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Amazon is one of the most versatile services available right now. It is much more than an online retail store or e-commerce store that most people associate it with. From Video Streaming services to Music Streaming to Online Books and Audiobooks Library, and not to forget online Shopping services, Amazon provides it all. And what’s best about this is that Amazon provides all these and many other benefits, under a single subscription plan called Amazon Prime. Subscribing to Amazon Prime will give you a lot of perks. But it isn’t cheap, especially not after the 20% rise in its subscription price a couple of years back. So, the question arises that is the Amazon Prime subscription worth it?
Well, the short answer to this question is, Yes. Amazon Prime is totally worth the 119$ annual subscription fee. And, I know this isn’t enough to convince you. So, in this article I will be going through the top benefits of Amazon Prime and will show what you are missing if you haven’t subscribed to it yet. So let’s jump right in without any delays. But before that, here’s a short overview of everything you are getting.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Amazon Prime
- Unlimited Free Shipping: Prime members get unlimited free two-day shipping. In addition to this they get free same-day and Two-hour delivery in certain locations.
- Prime Video: Get access to a large catalog of TV Shows and Movies that you can stream or download for free.
- Prime Music: Get access to over 2 million songs that you can listen to ad-free.
- Prime Now. Prime Now narrows the free same-day delivery window on certain items to as little as two hours, but it’s only available in select metro areas.
- Prime Reading: Prime Members can read from around 1000 books, comics, and magazines every month for free. These titles are changed and recirculated.
- Kindle Lending Library: Members who have an Amazon Kindle or Amazon Fire device, can lend a book every month from the Kindle Lending Library from among a total of 600,000 books.
- Prime Day and Prime Early Access:L Prime members get early access to lightning deals and extra discounts on Prime Day.
- Prime Photos: Prime Members get access to unlimited photo storage and 5GB of storage for videos and other files.
Is Amazon Prime Worth it?
Like I said above, I believe that Amazon Prime is totally worth its 119$ price tag, and here are the top reasons.
1. Unlimited Free Shipping
One of the best perks of having an Amazon Prime subscription is the unlimited free delivery. If you are someone who orders from Amazon frequently, then this will be very beneficial for you. Okay let’s do the math. Let’s say you order two items every month and let’s consider the average delivery charges to be 5$. So, that would mean 10$ every month and a total of 120$ in a year which is how much you pay for the subscription. So, if you place at least two orders a month, the subscription will pay for itself. But, this is just an approximate, and chances are you might end up saving way more than that. This is because the shipping fees depend on many factors and can change based on the location, and price of the item. Sometimes, the type of item also is a factor in the total shipping fee. And there’s a high chance of you ordering more than two items per month.
However, you should know that if the total amount of your order exceeds 25$, you get the standard shipping free of costs. So, this might be important for you if you order more than 25$ worth items most of the time. But, Amazon Prime members still get a few other additional benefits. These include the free Two-day shipping, One-day shipping, and Same-day delivery for eligible orders in a few cities, Two-hour delivery, and more. So, Amazon Prime not only saves your money but also saves you a lot of time as well. And if you are a frequent buyer from Amazon, then the free shipping alone makes it worth it. But there are so many other things you get from prime which we will be looking at next.
2. Amazon Prime Video
With the Amazon Prime subscription, you will also get access to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon’s own streaming platform. Now, for a moment let’s forget other perks of Amazon Prime and compare it with Netflix on the basis of its streaming services.
Let’s start with the subscription prices. The standalone Amazon Prime Video membership costs $8.99/mo which is about 12$ less than the Amazon Prime membership annually. Netflix has 3 plans with the most expensive one being $15.99. This is the one we will be considering because this is the only plan where you get UHD streaming.
In terms of the sheer number of contents, Amazon has more number of titles available to stream. But Netflix has a better lineup of original titles. Amazon Prime has been creating a lot of original titles but it has a lot of catch up to do. In terms of quality, they both offer up to 4K UHD video streaming, but Amazon Prime Video has more 4K content. Amazon allows up to 3 simultaneous streams whereas Netflix allows up to 4 streams at a time. But Netflix is more expensive. Overall we can say that Netflix is slightly ahead of Amazon Prime Video, and there’s a good reason why since it is a dedicated streaming platform. Amazon Prime is catching up.
However, let’s not forget Amazon Prime has a lot of other perks as well. By providing you almost 110$ worth of streaming services, Amazon Prime membership is once again paying itself and is showing why it’s worth it.
3. Amazon Prime Music
Amazon also gives you access to a free Amazon Prime Music membership which provides you over two million songs. You can stream those on-demand and ad-free. Comparing it with Spotify, it’s safe to assume that it is providing you a value of $9.99 per month. It might have fewer songs as compared to Spotify, but you can upgrade to Prime Music Unlimited to get access to a bigger catalog. For Prime users, this plan is priced at $7.99 compared to the $9.99 for non-prime members. While it’s not totally worth the $120 on its own given its limited content, it still provides good value to Prime Members. It isn’t something that would be a deal-breaker, but it’s nice to have it nonetheless. It makes another reason why Amazon Prime is worth it.
4. Prime Reading
Amazon Prime Reading is also a part of the Amazon Prime Subscription. This is very beneficial for those who have a Kindle device. But even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still take advantage of it. Prime reading has a total of 1000 titles that you can read from. These include books, magazines, comics, and more. These titles keep cycling around with more titles being added regularly. But, wait. There’s more to this. Every month, Prime members can pick any book from Kindle First Read Editors Pick and download it for free. These are yet to be released books and you get to download them weeks before their official release date. In addition to this, if you have an Amazon Kindle or Amazon Fire device, you can buy a book every month from the Kindle Lending Library. There are a total of 600,000 books that you can choose for free.
