Quote:
Originally Posted by jswinden
I agree that Prime is best for those of us who order a lot over the course of the year. If you only place 10 orders a year, and you don't have any interest in the other perks of Prime membership, then it simply isn't a good investment. However, for me it is a good investment.
I hate retail B&M stores with a passion. They use young, stupid employees who are clueless, and good luck finding one if you have a question. They rarely have much in stock. And some of the Walmarts (and others too) have become somewhat dangerous to shop at. Best Buy has a reputation of selling stripped down merchandise. Yes, they get the manufacturers of computers to ship them stripped down models that have the same model numbers as other stores, but have key features removed. That way they can make more profit, but it is very deceptive. And who among us has never gotten home with a brand new item from Best Buy, Walmart, Frys, etc. and then discovered it was a returned item rather than brand new. I bought more than one phone back in the day that had someone's list of contacts already in it, and I've seen shrink wrapped items inside the box with the shrink wrap opened and/or items removed.
For me, it is much better to shop online and have the stuff shipped to me. So it is definitely worth the $99 plus tax per year. There are other perks beside the free shipping that I enjoy. As I stated in other posts, Prime Video, Music, eBooks, etc. tend to be lackluster over all, but there are times I watch Prime Video, like when the Grand Tour is on. They have a lot of old documentaries and movies too which I like. Limited selection, but some good stuff to help lessen the pain of the $99 + tax. The same with Prime Music. Not real great, but at least I can listen to specific songs if they have them on the list. Again, not much selection but it helps lessen the pain of the $99 + tax. Over all I save at least the $99 + tax each year if you factor in gasoline savings from not having to drive to a retail B&M store at least 3 or 4 times a month, and factor in the shipping savings. And it is convenient to save time as well. It takes time to drive over to a Walmart, browse around for what I need or want, sweating because they never turn up the AC to a comfortable level, stand in line for the one checkout register that is operating while 12 sit closed, wait while 3 customers pay by check and 2 use coupons and 1 argues with the price of every item and shows them in the flyer they got in the mail, drive home. No wonder a few people go ballistic in a Walmart and start shooting the place up!  |
Hey Jack, I might want to disagree slightly with the first part of the post. There are certain items that it costs more to ship than Prime costs.
Amazingly running boards for trucks are a Prime item. When we looked other places, it was going to be a week and over $100 shipping. I think there was one extra day instead of two day. So yes, even with fewer orders it can be worth it.