PSA: Amazon Prime going up to $119/yr starting May 11

eulogywerd21 said:
I've noticed this too and it seems to me that Bozo wants to eventually turn Amazon into a membership retailer, like the world's largest online Sam's Club/CostCo. Maybe it's just my paranoia speaking.

Amazon doesn't sell anything I can't live without and I'll continue to sporadically buy from them since most my purchases are more than the free shipping minimum anyhow. I still go to a B&M grocery store every week for food/household needs, but I won't play ball with a "all in one" lump membership fee. Give me a reasonable Prime Shipping cost and I'll shut up.
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Well to chime in on your theory, Amazon was recently looking into buying BJ's Wholesales, but that apparently fell through...
 
as an amazon investor, prime is such a ripoff for 90% of its subscribers. prime video is mostly a service full of paid options and anything free is rare and mostly bunk. its exclusive sales are rare. its free 2 day shipping isnt always 2 days, as they use usps for it, which isnt as reliable as ups from my experience, which consistently gets me 4 day shipping. and the game discount is being slimmed down as much as possible without removing it altogether. and 2 day shipping compared to 4, maybe 5 isnt a huge deal to me. if i need something immediately i need something IMMEDIATELY. not just in 2 days rather than 4.

i suspect most subscribers pay out of habit moreso than it having an impact in their life. 

 
Ouch! their music and video service had been nerfed, now a price hike? fk this shit. I will not renew. Saying its because of Prime video is a sad excuse since 90% of things suck on there! lol

Hoping to see their market drop because of this.

 
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I may not renew then. I just want the shipping and don't care about the video, Twitch stuff, or other things that I don't even know about. Plus, I've gone back to Best Buy GCU for most game purchases since the Prime discount isn't consistently applied anymore

 
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eulogywerd21 said:
Amazon doesn't sell anything I can't live without and I'll continue to sporadically buy from them since most my purchases are more than the free shipping minimum anyhow. I still go to a B&M grocery store every week for food/household needs, but I won't play ball with a "all in one" lump membership fee. Give me a reasonable Prime Shipping cost and I'll shut up.
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My wife gets cheap prime through her work, but cant be shared across the household. However, lately we've been finding that many times the items we want with prime-shipping are often cheaper, perhaps significantly so, sold on Amazon with non-prime-shipping. With the whole '2Day shipping not always arriving in two days' stuff, it's often better to use the non-prime options (or buy elsewhere entirely). The video, music and twitch stuff *never* get used; often we forget it even exists.

 
I used to be one of those delivery nearly every day of the year type of ridiculous shoppers

but now that I no longer am a prime member I not only save the subscription fee but all the money I typically would spend on dumb shit I really didn't need or "convenience" shop so I could be antisocial

Switching to digital gaming also made collecting and buying a lot easier and to where I not longer need them

I'd recommend letting it expire for a lot of people just to see how you really don't need it and how much you save by not using it as an excuse to shop and burn money.

 
Actually, I just renewed 1-2 months back, and this is only my second year with Prime(yeah, I was late to the party). LOL

My son would gladly pay that extra $20 from his allowance, as he lives on Prime Video. He loves all those game shows where clowns sit around playing God only knows what, as I can't stand them more than 10 seconds. It's like watching a live video of annoying game voice chat, just without the bad words.

I only started last year, as we cut cable, and with all the supplies I get year round, it seemed a solid buy. I watch a handful of things on Prime, but most of the stuff offered, overlaps with Hulu most months, so not really great. But I would personally probably drop Hulu before Prime, as I think they charge to much, especially for the commercial free service, and compared to Netflix, is a way worse service overall. Their options for parent controls are a joke, and lack many key features that Prime & NF offers.

And of course poorer service and higher prices was going to be Amazon's outcome, as to my knowledge, they haven't really been profitable since they started. Now they have ran most competition out of the market, and prices will now rise. I expected this from day one, as this was there "end game". I would say the last year I got my monies worth from Prime, and then some. I don't know if this year will be the same, so I'll evaluate next year at renewal and make a choice then.

EDIT: And if I kept closer track of my supplies, I could have made a killing on those digital credits as well. But I often only order stuff last second, so I normally can't use the slower shipping option for a bonus. I may try to do better this year, and see how much I can earn there as well.

 
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ritchardf said:
wish they would add an option to save money by dropping certain services, dont use prime video and that is one of the major reasons they cite for the cost increase. really getting to the point that its no longer worth it just for 2 day shipping.
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They have to pay for LOTR somehow...

