It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription
Maybe it’s time to consider quitting!
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Ignoring the other benefits to prime outside of shipping, this is a major caveat:
"Amazon still ships free when your cart is above $35, albeit a few days slower. "
Most people are fine with slower, but if you're forced to make your order $35 to get free shipping, you're likely buying stuff you don't want/need just to get to that amount.
Just to save like $10 a month?
I don't think you save money by cancelling, unless you actually don't buy stuff from Amazon to begin with.
For me, having Prime is still worth it. Several grocery items are still cheaper from Amazon, and ordering for same/next day means I don't have to waste time/money/energy going to a store to get that same item.
But that doesn't mean I won't cancel the moment Prime stops being a good value.
I cancelled Prime about a year ago, and so far it has had zero affect on our lives. Sometimes I'll put something in my cart that's under $35 and just wait until I want something else that brings me over $35. Maybe I'm more disciplined than other people? If I need something urgently, I'm not ordering it online anyway.
Quite a few times, a long period of time goes by before I add something to my cart to get above $35, and in the meantime I decided I don't even want the original thing. I'm ordering from Amazon a LOT less often, and it's great.
If I need something urgently, I’m not ordering it online anyway.
Is that because you don't have prime? I get same day, even overnight (literally 4 am delivery) from Prime, so it's often faster to just order from Amazon than to schedule time to visit a local store. Obviously, if something is needed NOW, I'll go to a local store. This happens maybe once or twice a year.
But what do you do? Go to a local store for semi-urgent things every time? How much time/energy/gas does that cost, and is it significantly less than $10 a month?
If I had to defer just three items to our local grocery store or Walmart, it would actually cost MORE in gas than the Prime fee.
For us, it saves money, which is why I'll continue using it.
If it doesn't for you, then cancelling was a good decision, and I would have done the same.
I honestly can't think of the last time I needed something quickly. For example, I used to order electronic stuff from Amazon... stuff like Lolin D1 Mini's and stuff. Now I order those things from Ali Express for 1/4 the cost, and wait an extra week for it to come from China.
Doesn't 1-day shipping cost extra, even with Prime? There's a warehouse a few hours away from us, but things still took forever with Prime.
I honestly can’t think of the last time I needed something quickly.
It depends on circumstances. I've got grandkids, pets, various hobbies, etc. Often times, I may need something within the next 24h, and Amazon is nearly always more convenient than going to a local store (which would take a minimum of 1 hour of my time).
I've had free same day/next day with Prime for years. I did a quick search just now and I'm seeing a lot (most?) items listed as : "FREE delivery Overnight 4 AM - 8 AM. Order within 6 hrs 30 mins. Details", which would be approx. 8pm to get an item in less than 12 hours.
My wife often has me ordering stuff like at 11pm. And we'll have before lunch the following day. I mean, it really is way more convenient than shopping local.
Plus, we do make use of other Prime perks like Prime video and music, so it's still a good value for our home.
Go figure, I just ordered something on the 11th, and it was delivered today, the 13th. Non-prime shipping.
Non-prime shipping is usually 2 days, though, right? That's not bad, either way.
It's usually closer to a week.
We buy as little as possible from Amazon, though it sort of doesn’t matter because our choice is basically Amazon or Walmart (where we live there aren’t any other retailers).
Basically we buy as little from all of these shit companies as possible. We keep a running list of things we do need to buy from Amazon and when the tally is $35 or more, then we make the purchase. It doesn’t cost us anything extra because it’s stuff we can only get from Amazon and it’s all stuff we need.
I've posted this elsewhere in similar comments. The value of Amazon has shifted from "buy anything" to "buy something that's annoying to find".
Unfortunately local brick and mortar stores are to blame as well.
Say you're looking for a 3-ring binder. You likely know where to go for it at your local Walmart. You aren't tied to a particular brand (or you are) and it doesn't take you long to find it.
But now let's say you're looking for something small like car wax. You're not sure what you need. You'd think it's in the care care section but you're not seeing it. The Walmart app says it's in aisle K44 and your in, what the hell? Z4? Map does you no good. And when you get there there are so many small products that you can't find it.
Amazon has done studies and the majority of shipped products weigh less than something like 5 pounds. People find Amazon search better than the in-store experience.
Walmart, and most B&M stores unfortunately have no incentive to change because they want you to browse. For Walmart, it's basket size (items per cart) whereas Amazon is the speed of checkout.
if you’re forced to make your order $35 to get free shipping, you’re likely buying stuff you don’t want/need just to get to that amount.
Nnnnooo. I'm pretty sure I need toilet paper. My order was $33 for the main stuff I needed to buy and then I threw in toilet paper to push the order over $35. I needed that anyway.
Also, you could ask your spouse if anything else is needed around the house. Also, also, you could just wait until you need something else and batch the orders into 1 order over $35, instead of ordering a bunch of single $5 items.
If you really need something urgently, then it's perfectly fine to pay for shipping. But this probably doesn't happen very often.
It's really not that hard. You should try it. Cancel Prime for 3 months. If you hate living without it after 3 months, then you can resubscribe. There's no penalties.
