I canceled my prime over a year ago but previously have been a prime member since 2003. the two day shipping thing was legit for a lot of those years but has been anything BUT two day shipping for at least the last 5 years. week if you're lucky.
You would need to pay shipping on orders under 35$ - previously 25$ was the threshold. With some exceptions that require shipping be paid no matter what prime was there to give you two day shipping on all orders at no extra cost. Now they have prime video, prime gaming, prime music, and prime reading as part of it aswell. All of which have were some nice added value to anyone already paying to get the shipping. Although prime video now has ads, music and reading are really just a worse version of their subscriptions for those services - amazon music and Kindle unlimited.
Basically if you have frequent small orders on Amazon it might be cheaper to pay the monthly sub than to pay for shipping. For most people it's really not worth it, either because you don't place enough orders or they would meet the threshold for free shipping anyway.
dropped it when they sent me the emails about adding ads, gf was halfway through a season of supernatural though so set it to expire at the end of the month.
they just took the next payment anyway and carried on my subscription. i had to go on again, cancel... again, and get a refund.
slimey sneaky bezos had his fingers in my wallet
Is this satire?
I know right. It's not like they're going without a toilet or something.
Amazon have slowly destroyed all their products over the last few years out of sheer greed. They're the poster boy for enshittification.
I have prime for the no rush shipping. Every time I delay my same day or next day shipping to the 3-4 day no rush shipping I get a few dollars of digital credits which I use to buy ebooks. Over the course of a year it essentially pays for the cost of prime with free books I would have bought anyway.
I have never not been able to pirate a book, if you're interested. Book piracy is super super easy
I only support book piracy because most of that money goes to a publisher anyways, and Amazon gives credits because they take a huge cut anyways when people do pay out of pocket.
Yo ho!
Pro-Tip: If you’re already signed up for prime, you can go to your membership details and cancel auto-renewal OR they allow you to cancel now and will refund whatever they owe you before the renewal date.
Ok, thanks!
Cancelled two weeks ago, and while it's too early for me to have a fully informed opinion, so far I've noticed that if you just hold items in your cart until you reach some kind of threshold (and I admittedly don't know what that is) you can get free shipping anyway.
It's almost like I was paying all that money just so I could one off order anything on a whim. I'm an adult, I can exercise impulse control and stick it to Amazon in some small way by doing it. Win/Win.
That's what I do. And by the time I have enough stuff built up for free shipping, I realize I don't need most of it anyway.
Yeah, they have order minimums for some of their shipping options anyway. $25 for same day in my area, but once my membership lapses I bet I still end up getting shit in around the same time
Ive never understood the dependence on Amazon. It's not even a monopoly, I've never bought anything online that somewhere else didnt also offer the product, usually an online store specializing in that product.
I just genuinely don't understand why people think it's necessary. I use Prime once a year and it's when my boss gives me a gift card for Christmas. I guess I just don't understand what the typical person is buying every single month from Amazon to warrant a subscription - I know 1 or 2 people buying cat litter every month and having it delivered, but why? Just go to the store! I love in a rural town and I still trek to the store. Maybe if you have mobility issues or something but I just don't get it. Probably just the anti-consumer in me.
Buying cat litter when you also need diapers and have to shop with a baby in tow? I'll be anti-consumer next year.
Subscribing to deliveries typically gives a discount, which makes the cost cheaper than going to the store and removes wear & tear on your vehicles and your own gas costs.
Depending on what kind of litter you want, the store might not even carry it. My cat litter is from a major brand, but is one that doesn't get as much in stock at my local places and when itis in stock, it's rarely the cheaper, larger box, so that also increases the cost.
Cat litter is fucking heavy. I don't blame anyone wanting it delivered to their door.
It actually makes your life better!
I cancelled Amazon prime a few years ago. Amazon was never able to honor the next day or even two day shipping so I cancelled.
Technically, for me, there was no change in shipping speed for me cancelling prime
I used to travel a lot for work and needed deliveries on specific days. Amazon guaranteed delivery days were crap.
I know a guy who actually got an official response from Amazon about that. Their response was "We guarantee 2 day shipping once the items are shipped. We may not start shipping for a day or two depending on how busy we are."
As someone who lives in a country where there's no amazon...
yes.
you can live without amazon subscription and you dont have to pay them a single dime
The shipping time never bothered me. If I need something urgent I’ll go to the store and get it. Otherwise a week or 2 won’t make a difference.
No shit that it's easy to live with marginally slower (but still really pretty fast) shipping and access to a second-tier streaming service.
