I hate to be honest, but I used Amazon Prime a lot because:

1. I cannot drive. Thus, getting to the store is difficult.
2. I must bring in 3-4 items a week, so yeah, I save on shipping.
3. Auto-subscriptions save a little.
4. I have priced a lot of stuff over the years, and while Amazon is not always the best, the convenience is impressive.
5. They have, multiple times, been incredibly helpful with customer service. Like above and beyond.
6. COVID and nobody masks around here. I have an autoimmune condition, so it’s important that I not leave unless it’s a medical appointment or similar need.
7. They just have stuff I can’t find anywhere. Yes, as some have said, caveat emptor, but that’s true for all the stores.

I also save a shit ton of money. When I used to browse Walmart or Target, I used to buy a lot of shit I didn’t need. I don’t get as distracted with focused buying. I also order from Aliexpress if I can wait 30 days, and I have only been ripped off three times in several years, for a total of maybe $35.

I’m not saying my way is better, and certainly not if it’s better for you, but it’s been a godsend to the house-bound.

I’ve never had prime. Whenever I look at Amazon now it’s basically a local AliExpress with loads of cheaply made Chinese stuff. Amazon is not cheap anymore either. eBay is always cheaper.

I wait for “try prime for 30 days” offers. I’ll sign up for it, instantly cancel it to prevent recurring bills, and then order whatever it was I was thinking of over the last six months. Because once upon a time I’d be on Amazon all the time, browsing this and that, but it has become such a cesspool that I infrequently bother. If I wanted to wade through a sea of Chinese OEM crap and counterfeit products, then I might as well use Aliexpress and be done with it.

The shipping time never bothered me. If I need something urgent I’ll go to the store and get it. Otherwise a week or 2 won’t make a difference.

I have prime for the no rush shipping. Every time I delay my same day or next day shipping to the 3-4 day no rush shipping I get a few dollars of digital credits which I use to buy ebooks. Over the course of a year it essentially pays for the cost of prime with free books I would have bought anyway.

I’ve noticed that without prime you can still get free shipping if you just have a big enough order, so as long as you don’t buy a ton of small purchases individually but instead save up what you need for bigger purchases then the only advantage prime has is the shorter shipping time. Which I’ve also noticed sometimes that the shipping without prime will often arrive a day or two earlier then it’s original estimate, probably cause Amazon has optimized for that shorter 2 day shipping. It’s still not usually 2 days but for most stuff it’s either a week or less which is usually plenty fast for anything I get on Amazon.

I wanted to cancel Prime for a long time due to all the creeping enshittification. The last straw were ads on the Fire TV boot screen (I switched to Shield TV Pro) and the notice that ads were coming on Prime Video. I immediately canceled after that mail. 90 EUR less from me. Next incentive: order less.

Just wait till you need to buy enough stuff to hit the $35 minimum for free delivery. It takes a maximum 4-5 days for stuff to arrive but sometimes they can arrive as early as 2 days. I never went on prime after my free trial.

Yeah, just wait until amazon finds a way to legally force non-prime users in the US (since EU probably wouldn’t be having any of that bull) to have to wait an extra week or 2 before your packages arrive.

Also, I had a strange sense of déjà vu while writing this comment. I know I haven’t seen this post/article before, but both it and this comment are giving me major déjà vu.

I honestly have it for Prime Video. I don’t watch it in any massive quantity but there are some shows on there I really like.

I dropped Scamazon Slime a long time ago when I figured out they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise. I really have never missed it.

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription

Water is wet

Lmao it’s surprisingly easy to live without AMAZON.

Ive never understood the dependence on Amazon. It’s not even a monopoly, I’ve never bought anything online that somewhere else didnt also offer the product, usually an online store specializing in that product.

Amazon moved a distribution center near me and now I basically get what prime delivery used to get me without prime. I can still get free shipping so long as my cart total is high enough, and I think that will remain because even independent retail websites and shippers offer that, so Amazon doesn’t want to give people more reason to use them less. Getting rid of prime was easier than soooooo much other stuff I’ve ditched.