Have we done the Prime price increase?

TBH, we use them quite a lot, and the added TV for that is fine. I'm busy so they suit my needs. I rarely go shopping other than for food.

Worth it for the time and money it saves me in travel costs (usually wasted), especially with fuel at £2/litre.

It's reminded me to use the music side of it a bit more.

For what you get it's still cheap.

Same here, an evil I live with due to location and circumstances. Pretty much only to to shops for our weekly food run.

An Italian acquaintance of mine is moaning it’s gone up to €5 per month.

I suppose the price diffenrce requires you to think about whats on offer in different countries - you're getting two things with 'Prime' - delivery of purchases and access to online entertainment. From a UK perspective we're buying into a lot of English language content even though a large proportion of it isnt UK produced with our subs.

Funnily enough, even as someone who has spent nearly two years making content for Amazon, and paid very handsomely thanks to your Prime subscriptions - It never even occurred to me to  look at what films and tv is on offer with with my Prime sub.

So the question with any price comparison between here and Italy is - is there an equivalent volume of Italian language entertainment included compared to the amount of English Language content included with our Prime subs?

How do postal rates in Italy generally compare with here?

Eh, I pulled my face for a few seconds. It's a quid, it's the first price rise in years and it's probably paid for itself multiple times over in postage savings just in the few months after I moved house.

TBH, we use them quite a lot, and the added TV for that is fine. I’m busy so they suit my needs. I rarely go shopping other than for food.

First increase since 2014 iirc? Seems fair.

Interesting to hear it’s far cheaper elsewhere. Is the service exactly the same? €5/month even just for the TV would be very cheap

In other news McDs have put up the price of a cheeseburger by between 10-20p depending on the outlet - to £1.09 or £1.19

It's the first price increase in 14 years and had the Cheeseburger price tracked inflation over that time it would now cost £1.30.

I’ve actually started using Prime for my food shops some weeks now! It’s Morrisons food but, amusingly, the service is far better than Morrisons own delivery service, plus it’s “free” (assuming you’ve already paid for Prime)

God, it feels like totally selling your soul to the devil, but I might explore that.

For us, living where we do, online firms love to add a 'the highlands is not mainland uk even though you are only 20 mins from an airport and mainline railway station so you'll be paying £15 delivery instead of free' so prime just works. Then add the telly, books and music. £95 seems still good value.

Have we done not putting 'have we done' in the title of every thread?

I remember when air was free at the petrol station. That's inflation for you.

It's still £7.99 on the Amazon website and £79 pa. Get in there!
Not a humblebrag but I cancelled at my last annual renewal because the goodies are often more expensive than elsewhere and the TV content isn't as good (for me at least) as Netflix. They will refund if you're part way through an annual contract too

Used the Morrison's things a few times. It arrives promptly, and comes with free cat toys - big paper bags.

Plus, my bank keeps offering 10% cash back if I use Morrison's Prime

In Venice you get deliveries by boat, worth €5 to see that on it's own

It’s still £7.99 on the Amazon website

Good spot - I normally get my Prime subscription from the milkman but thats loads cheaper 🙂

Price doesn't go up til September

We're on annual payment so this won't 'hit' us till next year, still not bad VFM.

Just a shame I'm helping to fund a second rate Dr Evil...

bearnecessities
Full Member

I remember when air was free at the petrol station. That’s inflation for you

Nice 👌🏻

We have it from time to time and use it a bit. The announcement prompted us to have a chat about it and the decision was to go for an annual sub before the price goes up. Maybe we'll start using it a bit more. Who knows?

I've used the Morrisons shop too but it's quite a bit more expensive than buying straight from Amazon. Compare 6 pack of Heinz beans.
Don't mind Prime increase its Netflix I'll ditch now Stranger Things is over.

I'm always a little confused, maybe a little irked at the telly content.

I'm already paying the sub, so why am I paying again to watch certain things, seemingly at random?

I can understand new movies perhaps but for example I wanted to watch the original Top Gun the other day and it was for rent at £3.50 or something, presumably because loads of people like me are watching it again due to the new one being out.

