<p>Same.
I doubt I will renew, as it comes up next month but I will wait and see if they make concessions to improve service.</p>
<p>I also have had some issues with the handoffs to USPS, but most of the time I am still getting the deliveries withn 2 days – and it’s not like I have any alternative sellers who are going to get stuff to me sooner (at least not without charging an arm and a leg). If I really needed something right away, I suppose I’d get off my duff and drive to Target or wherever I could find what I’m looking for – its just generally easier to go on Amazon where I can compare products, read reviews, check the manufacturer’s site if I have specific questions, etc. – instead of traipsing around to four different stores in search of whatever I’m looking for, or standing in bafflement in an aisle full of products without a clue as to which one to choose. </p>
<p>I get that the Prime-eligible stuff is often more costly than the stuff where shipping is charged – but I am also painfully aware of what real shipping costs – and how unreliable the USPS has gotten. For example, about 10 days ago my daughter asked me to send an item of clothing from her bedroom – she wanted it to wear to a party so she was hoping to get it within a week. I got a flat-rate 2-day priority box from USPS, packed it up nicely, paid $11 postage, and double checked the USPS site to make sure that delivery would indeed take place in 2 days. Mailing from west coast to NYC. Well, of course USPS doesn’t guarantee anything, so it took 7 days. It would have cost somewhat more to send the package UPS ground – which would of course have taken at least 5 days - at least twice as much for UPS 3-Day select, much more for 2nd day air.</p>
<p>Obviously Amazon is able to contract with UPS for lower rates than I pay as a residential user – but the point is, I know what it costs to ship stuff. And I also know that once it leaves Amazon’s fulfillment center, it’s out of their hands – I can get frustrated with the delivery time, but I can’t fault Amazon if UPS or USPS screws up. </p>
<p>As I said upthread, I’ve had delivery problems with the last 3 items I ordered. One “2-day” took 8 days. Costco can get the item to you the next day.</p>
<p>I pretty much decided that I am not going to renew Prime because I don’t actually order all that much from Amazon anymore but I am going to look at my order history first or at least wait until we order a home safe as we are planning to over the next few weeks.Mine comes up in June. I might order some things I’ve been thinking about first and then cancel.
Not quite the same thing but when Loehmann’s recently went out of business they were still sending emails about renewing my Gold Level member card which gave extra discounts and cost $25.00 to get those extra discounts but in the past year I had actually only saved less than $100 because Loehmann’ s inventory and merchandise had so deteriorated in quality that there wasn’t much worth buying. </p>
<p>Mine is renewing at $99 and I’ll pay it. We use it pretty much, and I have not had any shipping issues. I don’t really have a problem with them raising the prices. If it isn’t worth it to a customer, they can drop it.</p>
<p>I will renew. We use the video streaming all the time. We have Netflix also, but Amazon more. I buy stuff on Amazon every week. I hate shopping and when Amazon is cheaper I go for it. </p>
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<p>Actually, they will extend your prime membership a month when this happens if you call. </p>
<p>I have read that you can buy a GC for Amazon Prime now @$79 and use it when your membership expires. </p>
<p>Here’s a work around to try for getting another year of Amazon Prime for only $79…watch video in attached link:</p>
<p><a href=“How to lock in another year of Amazon Prime at $79 - CNET”>http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57620296-285/how-to-lock-in-another-year-of-amazon-prime-at-$79/</a></p>
<p>There’s a silly calculator at Slate for determining whether you’d save money with Prime at $99. It’s a fancy way of saying 24 packages no, 25 packages yes … assuming all are standard rate so you aren’t saving more. It also ignores the way they ship multiple packages for free - not as much as before because they’re trying to not do that. But that’s the generic breakpoint.</p>
<p>Sigh… I’ll probably renew but it has more to do with the fact that Amazon is opening in warehouse in my current state - so I’ll have to start paying sales tax, BUT, I’m moving to a different state that has no warehouse and a much higher sales tax rate. Double save there. </p>
<p>Mine will go up in December but I didn’t get an email about it, I read it in the newspapers. Apparently, Amazon has been losing money in shipping for a while. </p>
<p>Well, economically the question is whether they make up the shipping losses in increased sales. I’d think that prime members are far more likely to use Amazon to buy the stuff that they would otherwise buy at a local retailer – stuff like dishwasher detergent or kitty litter. It also tends to lock in customers, in the sense that Prime members probably go to Amazon first ahead of other online retailers. It’s not just a matter of thinking that the shipping is “free” - there’s also a sense that if we have pre-paid for a year of shipping, we should get the most out of it. </p>
<p>Obviously the people who run Amazon are figuring they can use the extra $20 – I’m just pointing out that they are factoring in more than the cost of shipping. They probably have all sorts of charts and graphs which can project the different buying patterns of Prime members vs. all other buyers. </p>