It's pretty much the definition of a luxury purchase.
I live in an area where lots of stuff can get there same day or overnight which has legitimately saved my ass a bunch of times. If it was just 2 day I would definitely consider cancelling, especially now that prime video has ads.
same. i feel gross using it but it's literally figuratively magic being able to lie in bed, realize i need a specific cable for something, order it on my phone, and have it the next morning
sometimes i'll try to go to an actual store instead, but then often they won't have the specific thing, or it'll be out of stock, or they'll only have expensive ones, and either way i have to drive there and back and talk to the guy which is a pain
What things do you all need so fast? The convenience is undeniable, but once I forced myself to stop using them i found I don’t actually need to sacrifice my morals and the planet to get something the next morning
I buy from Bezoco maybe once or twice a year, if I really can't find something anywhere else, and they always, always offer a free Prime trial.
If you don't know this already: you can cancel the Prime trial immediately and still get the full 30 days (or week or whatever) out of it.
Is it really 140 USD annually in US? Here in EU it's about equivalent of 12 dollars yearly... What is that?
In which EU are you living in? It's 90€ annually in Germany, which is about 100 USD.
Poland
49 PLN is about 12 EUR\USD (and it's been like this since 2021 I believe). I am losing my mind because I can't figure this out. It's the same thing - shipping, Prime Gaming, Prime Video, free Twitch sub?
It’s called regulatory capture. They have a monopoly here, so they can just raise their prices until the pain threshold starts diminishing their returns noticeably then dial it back a notch.
I've cancelled several years ago because I rarely buy anything online outside of games so it's just not worth it (also Prime Video's selection sucks ass)
The bastards still try to charge me about 4 times a year and I have to do a charge back with my bank.
Also if I ever have to actually buy something through amazon, even if I specifically tell the fuckers not to add prime to my account, they do it anyway.
Fuck Amazon.
I haven't used prime in idk how long. 2 day shipping hasn't been 2 days or even 4 days in years now. Every order with or without prime is at least a week. The only reason I use Amazon is ordering odd ball stuff you can't find in a store or the price difference is substantial enough to justify. I never need to pay for shipping since if I'm ordering it's a bulk order of stuff I need and it's free shipping over $25. I hate Amazon but i also gotta get by some how
Imagine being subscribed to a shop. Wtf?
There's only 24 hours in a day and I have plenty of things to do other than watch commercial-plagued programming on Amazon.
I’m certain I could easily live without it. But I don’t need to. Who in their right mind thinks they can’t live without it?
Their next story: You cannot live without avocado toast, it's a fact.
I have never used amazon, much less paid for a subscription service for the pleasure of using it. I was hoping that the author atleast stopped using amazon alltogether. Ah well. Little victories I guess.
I’ve never had one. I’ve never bought anything from Amazon.
I’m fine.
Prime Video was nice, but I don't like the move with including ads. Since they fucked me over as a linux user by using dumb DRM, I don't really miss it.
Shipping: same as the author. I will likely get used to increased wait time. Shipping was never my main use case.
I will miss my free monthly twitch subscription. So I will likely not support my favorite streamer anymore (via twitch sub at least).
I'll see how it goes. But fuck the industry for their ad-ridden shit tour. I will rip any service out of my life that tries that bullshit.
The Prime shipping isn't really any faster most of the time, in my experience. I don't bother with paying for Prime but once in awhile they offer it for free and I'll take the offer and order a few things.
I deleted my Prime! So many good points on this post. My last 2 purchase from Amazon took 2 weeks to get here, which is fine but prime is advertised as 2 days. Amazon prime’s TV selection is for the most part trash & finally Amazon can burn in hell. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to cancel it.
I don't have access to amazon at all, ao don't get the rave about amazon itself either.
In the US it’s basically the everything store with fairly competitive pricing and very fast shipping. It’s very convenient if nothing else.
I can get basically anything I want at cheaper prices than locally available by the next day. I can get an increasing amount of things delivered to me same day as well which is pretty nice. The return policy is also a big part of it. There’s basically no fuss or questions asked for anything you want a refund on. You don’t even have to put it in a box, you can just drop it off at the UPS store.
They’re evil, but it’s pretty great from a user perspective.
The return policy is really what seals it for me. I've never had an issue with returning something, ever.
Other places make it such a hassle and make you pay to return it.
A lot of companies now offer two day shipping for free (if you spend enough of course), and it’s just as good. Hell, I bought some batteries for a UPS that died on Monday from a battery wholesale site, and they arrived today. And that’s with the shipping saying it could be at least a week. The competitive advantage of Amazon doesn’t seem like it’s there any more.
