Corporate Greed Corrupts Amazon as annual Prime Membership price increase for the first time in 4 years

[AlTech]

For the first time in 4 years, Amazon Prime Membership's annual subscription cost will be increasing $20 USD. According to Amazon CFO, this is allegedly because the cost of offering Prime features has increased.

 

The new price of Prime Student will go from $49/year to $59/year. And the new price for Prime will go from $99/year to $119/year.

 

Quote

Amazon announced on its earnings call Thursday that the price of its Prime membership will rise for US customers. Starting May 11, 2018, new Prime customers in the US will pay $119 annually for their memberships, and Prime Student customers will pay $59 annually. Existing Prime and Prime Student members will see their annual payments increase starting June 16, 2018.

 

Quote

Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky made the announcement on the call, citing more Prime features and increasing costs as the reasons for the price hike. The online retailer has added a lot of new features to Prime over the past few years, including unlimited Prime Video streaming, free two-hour delivery in select areas, ad-free Twitch viewing when you link your account, special deals for Whole Foods customers, and more.

 

This price increase comes four years after the last—Amazon raised the price of a Prime membership from $79 to $99 back in 2014. Those who pay for Prime monthly will continue to pay $12.99 per month, which comes out to about $156 per year. That price rose from $10.99 earlier this year as well.

 

Quote

Amazon is likely hoping that the Prime perks will continue to attract new members—those who won't know a Prime price lower than $119.

 

 

So yeah, as an Amazon Prime Student customer still on my Prime Student 6 Month Free Trial (yeah you read that right ) I'm not thrilled about these changes. Prime subscribers still get 2nd class pedestrian music listening services and don't come with Music Unlimited which is a damn shame.

 

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/amazon-to-raise-annual-membership-price-of-prime-to-119/

[Maslofski]

20€ a year with amazon.es ftw lol

[2FA]

5 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

The new price of Prime Student will go from $39/year to $59/year.

Uhh, Student is currently $49/year.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, 2FA said:

Uhh, Student is currently $49/year.

it does? Arstechnica didn't mention that. The original article implied the price was $39/year

[2FA]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

it does? Arstechnica didn't mention that. The original article implied the price was $39/year

[Lurick]

And after 10 orders you've made your money back. I've placed 80 orders in the past 6 months alone and probably 95% have been 2, 1, or same-day shipping. Not sure how "corporate greed" plays into the need to keep up with rising costs.

[Commodus]

I'm not sure I'd call that pure corporate greed (besides, aren't businesses out to make money?).  The perpetual problem with Prime has been that Amazon has stuffed loads of services into a fee that would normally get you just one.  You get Prime Video, Twitch Prime, music and Kindle services... oh, and of course, faster shipping.

[The Benjamins]

For the amount of stuff you get for it, I think $10 a month is reasonable.

[vanished]

I haven't heard anything so I assume this is a US only change (for now at least).

 

Also that title...

[MotionFlex]

To be honest, I couldn't care less. End up being worth it if you buy from Amazon regualrly anyways.

 

Edit: Oh, it only seems to be a change for US customers. Price is remaining the same here in the UK.
 

Quote

Fortunately, those who are signed-up to the annual subscription plan in the UK shouldn’t be affected by the price rise.

 

However, the Seattle-based company is looking to increase the annual plan in the United States by about 20 per cent.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/951973/Amazon-Prime-Price-Rise-Increase-UK

[App4that]

"greed" LOL

 

How dare they want to make money, I'll get the gas. 

[Techicolors]

useful if you spend a lot on games. you get a 20% discount 

[Ryujin2003]

Considering I pretty much exclusively use Amazon for online ordering, use their video devices above Netflix or other competitors, stream their music every day because it's better than Pandora or any other competitors, have linked my Twitch account, and use the Kindle stuff, as well as student account, I cannot really complain.

 

The only thing I wish they'd bring back would be the free App of the day. U got a couple good gems, such as Wolfram Alpha, Zen pinball, and Minecraft for free with that feature.

 

22 hours ago, Technicolors said:

useful if you spend a lot on games. you get a 20% discount 

That savings is on hard copies not digital isn't it?

[ItsMitch]

Nothing here has changed lmao, harderly greed, if it was greedy they'd be changing the price every year. Get a grip.

Also how dare Amazon change the price of a already great package, free delivery, prime video, etc by $20 bucks, how fucking dare they. CORRUPT GREED I SAY

[Ryujin2003]

1 minute ago, SC2Mitch said:

Nothing here has changed lmao, harderly greed, if it was greedy they'd be changing the price every year. Get a grip.

Also how dare Amazon change the price of a already great package, free delivery, prime video, etc by $20 bucks, how fucking dare they. CORRUPT GREED I SAY

Oh, you forgot about how they actually take care of their employees. How dare they. Let me get my Pitchfork. I left it in the GPP protest, but I guess that's over for now...

[ItsMitch]

1 minute ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Oh, you forgot about how they actually take care of their employees. How dare they. Let me get my Pitchfork. I left it in the GPP protest, but I guess that's over for now...

How dare they offer somewhat decent wages and actually give their employee's $1000 of shares after completing 2 years of service, HOW DARE THEY

[Lurick]

22 hours ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Oh, you forgot about how they actually take care of their employees. How dare they. Let me get my Pitchfork. I left it in the GPP protest, but I guess that's over for now...

Well...... Depends on which employees =/

Warehouse employees are pretty much treated like garbage from the stories I've seen every now and again.

 

22 hours ago, SC2Mitch said:

How dare they offer somewhat decent wages and actually give their employee's $1000 of shares after completing 2 years of service, HOW DARE THEY

Well at current prices that's not even 1 share

[Cole5]

Okay? Its still hundreds of dollars of savings for me last year along, 300 off my computer, a hundred off a TV, and free shipping, who cares

[ItsMitch]

Just now, Lurick said:

Well at current prices that's not even 1 share

Hey, still free shares  if amazon keeps going at the rate they're going, I'm sure it'll be worth some amount of money. 

[AshleyAshes]

I honestly can't tell if if this thread title is sarcastic or not...

[Vode]

And I'm just sitting here in my forth month of Amazon Trial Membership that I'm going to cancel again. I wonder how many times Amazon is gonna offer me a trial. I'm not gonna bite.LOL

[ItsMitch]

1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

I honestly can't tell if if this thread title is sarcastic or not...

It's fairly good bait tbh

[ravenshrike]

9 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

How dare they offer somewhat decent wages and actually give their employee's $1000 of shares after completing 2 years of service, HOW DARE THEY

I'd rather have the $500 bonus each year. 

[Cookybiscuit]

Dumbest title for a thread I've seen all week.

[Blademaster91]

This is total greed though. Amazon charges much less for Prime in other countries, can charge less than half for students and still make more profit than expected.

When i had prime i only used the 2 day shipping occasionally because it was more like 2-4 days,and they shoved everything I ordered into the post mail instead of UPS or Fedex. Prime video, maybe worth it but the selection could still be better.

Most people also ignore that the warehouse conditions are really bad,like not even restroom breaks during whole shifts bad because who cares you get 2 day shipping.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Blademaster91
quoted wrong person >.<