Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

PSA: Amazon Will Increase Price of Prime To $119 (cnbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the heads-up dept.

EzInKy writes: Effective on May 11, Jeff Bezos says the price of Prime membership will increase to $119 from $99. Now, as much as I have enjoyed the free shipping over these many years, I just don't believe that benefit outweighs the increased cost of membership. Existing Prime members will have until June 16 to renew their membership at the current $99 price-point, notes CNBC. In its first quarter earnings call, Amazon attributed the price increase to the service's rising costs, noting that this was its first price hike since March 2014.

9 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. $10/month by indytx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, $10/month for unlimited, free 2-day delivery which often includes Sunday delivery along with streaming video is too much for the poster?

    --
    Make love, not reality television.
    1. Re: $10/month by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Prime is one of those services that relies on most people not getting their money's worth from it. It basically amortises the cost of two day shipping over everyone using it. Some will win, some will lose.

      In the UK it's worse than that though, because most items eligible for Prime cost more anyway. It usually costs the same to buy the non-Prime version and just pay for next day shipping on top.

      I get the impression that the selection of stuff available in the US is much better too, especially since they bought that grocery chain.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re: $10/month by SunTzuWarmaster · · Score: 1, Insightful

      See my above post. I am about the following value from Prime:
        - ~5 trips to the store
        - $94 in discounts/savings
        - a streaming video service

      Given that I'm now paying $120 for this benefit, it actually is pretty close to the margin. The alternative is $120 in Netflix (which is better), making 5 trips to the store, and hunting around for WalMart coupons of equivalent value.

    3. Re:$10/month by registrations_suck · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Amazon says the +$20 is due to the increased budgets for content creation, acquisition and delivery. Seems reasonable that if that is the case, then only the people who want those services pay the +$20.

      Personally, I watch the "free" Prime Video because it is there anyway. I don't give a shit about it. If Amazon offered Prime without it, at a savings of $20 or $30 or more, fuck yeah, I'd sign up for that "Prime Lite".

    4. Re: $10/month by Miamicanes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Power & Water is a bit of a reach, as is healthcare SERVICE. Prescription drugs, however, are ripe territory for poaching. Amazon has the capital resources to do things like find foreign suppliers for semi-commodity drugs sold in the US whose supply has tightened due to mergers & acquisitions, then pay to get those foreign suppliers FDA-approved in return for making them beholden to Amazon thereafter. Walgreens & CVS have lots of market power, but Amazon can out-spend them on capital investments with barely a blip on their balance sheet beyond the next quarter.

    5. Re: $10/month by Wycliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Prime is one of those services that relies on most people not getting their money's worth from it. It basically amortises the cost of two day shipping over everyone using it. Some will win, some will lose.

      They probably have a few people who don't get their money's worth but that's not their main business plan. By having an upfront sunk cost, they are actually hoping that once you have a membership that you order everything from them. That's exactly what most people I know who have prime do. That are ordering almost everything from amazon so amazon breaks even on the shipping and makes it up with the increased volume.

    6. Re:$10/month by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Digital items are a fixed cost that is amortized among many millions of existing subscribers.

      Nope. For content they license they have to pay per subscriber or viewer. They may negotiate a flat fee for a limited duration license available to all, but the price negotiation includes such things as "How many subscribers do you have?" and "How many people watched our show last year?".

      And for the content they produce, well, Jeremy Clarkson doesn't come cheap.

  2. IF you don't buy a lot at Amazon, and don't stream by Salgak1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    . . . probably not worth it.

    On the other hand, if you're like **our** household, buy quite a bit, and quite often, from Amazon, and stream their Included-in-Prime video content, 10 bucks a month is dirt cheap.

    So the question is, does Prime meet your needs for the price charged? IF so, get it. IF not, don't. It's THAT simple.

  3. The devil in the details by jmd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-earnings-more-than-double-sending-stock-toward-record-highs-2018-04-26

    From the article: "Amazon.com Inc.’s massive growth just grew even more massive in the first quarter, as the e-commerce giant reported Thursday that profit more than doubled and sales continued to accelerate, and the company announced an increase in Prime subscription prices that should add even more."

    Profits double and Amazon raises Prime membership fees. Why? Because they can.