 
Ferrari Racer said:
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/26/technology/business/amazon-prime-cost-increase/index.html

"The company announced the price hike for its membership program during a call with investors Thursday. The change will go into effect May 11, and it will apply to Prime renewals beginning June 16."
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Bezos to investors: Let's get that $150 billion!

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stringycupps1 said:
You can't really "collect" digital copies of games. When the servers are cut off and your HDD fails in 15 years, you won't be able to play them anymore.
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and if my house burns down or I get robbed or the shitter breaks and squirts the doody all over the physical part of my collection that is gone too

The internet isn't going away and in the long run my digital stuff will probably long outlast my physical stuff

I went from hardcore physical only (because of the thought process you just stated) to accepting digital after becoming more realistic in my view

 
Thankfully, my year subscription renews on May 28th. I use the shipping, movies, and music, so I will probably still keep it after the fact, but I can see how it is discouraging to people who only use it for one of the benefits Prime offers.

 
I might be the only who thinks Prime video is underrated. I try to like Netflix originally programming, but havent found anything other than the Godzilla anime that I like. That series Troy made me want to punch a baby. Prime video has some good geology and astronomy shows, some of the great HBO series, plus I can stream Friday Night Lights all I want. Netflix pissed me off when they removed FNL last October. Now with Hulu also adding FNL, I have less reason to like Netflix.

I think part of my problem is that I like Friday Night Lights too much. Texas Forever...

 
The thing that annoys me about the Amazon price increase, opposed to Netflix being $10+ a month, is that you are essentially paying for the privilege of giving them money on the goods you buy from them in the first place.
 
I don't care for their music service as there are much better options out there, I don't care for their video service as there are much better options out there (and the shows I do enjoy they regularly cancel).
 
I essentially pay $100 a year so I can then buy stuff from them.
 
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chrislaustin said:
And of course poorer service and higher prices was going to be Amazon's outcome, as to my knowledge, they haven't really been profitable since they started.
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Amazon is profitable. Now so more than ever. They do tend to run the retail segment of the company in a tight margin and reinvest the money coming in.

If it were up to me, we'd let our Prime sub lapse but I'm sure my wife will want to keep it going. Which is the inertia Amazon depends on. I doubt their decision for this hike was much more complex than "We lost an acceptably nominal amount of subscribers the last two times we raised rates."

 
I live in a fairly rural area 30 minutes outside of a major urban city. While we do have a Walmart in town, that's about it. Just checked my order history and I had 200+ orders last year and already have had over 60 orders this year.2 day Prime shipping is so amazingly convenient for us. $20 more? Lol that's nothing for how much I use it.

Interestingly enough, only ordered a couple of game related stuff. GCU and GS credit makes Amazon not worth it most of the time.
 
.Beowulf said:
and if my house burns down or I get robbed or the shitter breaks and squirts the doody all over the physical part of my collection that is gone too

The internet isn't going away and in the long run my digital stuff will probably long outlast my physical stuff

I went from hardcore physical only (because of the thought process you just stated) to accepting digital after becoming more realistic in my view
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It's called insurance. Insurance won't pay for your game replacements when the servers are cut off. They will pay for replacements (sometimes after suit) due to your plumbing system leaking or theft.

While the internet isn't going anywhere, servers will be shut down (within just a few years for some consoles). See the Wii.

 
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Just to add... digital release day... $60
Physical release day... $48 (GCU)

Beat game in 3 days.

Sell digital for.... oh can’t.
Sell physical for $40+ (or more with a flip)
Pickup digital later for super cheap.

I don’t do CE very often, but much prefer physical.

Also don’t stream, I spend a lot of the time away from civilization... internet doesn’t exist there. Streaming becomes useless, physical however still works.
(Streaming music/tv/movies... not gaming you can pre load)
 
stringycupps1 said:
It's called insurance. Insurance won't pay for your game replacements when the servers are cut off. They will pay for replacements (sometimes after suit) due to your plumbing system leaking or theft.

