Amazon Offers 2-Day Shipping For $79/Year

stevejsmith writes "Amazon.com has announced their Amazon Prime service. For $79, you get free two-day shipping on all items, upgradeable to overnight shipping for $3.99 per item. The offer applies to most media (books, DVDs, CDs, etc.) and can be shared among "up to four family members living in the same household." Apparently the only way they will enforce this family-only sharing clause is by mandating that your "family members" know your birthday."

Comments

Family Members

[fembots]

Isn't a better way is to let you nominate 4 Amazon users under your account, and you can only change these users once every x months or pay a fee for each change?

The service is limited to family members living in the same household, that means goods will(should) always be delivered to that one address, and I don't see many people can abuse it.

Enlighten me please.

Re:Family Members

[Mr Guy]

Why would you assume that because it's limited to family members purchasing it should be limited in delivery address?

I'd be pretty pissed if I payed $79 a year for "free" shipping and I couldn't have my sister's christmas presents delivered to her in LA as well as my wife's delivered to my home in NC.

small book stores

[CAIMLAS]

This might be greatly advantageous to small bookstores (new and used), if they can get any title for a person within two days and not have to order in bulk, etc.

I wonder if this rate deal covers the "used" 3rd party books.

Last Time...

[CastrTroy]

Last time my girlfriend (yes, I have one) bought something at Amazon, shipping only took 2 days anyway. What are we paying for here? In Canada, they use Canada Post for delivery, which will usually deliver stuff to most major centers in 2 days. Some places take longer, although probably not over 5 days.

Two-day shipping

[MyLongNickName]

I have never bought two-day shipping for fed-ex or ups packages, yet receive everything within 2 business days of physical ship. Not just amazon either.

I once used two-day shipping with USPS, they lost the package, and found it again two weeks later. They kindly told me that two day shipping does not guarantee two-days to get there. I asked what the two-day shipping meant then, and I got a trout look.

Does two-day shipping price really mean anything?

The New WalMart

[ChicoLance]

People are making jokes about this, but this idea could change some of the methods of online/webbased stores. Just think, without having to worry about shipping charges _at all_, then I wouldn't have to worry about making a $5 order for a little kitchen gadget. I wouldn't have to run to the store for something, just go online, and it will be here in a couple of days.

This should really increase the sales of some of their smaller items. If I've got to get a couple new drill bits for this weekend's project, I can just click and get it and not have to run to Home Depot.

This is a cool idea if it makes the consumer think first about ordering online, and not as a second or third choice.

Re:The New WalMart

[danrik]

Excellent point. I think that this is really the reason for the move. There are also numerous times that I spend a lot of time when purchasing online to find the best shipping deals - places that are close to me and standard shipping vs. places that are far away with express shipping. This type of deal could really sway folks, especially in situation where the shipping price is the deciding factor in the choice of online merchant.

Re:The New WalMart

[igrp]

Just think, without having to worry about shipping charges _at all_, then I wouldn't have to worry about making a $5 order for a little kitchen gadget. I wouldn't have to run to the store for something, just go online, and it will be here in a couple of days.

Personally, I would love that. There's a lot of stuff that I need or like but don't need right away (actually, mostly anything outside of groceries).

The problem here is, however, that Amazon still has to pay for the shipping. And even if they can bring their own handling expenses way down, and get a great bulk rate by either buying a shipping company or at least cooperating with them, there's still a per shipping charge. And eventually someone is going to have to pick up the tab.

This sort of reminds me of 1999. Back then, during the bubble, when people thought it was actually a feasible business model to offer cat chow online. And consumers would pay $6.95 S&H on a two-dollar item.

Back then, we had this local grocery store that offered online orders. Really nothing out of the ordinary. They set up a basic webshopping system on a NT box and offered free deliveries (think: small grocery store chain & big, big city). The way they thought the whole thing would work was basically this: regulars customers would still come into the store but others would be able to conveniently do their regular grocery shopping online and have it delivered to their houses at a time of their choosing. That would have worked fairly well. The problem was that everybody and their mother literally started to order individual stick of gum and have it delivered (for free) to wherever the hell they happened to be. The company eventually went bankrupt because they refused to adjust (again, this was during the bubble).

