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Amazon Hikes Cost Of Prime Membership By 25% To $99
We wonder just what hedonic adjustments the BLS will use to explain away the implied inflation from this 25% increase in Amazon Prime membership fees. Prefunding the cost of friendly drone deliveries (which Tesla may soon desperately need if it wants to sell its cars direct)? We also wonder, just what the impact on Prime membership will be considering the disastrous results that Netflix suffered when it did a comparable price hike a little over two years ago, which it promptly reversed when people started abandoning the service in droves. Just how elastic is Amazon pricing? We are about to find out.
From Amazon:
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 October 28, 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
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Cost of lunch in DC or NY
WTF is a prime membership?
If you have to ask.....you can't afford it.
Somebody's got to have a beef on this, just not me.
Just cancelled my auto-renewal.
This should help.
Amazon. The company with a profitless business model. :-)
And then there’s Amazon Prime, which offers customers free two-day shipping for a one-time annual fee of $79 (now $99) and is another loss leader affecting fourth-quarter estimates. Amazon is characteristically hush-hush about its profits (or lack of them) from this program and won’t even disclose how many customers are signed up for the service.
But the number of Amazon Prime customers is growing. According to a recent survey of 300 Amazon customers by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Prime had 16.7 million members at the end of September, or 40 percent of Amazon’s customers, up from 9.7 million the year before.
http://chart.gurufocus.com/1384644993698.png
Correct. The current price is $79.00
Prime customers are notoriously price insensitive, ie rich bitches, but occasionally small businesses who want rapid shipment of office supplies, etc.
I'm not a fan of Bezos, or his business model, but this helps distinguish amazon from e-bay which is a turtle speed, ignorant cluster fuck.
i'm a rich bitch?
news to me.
No, just price insensitive. The urban/rural split is poorly understood. When I lived in DC I handled a lot more money, but saved almost nothing. Those comparisons are worth looking at. Arbitrage is the new "in the black;)"
What is price insensitive on paying an annual fee for free shipment within 2 days? Btw, when I was looking at Amazon web site recently, there is PRIME everywhere, I got the feeling there are some more advantages resulting from the membership, aren't there.
As a student (or a man w/ a .edu email address), I get it for $49, up now from $39. A fair enough price for free 2-day shipping and $4 next day shipping. I don't use the video service though. Bleh.
I am rural. I wouldn't say I am price insensitve in any way. But since I am rural, I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. It saves a 60 Mile round trip drive to do so. Seen the price of gas? Say I take my little zippo communter vehicle, which gets 40mpg. Okay so that is $4-6 in gas. If I order 20 times a year from Amazon, which I do, then this is pretty much a no brainer just on gas costs. . Also, the 2 day shipping is really nice when you are working on a project you want to get done and you can get the part or tool or whatever and get one with it. Add in the free streaming and kindle library, and there is $10+ a month I don't spend on Hulu or Netflix, and who knows how many $ I save when the kids are looking fora new book to read.. or, more commonly, leave the book they were supposed ot have at school....
Do I want the price to go up to $100? heck no. Do I still think its a good deal at that price? Yes. If my economics and local choices were different would I still think so? Maybe not. To be sure, price goes up, demand will go down, and a lotta people will not re-up. . Its that simple.
I live in suburbia...and have been a Prime subscriber since 2005. I avoid the malls whenever I can; free 2 shipping and LOW cost Saturday let me experiment with items and ultimately return what I don't use or need. Amazon Prime video is becoming my goto source for kids video that Netflix has lost rights to. It runs on my Roku's, Blu-Ray players smart TV's and tablets...prime offers free shipping for 40# sacks of my pets favorite dog food...
But the no-brainer reason: My sisters and brother pay for my account, since you can include 4 family members under 1 prime account. I'll take that for a $100!
i'm a rich bitch?
news to me.
edit: TWO POSTS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
You must be a ZH Prime member!
Back when I switched to Prime, I did it based on the then current Netflix pricing and movie viewing. The shipping was icing. Now, with brick & mortar becoming almost untenable for some types of retail, the shipping has more relative value in the package. I question the value on the video side. And the lending library? A joke.