The sub isn't an inconsiderable amount really, so understanding the charging structure would be good. Obviously I never read small print or anything... 😅

The delivery thing can be a touch deceptive too I think. I've had many orders that said same day that weren't. That's obviously massively first world, but if you're paying for it, you should get it.
Often if you compare prices it feels like they add a bit for Prime items and so you're kind of paying twice again.
Cheaper items usually don't seem competitive.

Meh...

I’ve used the Morrisons shop too but it’s quite a bit more expensive than buying straight from Amazon. Compare 6 pack of Heinz beans.

I’m already paying the sub, so why am I paying again to watch certain things, seemingly at random?

The delivery thing can be a touch deceptive too I think. I’ve had many orders that said same day that weren’t. That’s obviously massively first world, but if you’re paying for it, you should get it.
Often if you compare prices it feels like they add a bit for Prime items and so you’re kind of paying twice again.

It's not surprising prices are going up - I ordered a £12 paddling pool cover and it is being shipped from Italy so having to go through Customs clearance and everything...

Wednesday, 27 July
1:30 AM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility
Rochester, Kent GB
Tuesday, 26 July
5:26 AM
Initiated customs clearance process
Tilbury, United Kingdom
Monday, 25 July
9:48 PM
Initiated customs clearance process
Mouscron, BE
Sunday, 24 July
10:24 PM
Package departed an Amazon facility
Casirate d’Adda (BG), Lombardy IT
Thursday, 21 July
7:39 PM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility
Casirate d’Adda (BG), Lombardy IT
Carrier picked up the package.

I’ve had many orders that said same day that weren’t

You have to select in day delivery otherwise it defaults to the next day

Is much as I don't really approve of amazon as a company, I do get my value out of it just in delivery costs. Add to that the morrisons deliveries and the video that has some 4k & HDR content for no extra too and it's pretty good value.

In Venice you get deliveries by boat, worth €5 to see that on it’s own

Carry on using such resource inefficient 'shops' and it won't be long before we'll all have deliveries by boat. 😀

Don't forget 8 episode Lord of the Rings series (that makes GOT sound cheap and nasty) starts soon.

Amazon is increasingly a becoming a BIG player in Streaming.

Given how many UK subscriptions they have thats an income increase of £180 million per year.

Much tax is it they pay again ?

More importantly the McD cheeseburgers gone from 99p to £1.19 apparently.

Not only have Amazon increased the price of Prime subscription to £8.99 but it’s come to light that the price in Europe is far lower. An Italian acquaintance of mine is moaning it’s gone up to €5 per month

I think it was €30 a year when I got it in Spain 🙂

Doubly crippling as I've lost my work ac.uk email address so I cant get a dodgy student discount 🙁

How do people manage this in households?
e.g. I believe we have a family netflicks account that gives us 4+ logins - one for each family member, so we can all watch different stuff at the same time
I believe we have one spotify account so if I change the music it changes it for everyone. We could pay more and have a family style account.
I don't *think* we can do anything similar with Amazon? So if I share my account details with the rest of the family - 1. they probably get access to spend on my card? 2. if I buy present for one of them they will see it show up?

Are people paying for multiple prime accounts per household to keep it separate?

I’ve lost my work ac.uk email address so I cant get a dodgy student discount

Saw this yesterday - that an ac.uk address gives you Prime at half price. I only keep my subscription for my son, so going to swap to his address when the price goes up. Looked like I could switch my account for a free trial but his address had been used before 😐

It’s still £7.99 on the Amazon website and £79 pa

Notice its £79 for the first year, then £95! Not quite sure I understand their maths. Guess they are hoping people don’t check annual dds.

Notice its £79 for the first year, then £95!

Because the price is going up in September. So for now its still the lower price

I've got an ac.uk email but the dodgy student deal stopped a while back... daughter will have a real one soon though - Uni student !

I don’t *think* we can do anything similar with Amazon? So if I share my account details with the rest of the family – 1. they probably get access to spend on my card? 2. if I buy present for one of them they will see it show up?