My point is this: with all flat-fee models, someone eventually has to pick up the tab. Netflixx is awesome. I use it myself. It works because people do go on vacation. It works because people do forget about their memberships. It works because people do go out and do stuff during the summer.
It's going to be tough to offer flat-fee pre-paid shipping on all items without either raising prices on individual items or attaching some strings if people pick up on this.

Amazon has such a broad inventory that I could easily order something from them every few days. And that could really come back to bite them in the a$$. A business model like that just might be feasible for a company like Amazon. It just might not work very well for a smaller company.

Re:Hmm..

[DrNibbler]

You're less likely to buy from a competitor's site if you fell you've already paid for unlimited shipping @ amazon. Your 79 bucks pretty much assures them that you won't buy a book from B&N even it's it's cheaper.

Supersaver arrives in 2 days half the time anyway

[cshay]

I've noticed that when I order stuff with Supersaver free shipping during a non-holiday period, the stuff arrives amazingly fast.

Considering that, I think you would have to order huge amounts of items per year for this to be worth it.

Re:Hmm..

[iJames]

But what about the power buyers (like myself) who get heavy textbooks, heavier textbooks, and even heavier textbooks (grr @ orgo)? It just doesn't seem like it's cost-effective, but maybe I'm missing something..?

What you're missing is that they've locked you in as an Amazon customer. You'll be much more likely to order from them and get your $79 worth than to compare their prices at BN, Powells, your corner used book store, etc. You're staying loyal to them and paying them for the privilege. And if you don't stay loyal? Well, they've still got your money. It's a double whammy.

Note that I'm not being critical. It's really a brilliant move, marketing-wise. Like the $15 annual discount cards they've always pushed at the brick-and-mortar stores, but at a much higher price and with a much higher break-even point for the benefit. If they make a killing with this, they deserve it. (And if the customers scoff and they lose their shirts, then clearly they deserved that too.)

Customer retention

[binder520]

I see this offer as an innovative marketing mechanism aimed at increasing customer retention and rewarding their current list of loyal customers.

Loyal customers already do most of their shopping @ amazon, so this offer will just be a way to save on shipping costs. The biggest impact is on customers that make a significant number of their purchases online, but not exclusively at Amazon. An offer like this might be enough to push them over the edge to become Amazon exclusive shoppers.

Re:Good for university students

[RonnyJ]

It seems a bit dishonourable to me how /. have essentially told people how to fradulently abuse this shipping deal.

Sure, a lot people would figure it out for themselves, and post it as a comment themselves, but is it really right for /. to post it in the actual article header?

Re:Forgot to mention PER YEAR

[Rangsk]

Wow, titles really shouldn't contain information that the blurb does not contain. Oh well, I guess I should look more carefully next time.

Re:Shhhhh!

[winkydink]

You are a marketing department's wet dream. They get you to pay for something and then you give them more business to justify having made your purchase. Think about it.

The end of truly 'free' shipping?

[jmscott42]

I haven't seen anyone comment on the possibility that this will be the end of Amazon's "free super saver shipping." They'll yell for a few months about what a great deal this is. Everyone will moan that all you have to do is spend $25 and it's truly "free".

So Amazon pulls free shipping entirely, leaving you the option of $5+ per order, or $80/year.

It's brilliant, really, unless consumer backlash is worse than they're prepared for.

(I will say Best Buy ending their free shipping pretty much put an end to me ordering from them...) [oops, does that make me a Devil Geek, admitting shopping at both BB and Amazon?]

Re:Not a bad deal if you always want it NOW

[hab136]

All you have to do is drive there, and you get your stuff immediately, not in 2 days. Shipping is free.

Gas, wear and tear on your car, the car payment itself, and driving time are not free.

Plus, some people live in the sticks.

Re:Shhhhh!

[rm999]

Yeah - that's the point. Some people will sign up for this deal, and in the process give amazon more business. Hopefully, those people thought it out and will save money from the deal. Seems win-win to me. Instead of driving to walmart to buy a widget for 3 dollars, they can go to amazon and get it for 2 dollars without paying 5 dollars shipping. Anything that screws over walmart is good in my book :)

At the same time, I know this deal would be terrible for a person like me - Most of the things I buy are more than 25 dollars, and I don't mind shopping at the store everynow and then. I could see this being useful for people who live in a more rural setting who can't as easily run to the store for something small.