You get your cheap chinese shit in two days instead of 3-5 days. It helps to keep the sheep sedated while Rome burns.
Shut your whore mouth I by my anarchist literature off of Amazon.
Sometimes Amazon can be really useful. My wife wanted 100 Watt incandescent bulbs for her bathroom. Can't find those in stores any more, but you can get them on Amazon.
Free money for Bezos.
hell cost of lunch in backwater hilljack smalltown...
this is a non-story and I've voted as such... don't use percentages to whip up frenzy over a raw increase that amounts to a rounding error... that's obvious and pathetic
"Cost of lunch in DC or NY"
So $99 for 250 lunches a year comes up to close to $25,000/year. I'm sure your girlfriend or wife will be quite willing to make you sack lunches to take to work--as long as you spend most of the savings on her.
"Welcome Prime members...We heard about the recent price increase and wanted to help. We are offering a limited time FREE 1-Year membership exclusively for Amazon Prime members who have not yet renewed their membership at the higher rate here: http://bit.ly/1qzyuGQ.
Thanks and we hope you enjoy your ShopRunner experience! Erin G., ShopRunner Social Media Team Member"
Bye, bye Prime. Didn't use it much anyway.
Ditto
Ditto ditto..
How am I gonna tell the kids they can't have their favorite Wild Kratts episode on demand any more?
Oh damn they have the Kratts on there? What about Zoboomafoo?
Those were shows I actually wanted the kids to watch.
pods
Get a Roku and get them for free from the PBS Kids channel.
This is the email they sent me:
Dear ,
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 March 9, 2015.
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
@playnstocks
WTF? Does Bezos not read the CPI release? There is NO inflation.
I think he meant "The Weather" LOL
I never used it. Most of my orders(shipped free) still make it within 2 to 3 days after ordering.
Yep. Many of the amazon merchnats have started free shipping to compete with Amazon's prime service. I think amazon has made a serious error by raising the prime membership rate.
Agreed.
I have it, but my strategy is to get my stuff, and then ditch it.
Expect lower results.
Price hikes in this economy is unwise.
I plan to use my wish list as a guide, a free service to buy elsewhere. Just got my last must have items from them.
Lots of little expenses you don't notice or pay much attention to, they just renew automatically. But pricing it near a hundred bucks and charging once a year will get peoples attention. Bye bye prime. They'll probably lose prime customers and product sales.
I have a couple of months to think about Prime. XM was nice, but the receiver had crapped out when renewal came up and it was too cold to install the new one. I realized they had gone up 50% from the $10/month initial rate, so they got punted.
Still worth it. Saves on gas + keeps my wife out of Target & Costco.
Way worth it. You can't beat the prices in most cases.
Prime means free shipping on lots of items. Saves on automotive expenses (gas, wear and tear, etc.) and time. I check Amazon first before entertaining going anywhere. My wife uses the free books thing.
I use Amazon (not Prime) because:
Enjoy it while you can. Cali closed that avenue of pleasure for us. We have found a few ways around it. Still is worth it even with the increase.
Miffed;-)
We got shafted on that one as well. Amazon built a distribution center about 20 miles from here with some tax deal where they get the break in return for charging us (in state) sales tax.
My state just ended #3. It will make Prime less valuable. But considering my local retail selection is a choice between WMT, TGT, and LOW, I don't think I really care which corporate behemoth takes my FRNs.
Ahem - but you are aware you can get free shipping without prime too, if you wait til you have $35+ worth of things together and plan ahead so you can accept the 5-8 days shipping time?
I agree with you guys.
When i order stuff, i generally save 5-10% off the best competitor--if I can get the product locally. Then, saving $5 for every order...the $99 break even is pretty fast in this household.
Everyone's mileage may vary.
If you do not see value in it, don't buy it. Its the same with Costco membership, AAA membership, etc.
Its not a tax.
Have to agree. Prime is fabulous. We buy all our basic sundries,supplies and supplements this way. We have tracked our purchases and definitely have saved money. I manage it so we never are over stocked. This may be due to no impulse buying which I have a tendency to do.
