Amazon Prime keeps increasing in price while the services alter. Is Amazon Prime Still Worth the price?
I’ve been subscribed to Amazon Prime for years. It seemed great at first: free two day shipping, free video streaming on select titles, and free music streaming on select albums and tracks. Over 50% of US households are currently subscribed to Amazon Prime, and the owner of Amazon has become the richest person in the world. However, the price of Amazon prime continually increases while the services don’t stack up for most consumers. This year Amazon Prime has increased to $119 per year!
To be fair, Amazon Prime has made some great improvements over the years. The inclusion of one day and same day free shipping on select items is really cool, but unfortunately it’s only available in select regions. I’m in a region where you can get one day free shipping on items over $35, but they still can’t meet the shipment deadlines. Another great addition is discounted video games if you pre-order them from Amazon. The discount is rather large, which seems like nothing but positives. Amazon did buy Twitch.TV, so this could have played a role in their decision. Streamers at Twitch get a few freebies for having Amazon Prime as well, but they’re usually nothing to write home about. Finally, Amazon Prime also includes a number of free books and magazines that can be read completely digitally.
Unfortunately, Amazon Prime hasn’t been all rainbow and sunshine, as I mentioned with the missed shipment deadlines. Prime members lost a number of movies and TV shows to watch because of extra paid services we can opt in for. Amazon Music is still free, but now there’s Amazon Music Unlimited which is an addition to your Prime membership for an extra free.
Honestly, other video streaming platforms charge about the same price ($10/month), but they have much better content than what Amazon offers — even when including Amazon Originals. Some of Amazon’s services are still great for the price when everything is factored in together, but I wouldn’t use any of their perks other than gaming discounts and free shipping. My advice to Amazon is to offer different tiers or packages that provide select services and different price points. Maybe this isn’t plausible because people wouldn’t buy some of the perks alone (I’m looking at free books and magazines), but at this time it’s far too expensive for what I would use it for.