Another thing you realize when you quit Amazon is that you don’t really need to be ordering so much junk. You just don’t. I promise. And when you do need something, I feel like I’m more confident buying the jacket or whatever from the company that makes it instead of sitting through a thousand knock offs and hoping I picked the right one among all the AI written reviews and titles.
Amazon moved a distribution center near me and now I basically get what prime delivery used to get me without prime. I can still get free shipping so long as my cart total is high enough, and I think that will remain because even independent retail websites and shippers offer that, so Amazon doesn't want to give people more reason to use them less. Getting rid of prime was easier than soooooo much other stuff I've ditched.
I think it actually costs Amazon money to have separate shipping plans for prime and non-prime, and artifically holding goods later costs warehouse space. I suspect the dirty secret is that prime is no different to normal shipping now.
They constantly deliver ahead of schedule for me and I assume it's exactly because of what you said. They can deprioritize non prime shipments but at some point it just doesn't make sense, and infact costs money to not move it. Why spend wearhouse space on already sold goods when you could fill that space with things that can make you money you haven't received yet.
My family holds a prime membership and recently I've been seeing how long I could go for without needing to use it. Most things I was able to purchase on eBay. Most recently, I decided to buy pen stuff and JetPens was a good option. However they needed like $50 or something for free shipping so I splurged a little. The one pen ink refill I needed (Jetstream Prime SXR 600 0.5) was way too expensive on both jetpens and ebay so I had to purchase it on Amazon. Nonetheless, I think you can still buy on amazon without a membership so maybe deal with the longer shipping times but that's no biggie.
I've wanted to get a nice pen for a while. Checked out JetPens. $800 for a fountain pen 💀. I'll stick to Amazon for now
Edit: So I went back and looked through more of their stuff and third party pens found a starter pen, the LAMY Safari for $37. Now we're talking haha.
Bruh. I make pens as a hobby. Happy to make and ship you one.
I still have the three on the right and the third from the left on hand. Can also make whatever.
The stripey one, second from the right is recycled skateboard deck. Those have been really popular. I've got a big ol' stack of skateboard decks ready to go to make more of them :D
How much for the ol bolt action?
The bolt action is wenge with a oil/wax blend friction polished finish. I'm asking $100 for it with free shipping to anywhere in the continental US. It comes with a free black faux-velvet sleeve for safekeeping.
I will ship internationally, but that's not included, sadly.
Off topic, but as a pen lover - those are lovely! Especially enjoyed the second two from the left.
I still have the third one available. I'm asking $50 for it, with free shipping to the continental US. It's padauk, canarywood, katalox, and leopardwood with an aluminum inlay and a cyanoacrylate finish..
Amazon Prime exists for me to run a 30-day trial around Christmas, when I happen to come up with a few gift ideas I can't find elsewhere, and then to let it expire and never use it the rest of the year.
I just bought new name brand tires from Amazon for $200 cheaper per tire than my local tire shop was selling them, and about 80 cheaper than other online stores that I checked. Plus free shipping.
Hate Amazon or not, they do still have good deals and free shipping for certain items is huge. Plus they ALWAYS have better selection than any local or big box store.
Was the brand name SZZXYY?
I get Prime for free as part of a subscription I have to something else. Otherwise I would be hard pressed to subscribe. It has driven up our impulse purchase amounts, though. My eldest daughter got hooked on that shit for half a year. She needed literal detox in a clinic hahaha j/k
Joking aside, retail therapy is a thing. Some people shop when they are lonely/bored. Ask my exwife.
Holy carp... I do believe that. My condolences about your marriage. I don't even consider myself invulnerable. I have barely scratched the surface of what's on Amazon. I could one day stumble upon a whole universe of knick knacks that I would find immensely desirable. Everyone has a point of failure, it's all about finding that button to push!
One of the final nails in the coffin for me was when I tried to specify the delivery date to a day I would actually be in, and they completely ignored the instruction and delivered immediately. Like, I pay for that option, and you're not delivering the service.
I've also been getting free trials for Prime every so often, so I still get the benefits when I might need them (eg before Christmas). They did make it very hard to cancel, though, half the links didn't work and the instructions were out of date and didn't match the pages.
'Please allow 6-8 weeks shipping from Pueblo, Colorado...'
I had prime for maybe a year or something, but it just seems daft to pay more to avoid shipping charges when half the things ship free anyhow. Buying things remotely through the mail or whatever used to take weeks to get to you and there was no tracking to sit there monitoring the arrival in real time. It sucked, so people would buy things from the store nearby and skip all that. Now take your amazonian primates and get off my lawn...
