I just received this email from Amazon:
Dear Julie Strietelmeier,
We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing. The annual rate will be $99 when your membership renews on December 21, 2014.
Even as fuel and transportation costs have increased, the price of Prime has remained the same for nine years. Since 2005, the number of items eligible for unlimited free Two-Day Shipping has grown from one million to over 20 million. We also added unlimited access to over 40,000 movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video and a selection of over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
For more information about your Prime membership, visit our Prime membership page.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Prime Team
A $20 bump stings a little bit, but honestly, you can’t beat Prime. I use it ALL the time. If I could order my groceries through Amazon, I would… I don’t take advantage of the video features as much as I should though.
I haven’t been a member for more than a couple years, so it is impressive that this is the first increase since the service was started in 2005.
Are you a Prime member? Will you be canceling when your renewal comes up, or will you just deal with the $20 increase?
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i don’t think anyone enjoys a price increase, but it’s still a great deal. It’s an even better deal if you purchase from Amazon and use the free 2-day shipping and use the video streaming service, like I do. I’ll continue with Prime at $99 annually.
@Bill I use the 2 day shipping all the time. It’s just the video streaming that I don’t take advantage of very often.
It’d be nice if they could break out the Prime membership into two tiers. Like you, I never use their video streaming service, but use the 2-day shipping all the time. With how much stuff I get shipped from Amazon though, I’ll eat the $20 increase with only some minor grumbling.
@Chris K that’s a good idea to break the service into two tiers…
I will do the math, but it probably still worth it for us. We don’t really use the video services. They seams to have similar programming to Netflix, but a much more awkward interface. With the baby we have been ordering all our supplies on amazon and saving a ton. We have also started ordering our normal consumables, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo’s, etc. The savings on that stuff is not HUGE, but it’s still there. And having it just show up regularly is awesome.
I got the email as well. However, mine renews in March, so the email said it will be same this year, but will bump up next March (2015). I do buy quite a few things from Amazon, so will probably still keep it. Oh, I also use the lending library to get books on the Kindle, I think that is also part of Prime.
@Sufyan Wait, what is this lending library thing?
It is most disappointing that we will pay $99 per year now but still have to deal with so many add-on items. How about Amazon raise the price but give us something more in return? Such as eliminating the add-on items scenario totally, or lowering the add-on items threshold minimum below $25?
@O-Qua there’s a rumor that they are going to add on a streaming music service. I haven’t really paid attention to the details though.
I will continue with prime also, the price increase is neligible and the benefits are huge. I also use the kindle lending library. I dont know if u have to be a prime member or just akindle owner. I order most everything off of Amazon so the free shipping is worth it the price.
I will continue with Prime. Even though they have started charging sales tax down here in Texas, a lot of the items are still good prices and getting it in two days is great. I saw an article where they said Amazon was telling vendors to inflate prices to cover shipping. I am a very thorough shopper and I always compare prices. I have yet to find where prices at Amazon seem inflated. I have used the lending library several times (if you have a Kindle reader – not just the app on a phone or tablet) you can borrow a book for free once a month.) and we have used the streaming a few times. All in all I feel it is worth the price.
Mine says 2015
“Prime membership will be increasing in 2015. Your 2014 annual renewal will remain at the original price of $79”
It seems that the cutoff month is Sept 1, 2014 to the renewal rate of $99.
@Andrew – lending library – http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000739811
You do need a kindle and prime both for it.
For that kind of money, Amazon should really make their video streaming service available on all devices (not just on the Kindle Fire devices or on iphones). I cannot stream Amazon Prime using my Google Nexus 7 or my MotoX (and yes, I do watch videos on my phone when I am at my mom’s house where there is no cable tv or internet service).
I just sneaked in before the price rise here in the UK, currently £49 going up to £79 I think. I still reckon it’s a great deal though as we get next day delivery and LoveFilm streaming (currently I’ve used it on my Mac, iPhone, iPad & PS3 and it works a treat!). I’m yet to use the Kindle owners’ lending library though, but for the money I think it’s well worth it.