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Amazon Prime Price Hike: Is It Worth Renewing?

Amazon Prime Price Hike: Is It Worth Renewing?

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Amazon Prime members were notified recently that an Amazon Prime cost increase will be starting March 25th. The price for new members will be $139, up from the current $119. Existing members will continue to pay the current price until their renewal date. So, is it worth it to renew Amazon Prime after the increase? That depends on how you use the service.

Amazon Prime Price Hike: Is It Worth Renewing?

The Amazon Prime Cost Increase Details

While the price increases to $139, the annual prime membership is still the best and most cost-effective deal for the average Prime user. That $20 increase averages to an additional monthly rate of $1.67, which brings the monthly cost to roughly $11.58 a month.

If you pay monthly? Your $12 rate jumps to $14 – for an annual increase of $24.

Students get off the easiest as their $59 a year membership only goes up to $10 to $69.

If you are an avid Amazon shopper, the increase may not be as noticeable because you’re already saving money on shipping and other benefits. But if you only use Amazon occasionally, it might be worth re-evaluating whether Prime is the best deal for you.

How to Decide if Amazon Prime is Worth It

There are a few things to consider when deciding whether Amazon Prime is worth the increase:

  1. How often do you shop on Amazon?
  2. What are your shipping costs without Prime?
  3. What other benefits does Prime offer that you find valuable?

The answers to these questions will help you decide if Amazon Prime is still the best deal for you.

Amazon Shipping Costs

Let’s talk about the FREE delivery.

If you spend over $25 and you still get free shipping unless you need items in two days…I buy a lot of essential items in bulk and have them on reoccurring delivery so I don’t have to think about it. While Subscribe and Save isn’t a Prime exclusive, you do get access to items that non-Prime members don’t and exclusive coupons.

What is Subscribe and Save?

You get an extra discount on top of Amazon’s prices just by signing up to receive shipments on a regular basis on select products. Often, these are the products you’re buying at regular intervals anyways – such as diapers, paper products, and groceries.

That savings is usually 5% but when you get 5+ items a month? That usually jumps to a 15% savings. And the best part? You can change delivery schedules or cancel at any time.

Amazon Shipping Costs

Have you sent anything via the Post Office Lately?

If you are sending stuff to college students – or even mailing out a few gifts over the holidays, you will see how the cost of shipping a package has jumped. Amazon Prime delivers to your door, or theirs, for FREE.

For me? That answers the question of adjusting to the Amazon Prime cost increase – but if you aren’t sure yet? Keep reading!

Other Amazon Prime Benefits

There is more than free shipping for Prime members! Amazon Prime members also get access to several programs that, when looked at on their own, far exceed the cost of a Prime membership.

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Amazon Prime Music

Prime Music gives Amazon Prime members access to over seventy-five million ad-free songs that can be streamed via Amazon’s app or on their Echo devices. Amazon recently added the ability to download music for offline use, which is great if you have a commute and don’t want to waste your data plan streaming music. It also has playlists curated by Amazon Music editors.

If you’re a music lover, Amazon Prime could be worth it just for the access to Amazon Prime Music! According to Amazon, the cost of Amazon Prime Music alone would be $7.99 a month.

That is a benefit worth $95.88 a year, included in your Prime memberships.

Amazon Prime Movies and TV

Known now as Prime Video, Amazon Prime members have access to Amazon’s movie and TV library. This ranges from older movies and tv shows that can be watched for free with ads to the latest releases that can be rented or purchased. Again, if you are an avid Amazon shopper or love watching movies and tv, this benefit is worth more than the cost of Amazon Prime. Members can also subscribe to 100+ channels and get special deals to rent or buy new release movies and more.

Compare this to the cost of a standard Netflix membership with a monthly rate of $15.49, which is an annual cost of $185.88. To watch TV.

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Amazon Prime Pharmacy

One of my meds is cheaper with Prime pharmacy than generic at the regular pharmacy. For me, the savings are still better, even with the membership going up. What is Amazon Prime Pharmacy? Amazon Prime pharmacy is a benefit for Amazon Prime members that allows you to order prescriptions and have them delivered. It works by linking your Amazon account with your pharmacy information, so there isn’t any need to carry around prescription cards or insurance information.

Amazon pharmacy covers the cost of prescriptions, and you can order up to a 90-day supply at once so your prescription costs are covered for three months. Amazon pharmacy also offers free shipping on all orders (including refills) if they’re over $25. You can also get discounts on Amazon’s generic medications.

Amazon Pharmacy is only available to Prime members.

Amazon Prime Photos

Another Amazon Prime benefit that is often overlooked is Amazon Prime Photos. This service gives Amazon Prime members unlimited photo storage in the Amazon Cloud.

This means you can save all of your photos without worrying about running out of space or deleting older pictures to make room for new ones. You also have the option to share your photos with others, which can be great for family photo albums.

You can also access your photos on any device, so you can easily save and share photos from your phone or computer. You CAN store photos on Amazon without Prime, all Amazon users get up to 5GB (photos and video), but then you have to pay for additional storage. Plans start at $1.99 a month – so it would be a minimum of $47.76 a year out of pocket.

Amazon Prime Reading

I read a lot, so Amazon Prime Reading is another Amazon benefit I really like. Amazon Prime members get access to over 2,500 books and magazines for free with their membership. This includes both fiction and nonfiction titles of all genres, plus magazines such as People, Time Magazine, and more!

I love how dozens of titles are audible – so I can listen when cooking, doing yard work, or on any road trips.

You can check out one book at a time on your Amazon Prime Reading app or Kindle, and there are no due dates so you can keep the book for as long as you want. You also have the option to borrow magazines.

Think of this as a mini version of their Kindle Unlimited program – which is an additional $9.99 a month.

Amazon Prime Reading

How to save money on Prime

If you LOVE all of those benefits but are having an issue with Amazon Prime’s cost increase, there are a couple of ways to save money on Amazon Prime.

For Senior Citizens and Low Income

If you are a qualifying senior citizen who is on Medicaid (Medicare alone does not qualify) or receives EBT benefits, you will be eligible for a discounted price – half the monthly rate currently ($5.99 a month instead of $12)

Read more about it here: Amazon Medicaid Program

Get Apps

Get the apps that pay you in Amazon Gift cards. That way it offsets the membership and items cost. One of my favorites is Fetch where I upload receipts from ANYWHERE to get points. Check out Fetch for yourself: FETCH REWARDS

Gift Yourself

Give yourself “the gift of prime” and you can purchase a couple of years worth right now for $119.           

You can then apply your purchases each year to stay a member of Prime at the same $119 price well after the $20 price hike takes effect. For example, if your Prime membership expires this year on May 19th, you need to turn off your Prime auto-renewal and on March 19th or 20th, click on the email that was sent after your purchase to activate a new subscription. 

See our latest email and just click the blue button on the top to add yourself

Try it for 30 days FREE

Are you an Amazon Prime Member? If not you can get a free 30-day trial here to take advantage of the wonderful perks its offers and the Secret Amazon Prime Perks. I think you’re going to LOVE it!  

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