My husband is the only one who shops costco because he is very impulse buy resistant. I asked him to pick up blueberries the other day at Costco and that's the only thing he brought home. We have agreed it is Aladdins Cave for me so, if we are there together I must stay in the car and hang out here and he just purchases items off our list. Sometimes the key to a good relationship is just admitting your problem and letting the other pick up the slack. I don't know how 2 people could manage a life together if they both shared this unfortunate attribute.
Someone told me that the best place to see couples fighting was in the Costco parking lot. Cringe.
Miffed;-)
Funny stuff Miffed. I can't get through a grocery store for less than $30. If I am hungry at the time, double that. lol.
You sound gay.
The zerohedge cocksuckers can ban me again. I am done with this shit site.
That's nothing compared to the 'hedonics' of watering the service down. It's pretty meaningless now; other than perhaps as a ransom you pay to make sure your stuff doesn't ship even more slowly.
"That's nothing compared to the 'hedonics' of watering the service down. It's pretty meaningless now; other than perhaps as a ransom you pay to make sure your stuff doesn't ship even more slowly."
I notice more items considered "Add On Items" that you can't order unless the totals run to a minimum amount. Don't know if theyve increased the number of items under that category or if it just happens to be what I've needed to order recently. It also seems that they take longer to ship and it takes longer to get to me.
They have definitely increased the items, many items I used to buy Prime are now Add On. I will be one of those dumping Prime once it comes up for renewal, I don't use it as much anymore, I find Walmart.com (of all places) beats Amazon on price a lot these days, and for most items I can afford to wait until a)I have $50 or more to buy (to get free shipping from Walmart), and b)wait for more than two days for shipping.
It's because of the weather, I'm sure.
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 February 24, 2015.
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
Just got that email. I still like Amazon for crowdsourced opinions (reviews) on items. Much better than the crapshoot at HD or other box stores. At least on Amazon you can read about POS items.
pods
This is true
Yes; that too. I gave up on E-Bay the first of last year; Amazon does what's necessary to make you secure in your on-line shopping.
I can't believe in 2014 ebay still looks like some flea-market. Well, I guess it is.. but the UI and functionality are just horrible. It wants to be all things to everyone. It is amazing to me that something as simple as "I want to post an item for sale" is still so difficult and convoluted.
And I personally cannot stand Paypal. Amazing nobody has come out with something to compete with those jokers.
That's mostly true, but there are quite a few shill reviews, as well as some of my negative reviews have been pulled because they were deemed "offensive".
Yes, especially true on books. The more on point you are, the more the author or publisher will bitch.
Amazon threads can also prove to be a surprisingly good comedy resource at times.
I'm canceling my membership after getting the same email. I haven't used it as much lately, though, I must say for me the service was really quite good. Too bad.
As for comedy. NOTHING beats this (the reviews are brilliant, and there are over 2,000):
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve/dp/B007I4HIBA/ref=...
I can attest that the "Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve T-Shirt" sold by Amazon has indeed improved my life by leaps and bounds...the simple fact that Amazon through its Prime service can deliver a product of this quality in 2-3 days shipping time is well worth the 25% increase in the Amazon Prime subscription alone.
I always check the reviews on Amazon. Also check Youtube for reviews for anything you might want to purchase.
I wonder how much of the retail sales drop can be attributed to those opinions? I know I have stopped myself from buying something that would have been a piece of crap, which I would have bought. a decade ago.
I appreciate the honest opinions about merchandise that just does not meet expectations BEFORE I buy it.
Amazon "prime" was never sensible in the first place. I shop there; but when I read the blurb for "prime"; I just laughed. There was never any reason to pay them in the first place. Hopefully they have a business plan that can survive losing a lot of "primes"; because they make on-line shopping very easy and cheap; and you don't actually get ripped off on any transactions; their determination to insure that you have recourse in the form of returns or refunds is what's necessary for on-line commerce.
It all depends on the services used as compared to the alternatives, of course. For me that means determining if I save anything in a year's worth of shipping charges by paying a hundred bucks up front. That's the only part of Prime that I use.