Are people paying for multiple prime accounts per household to keep it separate?

I think it's called Amazon family...or something similar. Basically for zero cost you can add X number of email addresses with their own existing Amazon accounts at the same delivery address. All Amazon accounts in the family then get free delivery, the books and the music. With the streaming I launch the app on my Roku stick in the TV and my wife and I have different icons on a 'whos watching' launch page.So very much like a netflix setup, without paying for a family account upgrade like you have to do there.

We had Now, Prime and Netflix. Told ourselves to get a life and now have just Prime and bbc iPlayer etc. If can't agree on something watch we read a book.

My only regret, apart from being totally in Amazon's pocket is the the audible book offering does not allow sharing of books bought. It would be good if at the very least I could lend someone in my Amazon family a audiobook I'd bought.

My wife just uses my password and we share the one Prime account.

Always keep wondering if I should cancel Prime, but never actually have.

I am considering canceling now as I dont use it much, the TV offering is not the same in Ireland as the Uk and delivery still takes around 4/5 days. I might get a monthly sub when Clarksons Farm is released.

Amazon - it's the work of the devil I tell thee, soon you will self combust and your souls will all be scooped up for use as rocket fuel by JB

there’s 2 distinct services – Prime (which is “free” content) and (Prime) Video Store (which isn’t). I agree they’re confusingly presented in the app!

You can sort by Prime only and the pictures have a big diagonal banner on the top left that says Prime. The real crime is the subscription within a subscription model. I’m looking at you Stars!

Notice its £79 for the first year, then £95!

Because the price is going up in September. So for now its still the lower price

Yeah, hence the words “for the first year”. I mean, what does your post even mean?
I get more and more baffled by the responses on here. Everyone trying to be so clever and just coming across as … well

Funnily enough, even as someone who has spent nearly two years making content for Amazon, and paid very handsomely thanks to your Prime subscriptions – It never even occurred to me to look at what films and tv is on offer with with my Prime sub.

Currently on our first production for Amazon, so keep up with your subs everyone and tell your friends 😂

I still manage to avoid Amazon for most purchases through choice. Hate their app and it’s search function which seems to always deliver far east/fake cr@p with no obvious way to filter. If I want say an eagle cassette why serve up countless no-name cheapo chinese cheap cassettes ahead of bone-fide stuff that ACTUALLY MATCHES MY SEARCH TERMS (rant ends).

It’s rarely much cheaper and point of principle I’d rather buy from elsewhere anyway. Each to their own but I’ll spread my spending, Prime strikes me as an unfortunately effective way of locking folk into Amazon as the source of all things. At the expense of other retailers, local or online.

Prime throws up some weird anomalies

I buy a lot of picture frames for my prints and if I buy them direct off my preferred source then I still have to pay postage.

If I order them from the same place, via Amazon, with Prime I pay no postage. And it’s delivered the next day instead of days later

So it pays for itself multiple times over before I’ve even ordered anything else other than picture frames or even looked at the telly

An absolute no-brainer (even though I am aware I’m financing somebody worse than Hitler to launch giant cock and balls into space

Prime strikes me as an unfortunately effective way of locking folk into Amazon as the source for all things

You’ve got it. Prime is fundamentally a marketing tactic. You believe that you're paying for delivery and content, but it’s real value and why Amazon offer it is to subconsciously make you want to buy item x,y and z from Amazon not elsewhere…..because you have to get use and “value” from your subscription.

Yeah, hence the words “for the first year”. I mean, what does your post even mean?
I get more and more baffled by the responses on here.

Its simple enough. Your clever comment about people not checking annual dd fails because the price doesnt normally increase in the second year. Its been 79.99 every year (vs 7.99 monthly).
The "year two" just means "any renewal after September" where it would be 8.99 monthly.

The value of the annual payment has decreased but its still better than monthly even in "year two".

An Italian acquaintance of mine is moaning it’s gone up to €5 per month.

Strange... Currently 7.99€/month, increasing to 8.99€. Not sure what German amazon offers over Italian amazon. Everything is dubbed. Its still 90% guff filler.