While the internet isn't going anywhere, servers will be shut down (within just a few years for some consoles). See the Wii.
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The fact that you even need to explain this, shows who your dealing with on the other end, and I don't mean that in a bad way. He apparently has his beliefs, and if he chooses to see the positive, more power to the cause. I personally know better, as you and many others here know as well. Digital has it's uses, but long term game play is not one of them, at least not yet.

 
chrislaustin said:
The fact that you even need to explain this, shows who your dealing with on the other end, and I don't mean that in a bad way. He apparently has his beliefs, and if he chooses to see the positive, more power to the cause. I personally know better, as you and many others here know as well. Digital has it's uses, but long term game play is not one of them, at least not yet.
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I collected physical for a couple decades and up until only a few short years ago well after I could have made the switch to digital

I think both are fine but I think the fear of digital is overblown.

And with the popular games getting remade and re released every generation sometimes offering many games in one it's not like a casual collector of games they like is really at risk of losing access to games even if it's in a different form.

 
ETERNIA FOREVER said:
...............................
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I couldn't have said it better myself!

But back to the thread, I agree they should segment out the shipping and make it cheaper ($79).

Either that or beef up Prime.

Prime Music should be included for $119. Add more movies, etc. Add more 4k content for christsake!

And the people who are having late shipping problems, are do they always seem to be from an Amazon shipper?

The last 3 problems I had were from the "contracter" guys.

I'm convinced the one guy saw he forgot my package (in his white van) at the end of the night, threw it out and marked it delivered anyway.

 
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JEW UNIT said:
Yup. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Walmart doesn't need a membership for free shipping. Might as well at this point. I'm still under the student program... Now if will excuse me. I feel a little dirty typing that. I'm to take a shower now.
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In fairness, neither does Amazon. Walmart.com requires a minimum purchase amount to qualify for free shipping, just as Amazon does without Prime.

 
stringycupps1 said:
You can't really "collect" digital copies of games. When the servers are cut off and your HDD fails in 15 years, you won't be able to play them anymore.
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Thebacklash said:
Just to add... digital release day... $60
Physical release day... $48 (GCU)

Beat game in 3 days.

Sell digital for.... oh can’t.
Sell physical for $40+ (or more with a flip)
Pickup digital later for super cheap.

I don’t do CE very often, but much prefer physical.

Also don’t stream, I spend a lot of the time away from civilization... internet doesn’t exist there. Streaming becomes useless, physical however still works.
(Streaming music/tv/movies... not gaming you can pre load)
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chrislaustin said:
The fact that you even need to explain this, shows who your dealing with on the other end, and I don't mean that in a bad way. He apparently has his beliefs, and if he chooses to see the positive, more power to the cause. I personally know better, as you and many others here know as well. Digital has it's uses, but long term game play is not one of them, at least not yet.
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Steam was released in 2003, Battlenet in 2009, Origin in 2011, Uplay in 2012. GOG sells installers that don't even require a service. All digital games can be backed up on multiple hard drives and computers. Steam allows family sharing for multiple accounts on the same computer. You can buy digital games for much less than physical games, Humble store even gives popular games away for free. Communities release custom server patches for popular games when official servers go down.

Don't group your shitty console digital gaming in with the PC master race, thanks.

 
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whitereflection said:
They know they have their customers by the balls. They're like, "What are you going to do - cancel your Prime membership and waste time and gas running around to different retailers over $1.66/mo.? Good luck with that."
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I cancelled my membership a while ago and I've been doing just fine since.

 
Blade said:
Don't group your shitty console digital gaming in with the PC master race that you don't understand, thanks.
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When I'm referring to digital, it's always in reference to consoles, as I didn't even know PC games where offered physically anymore(outside of CE), as I thought it was 100% steam at this point.

 
Some people can’t respond beyond “pc master race”

BTW, where’s hellgate London? That digital copy still works right?
Wait.... digital founders edition with the lifetime subscription.

The physical copy could still be patched for offline SP, the digital copy couldn’t be patched or played offline after it came back a few years back.
I think it’s still up in Korea... but the us copy (digital and physical) don’t work. It’s been awhile so could be different now, it’s just the one example I know of off the top of my head.

And do t forget your $100 backup drive to your $100 backup. That you need to replace/upgrade every few years... cause games etc don’t get smaller and drives fail.

And video.. streaming/digital copies are not as good quality wise as they are off the actual disc.
 
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As for the NF and PV argument, have to disagree, have only found 2 shows on Prime that are worth watching, where as the originals on NF are well worth the money, especially in summer when nothing is on.

