After almost 20 years as a Prime subscriber I unsubscribed about a week ago. It was the ads, I put up with a lot of nonsense over the years but the ads were the final insult.
I'm not paying full streaming service prices for a service with ads.
I was a long time subscriber as well, but canceled right before Christmas 2022. I missed it for about a week and then I realized most things I "needed immediately" from Amazon I could either 1) drive across town to purchase from brick and mortar or 2) actually just wait for it.
The end result has been me buying less things I don't need, and buying the things I do need from local retailers (and of course big box stores), or ordering them from other online retailers since the shipping is comparable to Amazon.
2 years in and I don't miss it at all, will never go back. I do want to watch the Fallout series though.
I'm surprised they think this is useful... if I've paused a video it's because I'm answering the phone or front door, making a coffee, going for a shit etc... I'm almost never going to see these ads 🤷🏻♂️
Um, you do realize you're paying for the 2-day shipping with the subscription, right? It's not free, it's just part of your subscription.
I honestly just wait the extra couple days and make sure my orders are $35 or more to get free shipping. I usually keep a few non-essentials that I'll need eventually ready to go so I can just add them on when needed (e.g. extra water filters is a common one).
But do you actually need it? How often is 2 days fine, but 5 days unacceptable? Are there local stores you could use instead to fill those needs?
Yeah, 2-day shipping is nice, and we had prime for years largely for that, but prime has steadily gotten more expensive and we eventually stopped seeing value. We cut it a couple years ago, and we've seen our spending shift to local stores, though we still use Amazon a fair amount. But at $15/month or $140/year ($11.67/month), we just weren't ordering enough to make that worthwhile. Overnighting something occasionally is cheaper than subscribing to prime.
I've ended up shifting a lot of stuff back to brick and mortar just because Amazon can't be trusted on anything that isn't a brand you already know. I was looking for gym shorts with the sewn in compression shorts and all of it was just the exact same image under many stupid brands. Just a quick glance the same image is being used by Leidowei, Surenow, NELEUS, Ultra Performance, Aolesy, JWJ, Born Tough, Pudolla. Like how can you trust any of those? Went to Dicks and just bought their in store brand (DSG) and they've been working out great. Plus I can actually inspect them and try them on before buying. Unless you're buying a known brand/commodity, Amazon is just filled with drop shippers and you can't trust their reviews at all.
I found that Target had most of the low quality crap we were buying on Amazon anyway, and I could get something of better quality also locally. I would spend a ton of time doing research to avoid the worst of drop-shipped crap on Amazon.
Now I only really buy name brand stuff at Amazon that I can't find locally. We do maybe one order/month, if that, and I could probably eliminate Amazon entirely if needed.
Yeah I've actually been happy with the clothes I've gotten from Target too. Their All In Motion line or whatever it is has been nice for quarterzips for golfing. Found 32 degrees stuff at Costco and their website has all the basics I need (Polos/Casual slacks/underwear/socks) for cheap and its comfortable.
To me it's worth it. I order a ton of Amazon, unfortunately it's usually the best option to find niche items for my hobbies that can't be found locally.
That's too bad, because Amazon is really hit or miss.
I don't know what hobbies you have, but my wife and I have better options than Amazon. My wife is into watercolors and fountain pens, so she buys from specialty shops. I'm into computers and MTG, so I'm a better fit for Amazon, but I usually buy from Newegg and local game shops. We both like board games, which he generally get from local game shops.
We do need to buy a fair amount from Amazon though to fill in the gaps, but it's rarely urgent, so it can wait a week if needed.
I'm sure she's capable of understanding that on her own. If you'd like to cut it, I recommend pulling some numbers:
how much stuff you ordered (esp. how many were under the $35 or whatever order limit)
how often you actually needed something faster than standard shipping (usually 3-5 days)
how much you paid for the service
With that, you could make a case for dropping it. You could also agree that if there are problems, you can always sign up again. Then it's on you to anticipate things you'll need and order in advance. I am proactive about keeping stuff on hand, so it's not an issue for us. That's how I convinced my wife we don't need it, and we haven't had it for a couple years now
That said, get a free Amazon Prime trial every 6 months or so, so we often sign up around Christmas, then cancel.
I’ve made the case. The indoctrination by Amazon is strong though, and they feel they need it. Plus we’ve got a stubborn one over here and new ideas are bad ideas unless they are their ideas. There’s a lag but logic is logic and it sets in eventually… I’mma just let the in-laws work on them they’re much more annoying😉