No one is made to pay for amazon. Its a luxury tax for those that can afford it. VAT, and TV licence are regressive taxes paid proportionally by those that generally can't afford amazon or Netflix.

Is anyone ever surprised big corps who stamp out/buy up competition, then go on to whip the established customer base for more money, more often!?!

is it? Are you looking at things with Prime/next day delivery? The only cheaper ones I can see are from Marketplace sellers with dodgy names and delivery times of 1-2 weeks!

Just checked, using Morrisons the 6 pack of beans are £5.34, direct from Amazon £4.50 plus a 10% voucher. £4.05.

TV licence are regressive taxes paid proportionally by those that generally can’t afford amazon or Netflix.

Really? Last I checked a TV licence was about £112 a year. (edit: bugger me it's £159 now!) So, er, you were saying?

Is anyone ever surprised big corps who stamp out/buy up competition, then go on to whip the established customer base for more money, more often!?!

Nope. Well, I'm not. Clearly some are.

Amazon absolutely sucks ass if you don't know what you are specifically looking for (down to exact model names) . Their tick boxes are worse than ebay for narrowing stuff down, it's clearly designed to sell you what THEY want you to buy, not the other way around. If you went into an actual shop and a salesman tried that nonsense you would tell them to do one but because it saves you time that seemingly makes it okay.

The multi subscription nonsense is a pain in the hole too. Kindle prime or not? Prime video or not? Twitch Prime? Oh that's hidden away.

Quite honestly I could lose it tomorrow and not lose any sleep. I hate buying off them truth be told, I'll go out my way not to but sometimes you can't avoid it (beyond not buying something at all). The wastage from their operations is staggering and a horrific indictment of the consumer culture they have carefully curated.

£12 is a small price to pay for bigger willy rockets and some Tolkien.

The wastage from their operations is staggering and a horrific indictment of the consumer culture they have carefully curated.

That I doubt very much. It might be a large figure in absolute terms, but as a % of turnover I would expect it to be less than any other commercial retail operation.

For all their sins, they are ruthlessly efficient - if someone can figure out a way of saving 0.01 pence per order, they'll implement it.

It is as close as mankind has got to the perfect commercial enterprise.

That I doubt very much. It might be a large figure in absolute terms, but as a % of turnover I would expect it to be less than any other commercial retail operation.

I beg to differ.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-21/amazon-destroying-millions-of-items-of-unsold-stock-in-one-of-its-uk-warehouses-every-year-itv-news-investigation-finds

Ruthlessly efficient, yes, but only when it comes to their own pockets.

I beg to differ.

Yes, it's a lot in absolute terms what what % is it of total turnover and how does that compare to the industry norm?

Yes, it’s a lot in absolute terms what what % is it of total turnover and how does that compare to the industry norm?

Genuine question - who would you compare them to to establish a benchmark? They ARE the industry norm, surely?

Genuine question – who would you compare them to to establish a benchmark?

My point was really that waste in retail is nothing new, clothing retailers burn or tip 100s tons of clothes every year, supermarkets ditch 100s tons of food etc. Lots of returns don't get resold as they are soiled or it's just not cost effective to repackage them etc.

If you have a retail behemoth the size of Amazon, even if their wastage % is lower than the norm, it's still a vast amount in absolute terms.

Mail order is also a lossy business as people order things to try, so you already have a high return rate baked in to the process.

Exactly, unless anyone knows of someone with a similar business model.

I don't think it's worth discussing anyway, I think any business that thinks landfilling perfectly usable, never mind brand new goods has no place in this century.

I think any business that thinks landfilling perfectly usable, never mind brand new goods has no place in this century.

That's pretty much all businesses, it's just they're not called Amazon, so it doesn't make the news....

When we last moved office, we had tons of perfectly good stuff just end up in skips.....

I won't be renewing mine in January when my current subscription runs out. Hardy buy anything or watch much. Only really renewed it last time for Picard but that was utter shite.

See, now, this (and other similar posts) puzzles me:

as someone who lives in a small town and actually has to go to work every day sometimes there’s no realistic alternative.

