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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."
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.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Unless it can transform from a tractor-trailer into a bow-wielding vixen, I'm not interested.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Does Amazon Prime compete with Optimus for leadership of the Autobots?
Perhaps he is the UPS truck to Optimus's tractor trailer?
M
That's not a bad deal... I can see this being especially useful in university residences. Just get one person in the building to buy a membership and collect their $2 from everyone who wants to use it... and free shipping for the rest of the year!
I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
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.
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Im in enough trouble trying to remember my wifes birthday as it is....
Photons have mass!!?? I didn't even know they were Catholic...
....it is tech news because someone could use Amazon to order a TI Graphing calculator. Silly question.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Well, that eliminates my family from participating.
"Contrarily the lookaside buffer might not be the panacea... "
Seems to me you'd have to spend on the order of $1500/yr in merchandise in order to make this worthwhile. And then, it'd only be worth it if you would have paid for two-day shipping otherwise.
The cake is a pie
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.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
No, because you'd have to tell them all your birthday! See? It's FOOLPROOF.
Erm... Yeah... Nevermind.
Never confuse volume with power.
It's amazing how marketing has managed to distort the English language. Hey, I'll work for Free/Hr.
At about $7 per expedited shipment, you'd break even after about 12 orders. But it only makes sense if you order about once a month from Amazon (I do), and you're compulsive and always want your stuff quickly (I do).
I scanned my orders from 2004 and I spent $95 on expedited shipping costs, so for me, it might be a good idea.
News for Shoppers. Ways to save.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
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?
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The free shipping/$3.99 overnight is only available if you purchase directly from Amazon. i.e. it is not available if you purchase from third party Amazon Marketplace or zShops sellers.
For many items, Amazon is actually competing with third party sellers that are selling on their site. This new service might be the incentive necessary for many people to not buy from third party sellers, but to only buy from Amazon which will result in more money for them. That could be one of the reasons behind introducing Amazon Prime.
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.
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.
Sean.OutaHere()
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.
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.)
I did an order a while ago for some books through some of the resellers, and their S&H is separate from Amazon's. Turned out to be cheaper overall to pay the $0.33/book extra to Amazon, and ship for free.
YMMV.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
As everybody here knows, Slashdot adheres to a strict peer review standard for each and every one of the submitted stories. It is just impossible that your story would be rejected unfairly.
Ok. Maybe that was just a dream I had last night.
The owls are not what they seem
Exactly why this new service sounds like a waste of money to me. Regardless of what sort of shipping speed I select, it has always been my experience that Amazon ships when they're ready, and their projected dates often have no relationship to reality. I have even received items in the mail on the same day that I got an email from Amazon apologizing that they wouldn't be able to ship the item for some time. Whoever sends the emails that project shipping dates needs to communicate with the folks who are actually shipping stuff out the door.
You're not supposed to do the math!
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
I can go buy my 1300 pound shipped JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank happly knowing that shipping will run me $79!
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
The article description might not but the article title does:
"Amazon Offers 2-Day Shipping For $79/Year"
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Now I can't tell any non-family my birthday without Amazon suing me for breaking their copy protection.
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
Your $1500/year assumption also assumes that the price will stay $79/year. Their ad calls this a "special introductory price". The worst thing is that unless you pay enough attention to cancel before hand, they will charge the next non-special, non-introductory fee to your credit card in exactly 12 months without any notification to you. From the Terms and Conditions:
They don't provide (AFAICT) any option to buy just one year. By purchasing Amazon Prime you are giving them permission to choose any price and charge it to you next year. They may also "in our discretion change these Terms ... or any aspect of Prime membership without
notice to you ... YOUR CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP AFTER WE CHANGE THESE
TERMS CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHANGES." So they can change their terms without telling you, then you automatically accept if you don't immediately notice and cancel. Great!
I hate it when companies try to pull this. Forcing an annual set fee on people is bad enough -- but to raise the price arbitrarily and still charge people's card without notification is outrageous. This is the kind of thing sleazy porn sites do (or so I hear :).
There may be some advantages to this program, but I certainly won't sign up until they let me buy ONE YEAR at a known price. None of this blank check nonsense.
-Fyodor
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"Products are eligible for Prime only if designated on the website"
eh?