My wife has it and exceedingly rarely I'll ask her to order something for me on it because it'll be the best price/quality/feature ratio I can find or it's just like one small cable and that's the only place I'll get free shipping but that's also extremely rare.
I do have the luck of living somewhere with countless alternatives, and they all deliver next day for free most of the time, maybe a limit of 20€ and over or something.
I had amazon prime for free for 10 years. It was free for students back then. Then i finished uni and they never bothered to check. This went on for a very long time. Only 2 years ago they killed the subscription and i never subscribed again.
I don't even have an Amazon account anymore. If I need something, I just give the money to a friend and have them order it for me. Definitely saves me money because I don't want to go through the hassle of doing that for most things.
oh, so you're that guy.
but yeah, perfectly understandable. many people i know use the prime benefits of a single person, i was said person once.
This is awesome. Amazon is as unscrupulous as a drug dealer, so you need a "connection" to deal with Amazon.
Lol, i never thought of them as a dealer, but i like it
They started putting commercials on Prime Video.
Nope, not paying for that. Certainly not paying EXTRA to remove 'em. Dick rocket Jeff can go eat shit.
I'm one of those people who always hated amazon, but since moving out to a rural area without a car it ends up a lot easer, quicker and often cheaper to get most of what I need from there :(
I had an issue recently where they sent me the wrong item (it was coded wrong in their system- their fault) and when I contacted support they wanted me to either be at home for an entire day for them to pick up the item or have me take it to a drop off location for them, then wait for several weeks for the return to be processed.
I can't speak for the US, but at least in Canada Amazon has just been getting worse since I started using it. In 2019 I used it to get some great camping equipment at a ridiculously good price. During Christmastime last year I got a 50$ gift card from my company and I struggled to spend it after buying a $20 crystal ball. My household cancelled our prime subscription last year and I doubt we'll go back.
Amazon Prime is the biggest scam.
The only time I use Amazon is when I'm shopping for PC parts and they've got the best deal (maybe one part every 3 years) or if they're the only source for something like an obscure PCB or whatever. Aside from that, it's really not helpful. People who have their regular weekly shipments are wild to me. So much easier to just get everything you need at the grocery store in one fell swoop every week. Don't even get me started on Prime shipping when I live in the same city as a distribution center. Prime Video is aids.
be careful with pc parts, even processors are being faked (they use a lower model and engrave it as if it is the higher model)
I get the 1 month free trial every 9 months or so lol
I cancelled my prime because free "2 day" was actually 3-4 day shipping despite living 8 minutes from a distribution center. Among other reasons too but my shipping times haven't changed much. Maybe an extra day or two now since their probably creating an artificial delay for non prime members.
Just wait till you need to buy enough stuff to hit the $35 minimum for free delivery. It takes a maximum 4-5 days for stuff to arrive but sometimes they can arrive as early as 2 days. I never went on prime after my free trial.
Prime video just isn’t all that good and it sounds like ads are coming and shipping is still free over like $25.
Only reason to have prime is if you also have their credit card and order a decent amount of stuff there and/or shop at whole foods a lot for the 5% back. Otherwise it does add up at all.
I've noticed that without prime you can still get free shipping if you just have a big enough order, so as long as you don't buy a ton of small purchases individually but instead save up what you need for bigger purchases then the only advantage prime has is the shorter shipping time. Which I've also noticed sometimes that the shipping without prime will often arrive a day or two earlier then it's original estimate, probably cause Amazon has optimized for that shorter 2 day shipping. It's still not usually 2 days but for most stuff it's either a week or less which is usually plenty fast for anything I get on Amazon.
I honestly have it for Prime Video. I don't watch it in any massive quantity but there are some shows on there I really like.
Prime games too, although I've noticed they offer less GOG games than they once did, and I refuse to install their app on my pc.
In my defense prime is very cheap in my country, because they haven't crushed the competition yet.
I think I've used Amazon a grand total of twice in my life. Got a cheap knockoff of what I actually ordered both times.
When I lived in NYC I could not even understand the appeal of Prime. Now that I live in the burbs I can’t live without it. I hate that I keep throwing money at Bezos but abusing their return policy is my little solace.
As somebody who lives on an island, I don’t understand the appeal of Amazon Prime. It’s a bogus product - if you live outside the mainland USA, you still get slower shipping speeds (usually like 1 week with Prime vs 2 weeks without it). It’s literally just an instant gratification thing - if I need something now, I’d just go out and buy it from a store instead of ordering it through Amazon or any online retailer.