<p>Mine renews next month and I received my price increase notice this week. It clearly states that this April renewal is at the current $79 rate and the price will not increase until the April 2015 renewal. My plan is to really pay attention this next year to how much I save on shipping and how much we use Amazon streaming rather than Netflix. I do love the convenience of 2 day shipping but am not sure it’s always cost effective.</p>
<p>They show the number of your orders at upper left of your orders page.</p>
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<p>What dollar value do you place on time? Does that 2-day shipping mean that you order more stuff from Amazon – a opposed to using other retailers or buying the same stuff at brick and mortar stores – or is it just a benefit that you are getting from stuff you would order online anyway? For example, I needed more dishwasher detergent the other day - I can buy that at the local supermarket, but it’s one of those shopping list items that I tend to forget. So I ordered it from Amazon. If I didn’t have Prime, then I probably wouldn’t have used Amazon.</p>
<p>Here’s another savings area – back when I didn’t have Prime, I used to sometimes tack on extra stuff I wouldn’t have bought otherwise in order to run up my order to enough to qualify for free shipping. (Not 2-day, but at least free). So if that amount is $35 – and I saw that the total amount of stuff I had in my shopping cart ran to $31, I might have hunted around trying to find some extra $5 item to bring up the total. I was particularly prone to do that when buying gifts – the rationale was something along the lines that – if I’m going to pay +X, it’s better that I should get a tangible thing for my money than have that +X go to shipping. So I’m wondering if having Prime “saves” me from all of those little extra charges I run up to avoid shipping costs when I don’t have Prime.</p>
<p>I don’t have an answer for everyone. It depends on buying habits. </p>
<p>I just find it a whole lot easier to understand the value of Amazon Prime as compared to, say, the cost of my DirectTV subscription or my telephone land line. </p>
<p>On the delivery side, I was recently surprised to see one Prime order with two day shipment being changed to 5-7 business days when sending to an Amazon locker. Changing back to my office address also meant the return of the 2 days delivery. A bit annoying as it has become iffy to send package to the apartment with the lethal combination of Ontrac (will not attempt to ring the frontdoor) and my favorite (/smile) delivery service manned by the braindead brownmen (UPS) will simply lie about the attempts to deliver to charge the 5 bucks changes. Until this change, the delivery to the lockers had worked pretty well. </p>
<p>Huh? What’s an Amazon locker?</p>
<p>Amazon locker is a service where you can have your item delivered to a local distribution point (like a retail store) where you can go to pick it up. I personally don’t see the appeal, but I work from home and live in a the type of neighborhood where theft is pretty rare. So home delivery works fine for me – the whole point is that I don’t have to leave the comfort of my sofa in order to acquire replacement dog food or toilet paper. I guess the locker idea works better for people who can’t be home when the delivery arrives, and who can’t take delivery of personal items at their place of work – and also don’t have time to go out shopping for the items. </p>
<p>Oh. Thanks.</p>
<p>Regarding dog food delivery – Amazon prices are about 1.8 times what our local PetCo charges. So even though swinging those 35-pound bags of dog food into the trunk of my car is not my favorite thing, I will continue to do so.</p>
<p>So I just looked over my Amazon order history. I’ve only spent about $200 with Amazon in the past year and a good chunk of that was for baby registry gift for good friend’s daughter. There are a few random books and CD’s that were ordered, and Kindle covers. I’ve only ordered 4 books for my Kindle that I’ve had since last June and two were free. I do have a book in my shopping cart that I do plan to order when I find something else to add to it. This is a book that is not available in an ebook format and not available in my public library system to be ordered on reserve. I do plan to order the new J.K. Rowling ebook for my Kindle when it is published in June and will try to use my Kindle more. I’ve not streamed anything ever so I will likely cancel unless I can think of some other reason. I had been thinking of declining at $79.00 but until I had the email or read this thread, I actually had no idea when my Amazon prime came do for renewal or checked it. </p>
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<p>One can accept deliveries at his office and not find it convenient to haul the goods back home with the public transportation or on a bike. I have an Amazon locker inside the health club I visit. It is a great alternative for people who work and live in a city such as San Francisco where driving a car to the office is hardly convenient. It is also a very safe delivery system for pricier items as the control chain and responsibility remains with Amazon. Fwiw, UPS et al have been known to dump boxes in the lobby of office buildings and not necessarily walk to the precise office address. </p>
<p>It is a bit different for people who can see the trucks pulling in front of a residence. </p>
<p>“They show the number of your orders at upper left of your orders page.”</p>
<p>I had not noticed that! Looks like I placed 50 orders in 2013. One was an after market exhaust for my sons car.</p>