 
If you're on CAG, why are you even using prime and not best buy? Everything is cheaper on other places, amazon is no longer "the best" now. Electronics? Newegg, no Sales tax. Clothing? Ebay, Ali. Home furnishing? Rakuten, Wayfair. All tend to have better prices. If you're on an internet forum dedicated to being a gaming jewlord, surely there's little effort in just picking different websites for cheaper things.

Unless amazon charges sales tax , there is literally no reason to get prime over GCU. 15 dollars a year. lol. I will never, and have never bought Prime in my state.

 
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Thebacklash said:
Just to add... digital release day... $60
Physical release day... $48 (GCU)
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Why on earth are you paying $60 for a day one release digitally? Last game I played Day One was Far Cry 5 and I paid $50 for the Gold Edition.

But that's not to get into the argument as a whole. I have no interest in pawning my games away but, conversely, I'm not planning on bestowing them to my grandchildren when I leave this vale of tears either. I guess that if you fall on the edges of wanting to sell your stuff to reclaim part of its cost or worrying about where your Mario cartridges will be in 2045, then a physical collection is the way to go.

 
tukai said:
I might be the only who thinks Prime video is underrated. I try to like Netflix originally programming, but havent found anything other than the Godzilla anime that I like. That series Troy made me want to punch a baby. Prime video has some good geology and astronomy shows, some of the great HBO series, plus I can stream Friday Night Lights all I want. Netflix pissed me off when they removed FNL last October. Now with Hulu also adding FNL, I have less reason to like Netflix.

I think part of my problem is that I like Friday Night Lights too much. Texas Forever...
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sounds like you should just buy the Blu-rays or the digital copies of FNL and it might save you a bunch of money spent on streaming services, etc. lol

 
The $20 increase is annoying but wouldn't bother me that much if the value was still there. I used to buy a lot of games from AWD, now that they stopped taking trade ins for so many games and stopped taking trade ins on movies, AWD hardly has major restocks and I went from ordering AWD items a few times a week to 2 - 3 times a month. It was nice to be able to order a last gen game for a few dollars or less, finish the game, trade it back in for maybe $1 loss (or no loss if you count No Rush Credit). Basically a budget version of Gamefly.

The other problem is the increase of the amount of add on items. Half the time I used to get to the $25 order requirement, they shipped the add on items individually anyway. I now use a Kindle Fire to order add on items which gets around the $25 minimum but then I can't get the No Rush Credits that helps offset the cost of Prime.

 
Hoping this means many will not renew and then they'll have to reevaluate their model. Personally, I'm going to selfishly start ordering more individual $5 items and then make a stink when they dont arrive exactly as promised. The credit should make up the difference ;)

Amazon Prime, Netflix, PSN, XBL, Nintendo Network (or w/e) .... so sick of these price hikes being justified by adding services no one asked for. No Amazon, I barely watch your streaming servie anymore and would like to axe it from my subscription. I don't read your horrible book offerings and Spotify is miles ahead of your music service. No Netflix, your half-baked dime-a-dozen "original programming" (in lieu of quality shows and movies we used to get, for a cheaper price no less) does not justifiy your price hikes. No PSN and XBL, I don't want your six year old games for "free" when those games can be had for $5 outright. No Nintendo, I don't want rentals of retro games which I have multiple copies of already in return for a paid service.

fuckING STOP IT

 
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.Beowulf said:
and if my house burns down or I get robbed or the shitter breaks and squirts the doody all over the physical part of my collection that is gone too
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Not interested in the physical v. digital debate here, but I just had to ask:

Why in the world are you keeping your games somewhere that this is even a potential problem in the first place?

 
.Beowulf said:
and if my house burns down or I get robbed or the shitter breaks and squirts the doody all over the physical part of my collection that is gone too

The internet isn't going away and in the long run my digital stuff will probably long outlast my physical stuff

I went from hardcore physical only (because of the thought process you just stated) to accepting digital after becoming more realistic in my view
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Same for me. I went all digital and don't regret it one bit.

 
abbabaab said:
Not interested in the physical v. digital debate here, but I just had to ask:

Why in the world are you keeping your games somewhere that this is even a potential problem in the first place?
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Never beat boogerman while taking a poopy?

you're missing out

 
Sindur said:
sounds like you should just buy the Blu-rays or the digital copies of FNL and it might save you a bunch of money spent on streaming services, etc. lol
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I don’t appreciate you using logic :). But seriously I have them on dvd but enjoy binge watching one ep after another without switching discs. Also I like recommending the show to people.
 
