Yesterday, Amazon changed their minimum order amount from $25 to $35 for their Free Super Saver Shipping. The company says that it’s the first time in a decade since they have changed their policy. Business analysts think that it’s a gentle push to get customers to sign up for Amazon Prime, which costs $99 per year. The Prime service gets customers free two-day shipping, streaming of TV and movies, and access to a library of Kindle books (which can be read on other devices with an app).
I’m not sure how I feel about the change. On one hand, I think it’s a pretty fair move. It’s rather easy to accumulate a cart with more than $35 worth of items, and I’m fairly certain that Amazon loses money on a small percentage of orders just to beef up customer loyalty/goodwill. On the other hand, I don’t want to feel like I need to move to a subscription plan to receive free shipping. Extra video streaming options would be nice for the kiddo, and I probably would take advantage of the library, so Prime would be a good value overall.
Now that Amazon charges sales taxes, it wouldn’t be hard for me to change my buying habits (going to the store) to take advantage of the two-day shipping option. Plus, if you really only care about the two-day shipping, you can share the Prime membership with four other “family members,” or co-workers. The streaming service allows two devices to watch at the same time. So, splitting with at least one other person is a viable and quite affordable option. Especially if you compare the cost of how much Netflix would be for an entire year.
What do you think about the change? How about Prime? If you are already paying for the service, I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.
Talk to me, Goose.