Amazon Is Offering a Discount on Prime For People On Government Assistance (theverge.com)

Amazon announced on Tuesday that it is offering a discount on Prime membership for US customers participating in a number of government assistance programs. From a report: Anyone with a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, which disburses funds for programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps), is eligible for Prime's discounted monthly price of $5.99. Prime's normal price is a $99 a year, or a monthly fee of $10.99. From a report:

Comments

Re:"good business" but still slimy

[hey!]

Well, this is just a corollary of Amazon's all-things-to-all-people strategy. If anybody buys anything, Amazon wants it to be through them.

Even people on welfare have to buy stuff. And most people who are on welfare are off welfare in under three years and back in the workforce. So in a sense this is like the prime membership they gave my college student daughter, who is poor as a church mouse and has to live like a monk. But when she graduates she'll have a lot more money to spend, and she'll have been trained to find Amazon the most convenient way to buy things.

Even I find myself buying things through Amazon for convenience. I should buy electronics shit through Digikey but sometimes if I'm ordering something else on prime I'll throw in something I need for my current project.