It's funny how over on Slickdeals most of the amazon nutthuggers defend these practices. I stopped amazon shopping years ago


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Faithful said:
I live in a fairly rural area 30 minutes outside of a major urban city. While we do have a Walmart in town, that's about it. Just checked my order history and I had 200+ orders last year and already have had over 60 orders this year.2 day Prime shipping is so amazingly convenient for us. $20 more? Lol that's nothing for how much I use it.

Interestingly enough, only ordered a couple of game related stuff. GCU and GS credit makes Amazon not worth it most of the time.
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We're in the same situation. Due to work we spend 4 days out of the week in an extremely rural area that only has a Walmart and the nearest city is over an hour a way and the drive can be pretty hazardous during winter. Even with the price increase prime is still worth it.

 
pun123 said:
As for the NF and PV argument, have to disagree, have only found 2 shows on Prime that are worth watching, where as the originals on NF are well worth the money, especially in summer when nothing is on.
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Lets talk. Overall I agree with you but I rank Amazon above Hulu easily but then I don't give a fuck generally about what's on network TV unless it's in Korea or Japan. The premium channels are exceptions.

For the Japanese Amazon Originals, look at some of what they've now unlocked to the English audience, specifically the Amazon Original stuff. You're welcome. I asked about, if they had WW rights, why they don't unlock them to compete with Netflix who has all their original shit available in all languages and they wondered why not. This got bopped up and now those shows are available.

If you like Kamen Rider there's a new one now and it's called Amazon Riders but you know what it is. Documental is good but only 4 episodes. The vampire show could use a bigger budget. The Kyoto Love story seems promising. I'm looking at the Tokyo Alice show and a few others possibly.

For English/American shows, Goliath is good. "Cooking Is Magic" is a kids show and actually high quality, comparable to what I watched when I was a kid. As I'm sure you know the kid's shows today are shit and assume kids are idiots and will watch whatever.

You likely have seen "Man In the High Castle". The Dennis Quaid show seems solid.

All of this being said, I find more on Prime video than Hulu since those pricks gutted the Korean Drama offerings. Four words for Hulu: fuck live TV streaming. I'm not subsidizing that shit. If Hulu kept Anime AND brought back Korean Drama's in a substantial amount I'd jump at it as a bargain. Hulu needs to realize there service doesn't have enough compelling content like Netflix and hasn't had enough value like Amazon Prime did for a time which is why when it auto-renewed a couple of days ago I set it to go back to hold at the end of May for 3 months. NOT worth it at $12 for no commercials. Piss off Hulu.

All this being said, with Amazon Prime at $120 a year...fuck you Amazon, I'm out. I'm not funding a piece of shit organization like the NFL. I HATED it when sports shit I don't watch burrowed an exorbitant amount of money for Satellite into the pocket for ESPN via forced carriage deals and I won't play that game here. I don't hate sports but I'm not subsidizing that for sports nuts, you fucks can get gouged, I'm not letting you shake me down.

 
The optics of this aren't exactly great: Posting record profits while increasing the price of your service by 20% is not going to be winning you a lot of fans or people wanting to run to your defense. 
 

Even with the price increase, Prime is still worth it to me- but I can't imagine my situation is the "average" case- 

I don't have cable- so I heavily use Netflix, Prime, Hulu and Movie Pass.

I have multiple kindles and tablets, so I actually do take advantage of their Kindle Lending library. 
Plus, the games they've started added for Twitch Prime is another source of value for me. 

Am I thrilled to pay an extra $20 a year? No. But it's still not enough to make me drop the service, either. 

 
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Not that I want to defend Amazon here, but I didn't see this mentioned.  I break up all my orders and use slow shipping for the $1 digital credit.  In 2016, I received $117 in credit back from Amazon.  Didn't get as much in 2017 because there was a period of time Amazon didn't offer me the credit.  But it's been back in full force for about the last 7-8 months.  If this holds the odds of me getting more than $120 in digital credit is good as I order a bunch of smaller items from Amazon.  Yeah, I lose the fast shipping, but at least most of the cheap stuff (as long as it's not add on item) ships free and gets me the credit. 

So to me it's worth it just for the digital credit as I can turn that into PSN, Xbox, or Nintendo credit.  At the very least, I've already gotten like $50 of credit in the first quarter which significantly subsidizes the rest of the prime payment even if I don't make it to $120. 

 
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