I've been a Prime member from the beginning in 2005 and it's been a real benefit for me in shipping. I don't bother with the lending library or Prime videos. However, over the past year, I've had a lot of problems with some of the shippers they use, particularly Lasership. They don't allow you to select shippers, only shipping speed, and Lasership has been so unreliable and has been used so frequently for my shipping that I'm considering discontinuing the service. There are thousands of complaints about Lasership in Amazon's Shipper Feedback Forum, but they've taken no action. For a "customer centic" business, Amazon has been surprisingly unresponsive to the problem.
Surprisingly, despite the cost increase, Amazon appears to still be adding new customers to Prime:
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...rice-bump.aspx .
Quoting the article, "Amazon won't say, but research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates the number at 27 million. The research company also found that the vast majority of Prime members -- more than 90% -- planned to renew their membership.
"If that 27 million is correct -- along with the RBC estimate of Prime users spending an added $218 a year compared to non-subscribers -- then Prime users bring Amazon an extra $5.8 billion in sales annually. That's a huge number even by Amazon's lofty standards."