Amazon Prime raising annual subscription to $139

Thank you for helping them keep the lights on for at least another year. 

Not surprising, but fortunately it’s very easy for everyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime to do the math and determine whether it’s worth it for them. For a lot of folks the determination can be made based on delivery costs alone. The value of the extra stuff like photos, music, and video only enter the equation if you’re not getting all of the value/ROI from the delivery service. 

I recognize this is a narrowly focused perspective based on personal economics alone. Like any system there are a number of macro level implications and second order effects to a service like this that makes it so incredibly easy have hard goods ordered on a whim delivered extremely quickly to your door with little to no regard to the true cost of the delivery service.

A quick survey of the number of Amazon vehicles on the road and coursing through neighborhoods nearly all of the time, not to mention the vast tracts of land devoted to fulfillment centers and warehouses, some of which are built on the graves of dead malls and retail stores driven out of business because they could not compete against online retail, and the mountains of cardboard waste (hopefully everyone recycles?) paints a truer cost picture that’s a little harder to do the math on. 

The “eye” is back … staring straight at me. Ugh.

dewme said:

Not surprising, but fortunately it’s very easy for everyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime to do the math and determine whether it’s worth it for them. For a lot of folks the determination can be made based on delivery costs alone. The value of the extra stuff like photos, music, and video only enter the equation if you’re not getting all of the value/ROI from the delivery service. 

I recognize this is a narrowly focused perspective based on personal economics alone. Like any system there are a number of macro level implications and second order effects to a service like this that makes it so incredibly easy have hard goods ordered on a whim delivered extremely quickly to your door with little to no regard to the true cost of the delivery service.

A quick survey of the number of Amazon vehicles on the road and coursing through neighborhoods nearly all of the time, not to mention the vast tracts of land devoted to fulfillment centers and warehouses, some of which are built on the graves of dead malls and retail stores driven out of business because they could not compete against online retail, and the mountains of cardboard waste (hopefully everyone recycles?) paints a truer cost picture that’s a little harder to do the math on. 

The “eye” is back … staring straight at me. Ugh.

For me right now the biggest benefit of Amazon Prime is that it keeps me out of stores where I could be infected.  I used to shop in multiple grocery stores to get all the stuff I needed and, if I needed electronics or home goods, I ran over to BestBuy or Lowes.  But, thanks to Prime, I seldom have to do that now,

GeorgeBMac said:

dewme said:

Not surprising, but fortunately it’s very easy for everyone who subscribes to Amazon Prime to do the math and determine whether it’s worth it for them. For a lot of folks the determination can be made based on delivery costs alone. The value of the extra stuff like photos, music, and video only enter the equation if you’re not getting all of the value/ROI from the delivery service. 

I recognize this is a narrowly focused perspective based on personal economics alone. Like any system there are a number of macro level implications and second order effects to a service like this that makes it so incredibly easy have hard goods ordered on a whim delivered extremely quickly to your door with little to no regard to the true cost of the delivery service.

A quick survey of the number of Amazon vehicles on the road and coursing through neighborhoods nearly all of the time, not to mention the vast tracts of land devoted to fulfillment centers and warehouses, some of which are built on the graves of dead malls and retail stores driven out of business because they could not compete against online retail, and the mountains of cardboard waste (hopefully everyone recycles?) paints a truer cost picture that’s a little harder to do the math on. 

The “eye” is back … staring straight at me. Ugh.

For me right now the biggest benefit of Amazon Prime is that it keeps me out of stores where I could be infected.  I used to shop in multiple grocery stores to get all the stuff I needed and, if I needed electronics or home goods, I ran over to BestBuy or Lowes.  But, thanks to Prime, I seldom have to do that now,

A bigger cost we pay is the death of small business and people becoming even more anti-social.

We’re getting to a point (at least in my town) where social interaction is “awkward”.

If prime were still the original 1 or 2 day shipping that was promised years ago, it would be worth it. Prime today is nothing but another label. 

Items get ship when they want, arrive when they want, i’ve had prime shipping come 5 days later. I don’t use Prime Video, I have never found anything I  cared to watch on it. Amazon music is subpar, compared to Apple Music and Spotify. Hell I don’t even have 1 Fire or Alexa device in my house.