I live in a small town, I go to work each day, I have absolutely no need for Amazon. My avoidance of them is, admittedly, partly driven by principle, but even without that I could perfectly happily live my life without ever using their services. How/why do people find them essential?

Amazon absolutely sucks ass if you don’t know what you are specifically looking for (down to exact model names) . Their tick boxes are worse than ebay for narrowing stuff down, it’s clearly designed to sell you what THEY want you to buy, not the other way around.

This one time I tried to order four candles from Amazon and you won't believe what turned up. Would never happen in a small family-run shop.

It is kinda funny when you search for a specific obscure book and the first page of results is GoT/celebrity memoir/how to cook photogenically.

I live in a small town, I go to work each day, I have absolutely no need for Amazon. My avoidance of them is, admittedly, partly driven by principle, but even without that I could perfectly happily live my life without ever using their services. How/why do people find them essential?

A lot of it is down to convenience. You can get whatever stuff you want delivered to an amazon locker but the hardware shop/book shop/whatever only opens between 9 and 4, maybe earlier. People want stuff now, not when they can get around to it. Sadly the high street has never cottoned on to this and still insists on opening hours that don't work for most of the working population.

There is also this perception that Amazon is cheaper. It's usually not (some things are, usually the stuff you could pick up in a traditional indoor market or the like) but because folk don't have the patience to just pick stuff up when they can get to it, Amazon it is.

Sadly the high street has never cottoned on to this and still insists on opening hours that don’t work for most of the working population.

Most high streets are redundant for this type of shopping, and have been for years. Most people shop in retail parks which are always open outside traditional hours.

Amazon is convenient, yes, but nowadays convenience means not having to leave your sofa to do your shopping.

A lot of it is down to convenience. You can get whatever stuff you want delivered to an amazon locker but the hardware shop/book shop/whatever only opens between 9 and 4, maybe earlier. People want stuff now, not when they can get around to it. Sadly the high street has never cottoned on to this and still insists on opening hours that don’t work for most of the working population.

But all the same stuff that can be bought on Amazon can be bought online from other places, in particular eBay. And with eBay there's very probably an actual high street shop at the other end, who have cottoned on to what they need to do.

You’ve got it. Prime is fundamentally a marketing tactic. You believe that you’re paying for delivery and content, but it’s real value and why Amazon offer it is to subconsciously make you want to buy item x,y and z from Amazon not elsewhere…..because you have to get use and “value” from your subscription.

So this comment intrigued me as, despite disliking many things about Amazon, I am a fairly big user.

Just looked at past months purchases and there are about a dozen items where I could have got them for a similar price, but would have had to pay postage or gone to town to find and pick up so in reality all a little cheaper and convenient.

A few items were a touch more expensive from Amazon but had proved difficult to find elsewhere, one I wanted urgently, rung some shops, called in at 2 others and no luck. Got next day delivery from Amazon which wasn't ideal but better than the ' we can order you one in, it'll come in a bulk delivery when our order to them is big enough'.

Other things definitely saved a fair bit, especially when bought in bulk then the unit price is great.

Sure Maximum Protection Antiperspirant: Amazon £37 for 12, Tesco/Sainsburys/Morrisons £5 each so £60 for 12.

Roundup Weedkiller 5 Litre - Amazon £13.99, Wickes £29.50, Local Garden Centre click and collect £33.99

Electric Shaver - Amazon £51.99, Argos £110.00, some company I've never heard of on Google £79.99 - this was one of their 'One Day Deal' things so got lucky with this.

Printer Ink - Amazon £34.00, Other online around £44.00

Forthglade Dogfood - Amazon £31.40 for 24, Wilko £34.80 plus £5.00 delivery or drive into town to collect.

Plus 2 deliveries of Amazon Fresh that arrived within 4 hours over the week we had Covid.

I also often get my Prime orders sent to the Amazon Lockers at the supermarket I frequent which is on the way home from work.

Occasionally we do watch stuff on there too and I get free kindle books on Prime reads which is good.

So it seems to me I'd be cutting off my nose to spite my face leaving them.