Great question....no membership fees are worth it....but then Costco has done well, The real question is Amazon does not even disclose how MANY prime members they HAVE..so we will never know if it IS a positive or negative for the company!!! winner winner chicken dinner
They recently referred to tens of millions of Amazon Prime Subscribers. This means they must have at least 20 miillion.
I wish Ebay had something like that!
I've made the postal services rich with all my silver coin purchases...
LOL I've bought pre-1982 pennies as well from ebay, with the weight of those I think the mail lady isn't too pleased...
If it fits, it ships! Shoulda seen the mail lady drop off some ammo. Gave her a lesson on the density of lead vs paper
Costs more to put snow tires on delivery drones
Damn the cost, Dog !
I would pay for that just for the visuals.
Cancel"
For now this is a great business model, and they don't have to make any money to do it.. Destroy the bricks and mortars, and then back an internet tax followed by price hikes. It will work for a time, but eventually this tactic will sow the seeds of Amazon's downfall.
Hate to say it Doc, but brick and mortars have been walmarted and shit is barely usable anymore. Walmart made everyone skimp on motors, metal, etc and now everyone is doing that same thing.
That killed the independents who actually sold real shit. Of course, Walmart had them name the products similar so you look and think Walmart's "identical" product is $30 bucks cheaper.
Shitty that Amazon supported the internet tax, but they probably saw the writing on the wall. The man was going to get his cut. Do it now, and you can drive out some competition while you still have market share.
pods
Walmart has done more than it's share to destroy the small retailer, but they have cut their throats with their business model too. If it weren't for the welfare transfer payments they receive thanks to SNAP they would be in survival mode. Cut out Snap and they are screwed. Greed in any business model will eventually bring it down.
That's not what Michael Douglas said.
Give it time my friend. We see what greed has done to our country.
Maybe you're right. I think greed is defined as a "sin" in virtually every major philosophical/religious system. Well, not the Hedonists, but they've been gone for centuries. Well, maybe not.
I also think there was a B-list pulp sci-fi author back in the 50s who did a pretty bang up job of de-demonizing greed.
How did it work out for him? Throat cancer from licking nasty....
I make a plan anytime I need something that I know walmart has. Park in the garden section, quick line to where the item is, get it, get out.
Wish I still smoked dope, could hit Walmart on a Saturday for some entertainment.
pods
pods: "Hate to say it Doc, but brick and mortars have been walmarted and shit is barely usable anymore. Walmart made everyone skimp on motors, metal, etc and now everyone is doing that same thing."
That's why, in a lot of product categories, many people try to buy the old stuff that was made well. We have an old refrigerator in a back room that has been running every single day for decades without a problem. (Its been in at least three different locations through the years.) Spoke with an appliance repair guy whose been at it for 20 years and he said the new stuff doesn't even come close to that in real quality. (Though the new ones have fancy trim & you don't have to go through the trauma of actually opening the door to get ice from it.)
Same with many other items.
They are going to become the clearing house for global taxation.
Prime is so much more than netflix however. The fact that you get free two day shipping on almost everything Amazon sells is the seller for me. You buy one big screen TV or "large item" and it pays for itself just for the shipping costs you've saved.
Throw on top of that the value you get in the movies and TV shows and books... I've found more than $100 in value in it for the past 4 years or so.
only problem is that amazon prices have been creeping up to such level they are no longer cheaper than other places ... paying $99 to lock up free shipping on non-competitive pricing seem dumb.
"You buy one big screen TV or "large item" and it pays for itself just for the shipping costs you've saved."
You are quite wrong. I just cancelled my auto-renew for prime after years of membership. If you look at the price you are paying for that prime eligible item, and then find the same item without prime eligibility, you will notice the price is significantly lower for the non prime eligible items in most cases, so you are not saving as much as it initially appears. They are opening warehouses in my state soon, so there goes the sales tax benefit. There are many options to Amazon that are just as cheap, if not more so. The advantage to Amazon is they have such a huge variety of items to choose from. It's kinda like an online walmart. Oh well, now I will have to put a bit more effort into saving money, and Amazon will get a lot less of my business. Amazon will likely loose even more money as a result of this latest episode of them shooting themselves in the foot. On top of all that, their prime video streaming service sucks, so that isn't even a factor.
