Jeff Bezos Reveals That Amazon Has Over 100 Million Prime Subscribers (theverge.com)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed today that the company has over 100 million Prime members, "marking the first time in the 13-year history of Amazon offering its Prime membership that the company has ever revealed its number of subscribers," reports The Verge. From the report: According to Bezos, Amazon Prime also saw its best year ever in 2017, with the company shipping over five billion products with Prime and signing up more new members than in any previous year. Also revealed today, Whole Foods Market will discontinue its rewards program on May 2 and fold it into Amazon Prime. "Stay tuned for additional announcements for Amazon Prime members," reads the Whole Foods FAQ page focused on digital coupons, rewards and online accounts. "Any account benefits, including membership and/or unused rewards, will not roll into any future programs."

Comments

I was a bit disappointed...

[jawtheshark]

My wife got the free trial prime, earlier this year by not paying attention (they really push it now it's available in Luxembourg). Not a big deal, just cancel it after the trial is over. However, it turned out she forgot to renew our Netflix subscription and I explained her that Prime Video is included in the Prime subscription. Give it is significantly cheaper: Netflix is 12x10.99EUR=131,88EUR/year, vs Prime 49.90EUR/year and prime offers a lot more.

So, we decided to continue it... She has next day delivery and still has video on demand (albeit, not Netflix). She's happy.

What I didn't like is that your normally should be able to share some of the Prime membership advantages with other people in the household. I thought: sweet! I can get next-day delivery too now on my account. Yeah, well, turns out, that sharing feature isn't available in Luxembourg. Yes, I contacted support about it. They confirmed it's not available in my region. Sad.

Oh, well, usually when I order stuff, I can wait... There is no way, I pay for a second prime membership though.

Re:I was a bit disappointed...

[jawtheshark]

Perhaps it helps understand that her parents had a very very very ugly divorce when she was a teenager. The tensions are there to this day, and it's been something like a quarter of a century ago or so. I don't know if this is common with kids from divorcees, but she seems to think this has to happen eventually to her too. Having it set up this way, soothes my inner accountant and should her fear ever come through, we will have it "easier" to get it through peacefully.

Obviously, I don't plan on divorce, but it's good to be prepared. Thirteen years and counting, with ups and downs...

I know many people think of marriage as a romantic involvement. That is wrong. It is primarily a contractual obligation, and the romantic aspect is a nice bonus. Perhaps I'm just weird. Perhaps I am a heartless cold calculating arsehole... If so, then I have no problem with that. You have the right to judge me.

Intertia

[mccalli]

I'm one of them, but mostly through inertia. On the whole it's getting worse, with next day slipping to two days, 'guaranteed next day' being delivered two days later, and items on sale with free Prime delivery, but mysteriously more expensive than the non-Prime version alone and magically equal to non-Prime + delivery fee.

It's kinda ok, and I enjoyed The Tick, but on the whole...meh.

vs Netflix interface

[hcs_$reboot]

Prime is cheaper and has other features, but comparing P and N for video interfaces, subtitles, dubbing, search... Netflix is way better.

Convenience, not price

[registrations_suck]

Amazon bashing...meh...OK.

In the meantime...I buy from Amazon more often than not, NOT because they have the lowest price, but simply for the convenience. Into "convenience", I factor in:

1). Timely shipments.
2). One-stop shopping.
3). "Known factor".
4). Payments and Addresses.
5). Record of purchases.

Amazon can get stuff delivered to me in a timely fashion. Two days "free". In the meantime, I ordered something from E-Trailer that is "in stock" on Monday and it is currently scheduled to arrive on Saturday. I leave on my trip on Friday. Had Amazon had it, I would have bought it from them, even if it cost more.

2). Where else can I get Dr. Pepper Stubbs BBQ sauce, a Bluetooth headphones receiver unit and a box of small Trojan condoms all in one shipment? I mean, that's awesome!

3). I know what I'm going to get when I order from Amazon. I know they will ship, I know the return policy and that I will not have issues, I know the order system, etc. I don't have to guess how I will be treated, like I do when I order from somewhere new.

4). They have my payment info. They have my shipping addresses. They have my billing address. I don't have to enter any of that shit again, like I do when ordering from somewhere new. That makes things fast and easy. I can decode I want to order something, to find it on their site and complete my purchase in 60 seconds, in some cases. 2-3 minutes tops in others. Yeah, I will pay extra for that.

5). I like having my order history in one place. If I wonder, "when did I buy this" or "how much did I pay for this", it is very easy to come up with this information, quickly. If I order from somewhere else, the first thing I have to figure out is "where did I order this from?" Then I go to their site and have to figure out what my login info is. Then if I get logged in, maybe I can find my info, maybe not, depending on how long ago it was. In the meantime - just the other day I was wondering about my headphones and I went on Amazon and quickly determined I got them in 2012 for $500. That made me feel a lot better about ordering a set of replacement earpads for $15 or so.

So yeah, overall, maybe Amazon doesn't always have the best price. But if Amazon is only a little more than the next guy, I will order from them. If it is an item I can get for $10 at some random place, no, I'm not going to pay $20 at Amazon. But if it is an item I can get for $500 at some random place, then, yeah, sure, I'll pay $510 or maybe $515 from Amazon. If for no other reason than I know I will not have issues returning the item without hassle, if that's what I need to do.