What are these Amazon lockers and retail parks of which you speak?

So it seems to me I’d be cutting off my nose to spite my face leaving them.

Or taking a stand against a tax-dodging, union-crushing, willy-rocket building sociopath, whichever way you want to look at it.

Or taking a stand against a tax-dodging, union-crushing, willy-rocket building sociopath, whichever way you want to look at it.

I used to have significant moral standards - they caused me no small amount of angst.

What are these Amazon lockers and retail parks of which you speak?

Yeah, there's a place and many good reasons for online shopping, but there's something wrong when people are buying endless tat, to be delivered in individual parcels, in separate van runs, and sod the environmental costs of it all. Wherever they live.

Yeah, there’s a place and many good reasons for online shopping, but there’s something wrong when people are buying endless tat, to be delivered in individual parcels, in separate van runs, and sod the environmental costs of it all. Wherever they live.

But at scale, when one Amazon van makes 10+ deliveries per street - the CO2 cost per delivery is probably less than those 10 people driving to the nearest retail park and walking into John Lewis etc and making 10 purchases.

The CO2 costs are pretty closely tied to the £ cost per delivery and one thing Amazon has seen from Day 1 is that the more it scales, the lower the costs per transaction fall (and hence CO2).

How/why do people find them essential?

Not essential, but incredibly convenient. Personal recent example - I wanted a paddling pool cover (as mentioned earlier in this post). It's not the sort of thing you can buy easily in a local/town centre shop. I could go into town and walk around looking for one that would take considerable time (and probably be unsuccessful) or I could spend time ringing around shops to see if they stock the item only to find out they don't. Or I could use Amazon and get the item ordered in minutes (and cost less into the bargain). So - very convenient.

But at scale, when one Amazon van makes 10+ deliveries per street – the CO2 cost per delivery is probably less than those 10 people driving to the nearest retail park and walking into John Lewis etc and making 10 purchases

It's a 50-60 mile round trip for me to get to a decent range of shops in Inverness. They might have what I want but probably not, so that might mean a second trip to pick up something thay've had to order for me. Or, I get an alert from Amazon when my parcel is 8 stops away. That means it's in the same small housing estate. It's not hard to see which has the less environmental impact.

I tend to use it for helping out my in-laws, they struggle with tech and will often get asked if I could get items for them. They pay me back about every 6 months so its like interest free shopping for them 😮

I was on monthly Prime but have just swapped it to yearly so saved a bit for the next year.

I do use Amazon music a fair bit.

But at scale, when one Amazon van makes 10+ deliveries per street – the CO2 cost per delivery is probably less than those 10 people driving to the nearest retail park and walking into John Lewis etc and making 10 purchases.

That's a complete guestimate though, isn't it? 😀

That’s a complete guestimate though, isn’t it?

Not really.

In our petro dependent economy the cost of everything correlates with the cost of oil which is where CO2 comes from. Not exactly, but to a 1st order approximation.

If company A can deliver a service cheaper than company B at scale (and without subsidisation) then the odds are company A has a lower CO2 footprint per service than company B.

Amazon is excellent at building scale and hammering the cost out of every transaction - that is why it is so successful. Delivering a service at a lower cost almost certainly means a lower CO2 footprint as well.

Delivering one off to a house is the arse end of nowhere, obs not very cost effective - but at my old office, we had a van empty it's entire contents to the office in one go every day. In our street (centre of Cambridge), Amazon and Hermes etc drop off multiple parcels down the street every day and then only drive 100 yards to the next street for a whole load more drop offs.

In our street (centre of Cambridge), Amazon and Hermes etc drop off multiple parcels down the street every day and then only drive 100 yards to the next street for a whole load more drop offs.

This is a comparatively recent thing though - really accelerating since Covid. Amazon haven't changed their business model, they've just managed to get more customers to buy into it and make it more cost effective. And I'm yet to be convinced that so much impulse purchasing of tat is good for the environment in any way. (That's the angle I'm approaching it from.)

Funny how it's always "tat" when it's something that someone else wants 🤣