Sure they're prices have been creeping up but in my experience they're still the cheapest, but I don't price-shop. When I want something I go and get it.. then look for the lowest price. Amazon STILL is the best price. I just bought a Samsung SSD from them yesterday.... I chose 1-day shipping for $4 with prime. Checking Google shopping, its the lowerst price available. Newegg offered 1-day shipping for > $20 IIRC.
And I have to disagree on their streaming service. Netflix never had anything i wanted to watch movie-wise, whereas with Prime I always find something I want to watch. Additionally its not being throttleed by my provider like Netflix is. I've never had a problem with it buffering. I don't know why I even pay for Hulu anymore - its nothing that I can't catch on my DVR.
Google Play TV and Movies has taken over as my primary streaming service but Amazon is still solid.
Here is the funny part. I emailed amazon's cust service, informing them I had cancelled the auto-renew feature on prime and that their price increase was stupid - they should have just restructured with several tiers of service levels. They must be getting tons of angy emails as a short time later I got a response apologizing and informing me they had cancelled my prime, which I had only 4 months left on, and gave me a full refund. I called cust service and explained the mix up, and found out that you can still get a full year of prime for $79 until March 20th. They offered to rebill me for a full year at $79, but I declined since I have a full week to decide if I want to continue for another full year at $79. Gee, I just can't understand why Amazon keeps losing money. What idiots.
So memberships fees on Amazon go up by 25%. Check.
Due to fuel and transportation cost increases. Check.
Last night I had dinner with a friend at a Mongolian BBQ. $15 each out the door. Check.
I won't even think about taking a college course due to the cost. Check.
Health care is way too expensive. Check.
Recently looked at home and condo prices in my city. Can't even afford it. Check.
And they say there is no inflation out there?!
You sound like one of those people with a job, always worried about money :)
I am the reason why, I order too many items under $35. Actually, Amazon's deal with the USPS shows that Amazon is trying to reduce the cost of shipping any way they can. UPS costs more than the Post Office for parcel deliveries. The Subscribe and Save discount, where you are enticed to bundle together 5 or more covered items for a 15% discount on an initial monthly delivery (you set the delivery frequency for future deliveries) is another way Amazon reduces shipping costs. Unlike NetFlix, Amazon has no real competition as a massive Internet mail order operation. Ebay doesn't even come close. Some Amazon Prime members will grumble but most will pay the new price.
We like Amazon for the few items we still buy. But we never got into prime. We always use free shipping when available. Takes 5 or 6 days longer, but so what. What the hell do I have to get from Amazon that I need in two days. Whole freaking planet going to blow up one of these days and I have to worry about 2 day shipping. I think not.
Is this like SAM's club for trendies..
This isn't a big hit for how often I buy from Amazon. My state's recent application of the 6.025% sales tax to Amazon purchases is what's pushing me over to Overstock.
99 Yellen Bucks a year, thats 8 bucks a month plus you get movies and books, sounds cheap to me.
yeah, my "student" cost is going up to 49 bucks??
Still, for taking a networking class and being classified as a student with discounts....sore dick....cant beat it.
I was very afraid of prime, even at 39 bucks for students, but it's pretty sweet. Movies, etc.
Amazon is tightening the noose folks!!!
Still a good deal if you buy a lot of stuff on Amazon. The video streaming that comes included with prime also fills in some gaps that Netflix streaming has.
I am a "Prime" member and even at $99 it is a good value for me as the FREE SHIPPING does more than compensate the cost. I wish every company would raise it's prices once in 9 years!
Just to nitpick, the increase is really 33%, from the current price.
Also, they charge you sales tax on your prime membership, or at least they do for me. Including the sales tax implications, it's effectively a 39% increase for me.
We will probably keep it though because we utilize the movie steaming and their library seems comparable to Netflix at roughly the same annual cost. To me, the free shipping on purchases is just the frosting.
