<p>It seems, from graphs posted earlier, that the student membership is a very small percentage of their business. Its probably like apple, who got into the education system when kids were young. Hook em in early and keep them as customers. Clever marketing.</p>
<p>typo</p>
<p>I got rid of Prime this year. I found I was shopping for everything on Amazon, some of which is more expensive than local stores. The Prime video is not that great either. Between Netflix and Hulu Plus, that’s all the video I need. I’m wasting less money at Amazon without Prime.</p>
<p>I will not move forward with them on that. I don’t even use the TV/movie feature and I really doubt I use $119 worth of shipping charges a year. It’s a time in my life to be cutting back,not ordering more “stuff”. I live in suburban D.C. so it’s not like I don’t have any place to shop. I am very disappointed in this overreach. It’s not like they are in finanacial difficulties!!! @@ </p>
<p>I agree with you VaBluebird, I am also trying to not order too much “stuff” but DH wants us to get a home safe and he has been checking local stores as well as Costco. I just looked at Amazon and the pricing was very good and so the shipping with Prime will be worth it. I think so much of this depends on where you live. We have a very good library and just went for a walk to get a DVD to watch later. There is no cost at all and we have good luck in getting a wide selection of new releases and TV series- they just got season 1 of House of Cards which haven’t seen yet as well as many foreign films and documentaries. I work in midtown Manhattan and can get anything I want to buy. I have three drugstores in/around Penn Station, Macy’s, Sephora and a zillion other places. Just came home from grocery shopping at Trader Joes’s and local supermarket-cannot think of anything I can’t get easily. Now if I lived in a small town and had to drive 45 minutes for major shopping that would be a difference. </p>
<p>H has a one year membership but isn’t interested in renewing if it will bump up to $119. Way more than the value we get from it, for us. </p>
<p>We will take a wait and see position. We don’t order a lot from Amazon except at the holidays, but when we do it’s something we need and can’t find locally very quickly. Amazon seems to have moved to this combination of delivery methods for Prime which includes the USPS. My last prime order took a week to arrive as it sat in my local post office for several days after UPS sent it there. It arrived too late to use. Returning it was very easy though. </p>
<p>We’ve cut back on our DirectTV package a lot in the last few years and have used Amazon Prime and Netflix more. Cable isn’t available in our area. Only recently did our internet and phone provider started offering a TV package. We’re taking a wait and see position on that too. We’ve used DirectTV for so long that we still get East and West coast channels. It’s hard to give that up as there are many times we want to record multiple shows at the same time. Having East and West coast channels let’s us do that. </p>
<p>When is this supposed to happen? I presume they will give us a notice?</p>
<p>I won’t pay - I’m “sharing” my second son’s free year of Prime and LOVE it, but Target RedCard will give me free shipping so I’ll do that instead.</p>
<p>VaBluebird – there is no firm plan to raise the price of Amazon prime – they have merely floated the idea and taken some market surveys. They will make whatever changes are best for their bottom line. Of course current subscribers will get notice of any increases. An alternative plan might be changed rates that apply only to new subscribers, or an opportunity to lock in a rate by purchasing a multi-year subscription – or maybe some other benefits included with membership to encourage subscriptions.</p>
<p>I’m not worried about Amazon. 
I think that they have more information and data about their customers than any other retailer on earth. They know what we buy, how frequently we buy, where we browse, where we ship our purchases, what we’ve saved to a wish list. They have the technical ability to develop a very sophisticated set of Prime membership options and target their marketing so that customers can choose from a range of options. </p>
<p>@calmom maybe current subscribers will get notice, and maybe I got notice when it went up for me last year, but I get so much unwanted stuff from them I completely overlooked it and was startled that the cost, already charged to my card, was as high as it was. I was thinking THAT was too high since I don’t use the video junk (sorry, but I’m pissed to pay for something I never remotely wanted). There is no way I’ll take prime at over $100. I will still use amazon when it makes sense for me to do so, but it will be much less often.</p>
<p>My experience with Amazon is that they are amazingly good about refunds. Very easy to work with. If you were charged for something you didn’t want, did you ask to cancel the membership? </p>
<p>I like some of the amazon prime shows that aren’t available anywhere else.
As I’ve had issues with a few other retailers, I like the responsiveness of amazon.
I expect they will break out the differential between people who just want prime shipping & those who use prime shipping & prime streaming.
I would pay a tad more, but not $40 more.</p>
<p>I like the shipping, and the movie selection for streaming. If you think about it, you’re getting a similar product to Netflix plus the free shipping. </p>
<p>HOw much does netflix cost these days? And arent their movies more contemporary?</p>
<p>They have lot of what is on Netflix. I haven’t done a full comparison.</p>
<p>I think my Netflix is 7.99 a month but I could be wrong</p>
<p>Just got the email that informs me my Prime account will cost $99 at its next renewal. </p>
<p>Received email this morning , my amazon prime renewal next jan, will cost $99 ! </p>
<p>I just got the same email. I’m still going to do it, unless something changes in my life.</p>
<p>Email today says our Student Prime account will increase to $49 in June - not sure that I want to pay it. Will have to look over our account and see how much we actually used it the past year. </p>
<p>We got the renewal notice for my daughter’s student prime account, $49 so a $10 increase. I am ok with that and will continue with Prime at least as long as she is away at college. We use Amazon a lot for her, 90% of the time it is the cheapest option, the rest we are willing to pay for the convenience of having it there in 2 days. We use it for a few subscription items for convenience, price is a wash but I like having it delivered instead of driving to 3 different places that are not on our regular weekly errand route. My son also uses the account, so I am pretty sure we come out way ahead. One thing I was disappointed to find was the upgrade to 1 day shipping has increased significantly. I had to order a large air mattress and foam topper, needed to have them shipped 1 day and the cost was like $50 instead of the $3.99 per item it used to be. I’m not sure if that was because it was over sized items or what, but I was surprised by it.</p>