Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
I don't think Amazon can just do straight up free kindle with prime, b/c then people (ok, me) will just get prime for one year and drop it. So there will have to be a catch, like you need to keep or have had prime for two years, or buy certain number of books, etc. which will make it much less appealing to people (ok, me).
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One year would work. If you don't use Prime during that period, then Amazon isn't out anything. They've collected $79 from you, which easily covers the cost of the Kindle. If you do use Prime, Amazon wins because it's getting you to make purchases; which is what they want.
I had Prime for several months and found myself making numerous small purchases. For starters, it saved me a trip to the store. I had my stuff in two days, which was frequently faster than waiting for my weekly shopping day. Also, I no longer had to meet a $25 minimum before the free shipping kicked in, so I could place orders immediately; I could also take advantage of sales on items below $25 in cost. Because of Prime, I found myself ordering more stuff from Amazon.
I no longer have Prime and as a result, I rarely order anything from Amazon. I refuse to pay for shipping charges, so small frequent orders are out. Another result of not having Prime is that I don't do the daily Lightning Deals. Those deals are usually limited to one per account and each deal must be ordered within a 1~2 hour window. Since the items I'm generally interested in are frequently below $25, that would mean I'd have to pay shipping charges for each purchase. I won't do that.
Lack of Prime, means Amazon has basically lost me as a paying customer.