Similar to the person who commented below. I live in a very rural area so it would be 10 bucks in gas just to drive to the closest Target to buy a pack of pens that I need for work the next day. And I know that I could just swing by on my way home from work and pick them up, but then it becomes a time thing. I mean my entire plan is to ditch Amazon prime after my current subscription expires. But man, there are some interesting things that have just become normalized with the convenience of getting things mailed to me that I'm totally going to miss. But fuck bezos
You can still get things mailed to you, with free shipping. Just order $35 of stuff at a time.
It just takes some forethought, some planning, and yeah maybe some "going without" for just a few days. But it can be done! Fuck Bezos.
Speaking from my experience in Australia, Prime is quite good for ad-hoc ordering.
For AUD6.99 a month I can order something that will usually turn up tomorrow morning, meaning that if I need a light bulb or a dishcloth or weed killer it's just a 30 second search with the app on my phone and I can get on with my day.
Compare that to:
eBay - free shipping, a week or so, "express" , 3 days and AUD12-18 per purchase.
Small online retailers - generally no free shipping, usually an Australia Post option at AUD12 or so that takes about 4-5 days, "express" via various couriers that takes that to 2-3 days for AUD18-30.
Large retailers - a week or more for delivery, AUD10-40 depending on size.
Me going down the shops and buying it myself - AUD60/hour labour and consumables, 30 minutes to an hour depending on what I'm buying and where from, AUD30-60.
Say what you want about their treatment of workers, from a consumer point of view Amazon's warehousing and delivery logistics are pretty effective.
Added edit: I don't live in a "rural" area (of which there are plenty in Australia), but I've sent stuff there using Prime and even then it's only an extra day or two on top.
Oh and there's Prime Video, and I've watched a few shows on it but it's not something that I particularly need or desire.
And sure , I could do without Prime. Just like I could do without brunch at a cafe once a week, or I could do without Netflix. But it provides a service that is generally cheaper and more convenient than the other options I have so..... I'll just continue to use it until it doesn't.
Where I live it’s either Target or Amazon Prime. And give how crappy the Target selection is there’s no real choice.
Ssst… don’t tell or they will start to make delivery times longer.
Start? They've already been doing that for at least a couple of years now.
I've never had prime and never felt the need to get it. I don't order frequently from them so, when I do, I can hit the free shipping minimum easily. I have no problem waiting a bit extra for shipping. When they do get around to shipping my stuff, it usually takes just a day or two to get here.
I get gift cards for Amazon because I used survey apps that pay me money and I have made quite a bit. So Amazon stuff is always free stuff for me basically. But Prime is worthless. Prime Video has absolutely nothing worth watching, and last week I ordered hair dye on my husband's Prime account on Saturday and it didn't arrive until Thursday, so what's the point?
Wait, you can actually get those gift cards from survey apps? Every time I tried them, it took so long to get those points that I just gave up.
I generally wait more than a month for things to arrive, be it random stuff from aliexpress or books from bookdepository (may it rest in peace), blackwells or kennys. It's kinda the norm here, and we don't think much of it.
I could kinda understand this if you live in a rural area and have had it for years...but still, first world problems, my god.
I've never used any of the prime benefits other than free shipping when I had a big free trial. I forgot about it and I started getting charged, and immediately cancelled.
If I bundle my orders into $35+ ones, I still get free shipping. And with Amazon getting crappier and greedier each year, I get less and less there and more on other online marketplaces.
Prime is extra useless here, except for maybe the free shipping. Overnight shipping is the default here for all webshops, except Amazon lol.
There is no need to buy anything from those fucks ever
I've been on the student discount for almost 7 years now so I've been paying half price for it, but I also like it cuz I watch a decent amount of shows. That being said, I could totally cancel for a month or two and not even notice it.
Muthafuckas act like they forgot about eBay. But seriously, shipping times and prices are often better and they've always sided with me with refunds, even when sellers tried to pull sketchy shit.
I only activates prime with the 30 days trial when I bought a TV that didn't have free shipping otherwise. Canceled it the day when the TV arrived to my home.
I've done that 30 day free trial thing about three times, they caught on to me and started to make it extremely difficult to cancel. So I don't do that anymore. I just endure the long shipping times and it's no big deal. I don't need Amazon prime for anything, I don't watch movies or whatever else the heck promises they promise. I don't need it.
I do the same, it is not worth it. Ans they even ship big things now for free, so the wait of a couple of days is ok with me too.