Prime Reading is an ideal plan for those who are occasional readers and will normally read on or two books each month. If you are a more avid reader, you can choose to opt for the Kindle Unlimited Subscription, which will give you access to over 1 million titles to read from. Once again, let’s do the math. Assuming the average cost of a Kindle ebook to be around 9.99$, you will get 1 book from Kindle First Read for free every month. That brings the total to the same as the membership fee of Amazon Prime. So, if you are a reader, here’s another perk of having an Amazon Prime membership.
5. Prime Wardrobe
Amazon Prime members also get Prime Wardrobe membership for free. This is a unique program that lets the users try out clothing items before they decide to buy them. You only pay for what you keep. It is a very convenient service that you might end up using a lot.
To begin with you can choose a minimum of two and a maximum of eight items. These items should be eligible for Prime Wardrobe. You then get 7-days to try them out and decide which one you need. Then you return the product that you don’t want to keep. Prime Wardrobe has free shipping and free returns so you don’t have to pay extra for this. You should also know that you will be charged only after you keep an item and send back the other. The resealable box and prepaid level make the return process easy and hassle-free. You can still return the item you chose to keep within the 30-day return window period which starts after the try-on period ends.
Prime Wardrobe is a very convenient service for those who find it hard to decide which size would better fit them or someone who just wants to try out an item before buying it. You can also upgrade to the Personal Shopper plan which enables you to get personalized styling every month. But even without the Personal Shopper, Prime Wardrobe is a great service and increases the value provided by Amazon Prime.
6. Prime Photos
Prime membership will also give you access to unlimited high-resolution photo storage. The unlimited storage isn’t exactly unlimited and actually provides you up to 1 TB of storage. However, this is more than enough for most users. For other types of files like Videos, Document, Musics, and other files you get 5GB of storage. Once you use this space up, you need to buy additional storage or free up the space by deleting existing files.
Amazon Prime members can also invite their family or friends to the Family Vault. This lets you invite up to five friends or family members who receive unlimited photo storage. You can automatically save photos and videos that you take on your phone to the cloud using the Amazon Photos mobile app available for both iOS and Android.
7. Amazon Prime Credit Card
If you own an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card then having an Amazon Prime membership can give you additional benefits. For regular non-prime users, Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card gives a 3% cash back for every purchase that you make on Amazon or Whole Foods. However, Amazon Prime members get 5% cashback. So, someone who spends around 200$ every month, then that would mean 10$ cashback every month and 120$ every year. So, once again the cashback pays for the membership itself. This is the best reward rate that you will get for purchases made on Amazon among all similar cards.
Users also get a 70$ gift card upon approval credit card. In addition to that, Prime members also get 2% back for purchases made at Restaurants, Gas Stations & drugstores, and 1% cashback for all other purchases. Take all that and consideration and you will see why it’s worth having a Prime Membership, especially when you own an Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.
8. Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry
The membership also comes with the Amazon Pantry service which is available for most ZIP codes. It allows you to select common household items that you might need regularly and create a Pantry Box with them. You then have them shipped to you whenever you need them. Most of these products are of regular and small sizes. You also get to save a little amount on most products. You should expect your orders to arrive within four days at most. Prime members qualify for free delivery if the total purchase amount of an order is more than 35$. If they don’t meet the minimum requirement, then they are charged a $5.99 shipping fee every time. Non-Prime members need to pay the $5.99 shipping fee regardless of the total amount.
Amazon also has a grocery delivery service called Amazon Fresh which is available in selected cities. This service is only for Prime members which means that non-prime members don’t have access to it. It lets place grocery staples orders as well as a few other Amazon products that are eligible for it. You can then have it delivered for free within a two-hour delivery window that you can choose. The shipping is free of cost for orders above $35. Even though the service is available in limited locations, it has a large selection of grocery products wherever it is available. But you might face some difficulties in getting the desired time slot in case of high demand and have to wait for the next available slot. Note that during particularly busy times, grocery delivery windows may be limited. Even then, Amazon Pantry and Amazon Fresh are both valuable services you get with Amazon Prime that deliver groceries right at your doorstep.
9. Prime Day and Prime Early Access
Amazon Prime Day was first introduced in 2015 in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Amazon. Even though the first Prime Day wasn’t satisfactory for most customers, Amazon has been making it better ever since. You get the best deals and a high discount on a majority of the products. It is one of the most anticipated and sought after sales every year. And this gets even better for Prime Members as they get additional discounts and offers.
Prime Members also get Prime early and exclusive access features. This feature grants Prime Members a 30-minute early access to deals and offers. Hence, they will be able to buy their favorite product before regular members, which means that there will be a lesser chance of the product going out of stock. They also get exclusive access to select lightning deals on Amazon. So, having a Prime Membership would mean that you get a better deal and also early access to your favorite items. This means that there is a higher chance of getting a discount.
In addition to these benefits there are many other benefits of Amazon Prime membership like a discount on Whole Foods purchases, Amazon Household access, a 20% discount on diaper subscriptions, etc.
Should You Sign Up For Amazon Prime?
Amazon Prime membership is one of the most versatile and valuable subscription plans available. With Amazon Prime membership you are getting way more value than what you are paying for. From free and faster shipping to video and music streaming to books, you get access to all these and many other benefits. Many of these benefits pay for the membership themselves. So, if you are planning to subscribe to Amazon Prime, then go for it. It will provide you the best value you ever get.
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