Still a bargain just considering the savings of not having to drive around to look for stuff. Not to mention so much competition between affiliates the prices are way cheaper then the stores in LA Ca.
At $79 or $99 Amazon Prime is a lost leader and a bargain. Sometimes the speed that Amazon delivers a package free to Prime members boggles the mind. Add the Prime video library and Kindle lending library and, as I said, it's a bargain.
I use the absolute shit out of Prime. From what I am reading here I must be the reason they are raising prices. Dog treats. Hot chocolate, deodorant, lube, pepper spray, you name it, I just get it from Amazon in 2 days rather than driving to the store and dealing with idiots. Then again, I am probably the only person in America that hasn't set foot in a walmart this century...
Me too..... @ $99 it is still a bargain.... They are probably losing money with me!
Dog treats, deoderant, lube, and pepper spray?
That is going to be one hell of a party.
:)
Reminded me of the line from Dr. Strangelove where Slim Pickens is reviewing the emergency kit...
Shoot! A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qqfsQGYus
90% of my shipping is through Amazon. If you use the absolute shit out of Amazon, Prime is an insane deal. If you order from Amazon a few times a year, Prime probably isn't a good idea. I sit at home, take my time shopping for stuff, read the reviews, buy what I want and watch it appear at my door two days later. My cars are damn near rotting into the ground from lack of use. I can't imagine how much I've saved by not driving around to store after store looking for that one thing, only to buy it and realize it's a POS. $20 bump in Prime doesn't bother me. I ordered a Makita compound mitre saw and it shipped Prime. I'd love to know how much 2 day shipping on something that big and heavy actually cost!
I had two Kindles damaged by my accidently sitting on them, Amazon replaced them so fast at no charge it was mind boggling. I am in Bangkok and they shipped to me from China and I received the day after I explained my problem. I for on am grateful for the good service.
Everyone must be logging in the cancel their account. I get the following message when I tried to look at my account.
I used to be a prime member - read the letter I sent Amazon to cancel.
I want an immediate refund of all amazon prime fees I've paid because of the misleading nature of the program.
The prices definitely are different ( and by different, I mean higher) when I'm logged into Amazon prime. All you are doing is adding the cost of shipping to an item. When I'm are logged in, I pay more for products vs. if I'm not logged in. This is a major rip off! I'm talking about eligible items here. I happened to have another browser open and was shocked to see that because I was not signed in to my account, the item was $4.40 CHEAPER WITH SHIPPING than the same item by the same seller in my amazon prime account. So I'm paying $79 a year and get the privilege of PAYING MORE for the item because you are changing the base price.
Please email back immediately with a solution we can both live with.
They immediately canceled my membership and refunded the $79 fee - no questions asked.
If you have a membership, go to a separate browser that's not logged in and see the price differences yourself. Major scam in my opinion.
Glad i canceled it months ago. Im using only netflix and piracy now. See, the free market in action.
They must have hired a Harvard MBA ... lol.
At least the warehouse stores give free snacks.
I don't think they will lose to many customers maybe 8% 1in 12 tops but they're still loosing money and most of the time if you take 5 extra minutes you can find it cheaper on another site. I rarely order things online because I already has enough crap. Last year I order an infrared heater from the same company that supplied it to Amazon went to their website and saved $30 bucks and got free shipping. Why would i pay $30 more when the company fulfilling my order had it cheaper? My point being Amazon is great for reviews and price checks but like I said can usually find it cheaper on other sites.
Losing 8% of your loyal customers is HUGE!!!
I think that would be top end probably closer to 3% so they should net out, given 16 million or so prime members 260-300 million per year. Not such a big deal when you are talking about a company that has razor thin margins to begin with and in all likelyhood is still losing $$ when it comes to shipping. Now if their business revenues grow at only 10-12% a year or flatten out, because 80% of the population stops consuming as much as they have I think a fair price for their stock is $100, and that's with them earning $4 a share. Something they haven't been able to do.
I still feel like I will save money but have started looking into other alternatives. Between streaming and two day shipping it is a good value for me. We will see how things continue to change. Anymore I look at the competition and manufacturers websites before making a purchase which I used to never do.