Amazon Prime Membership
My wife and I cancelled our longstanding Amazon Prime membership in 2020. Doing so was a no-brainer at the time, and largely, we haven’t looked back. With every passing year, we’re even less interested. Some of this has to do with our own situation and preferences, but it also has to do with Amazon itself. We’ve mostly left Amazon in the rear-view mirror, and we’re better off for it. Here’s how I’m feeling about Amazon since the last time I wrote on the topic five years ago.
Other Services Have Replaced Amazon
I previously wrote about how competitors have caught up to Amazon, at least for our low-to-moderate level of needs. We’re now at the point where we often don’t think about Amazon while opting for similar services via Walmart or Target. Even better, Walmart+ membership is an ongoing benefit from several Amex cards, some which we’d be holding without that perk. It’s a version of “free” which Amazon doesn’t permanently provide for our situation. While we aren’t paying Target Circle 360 members, my wife and I are obtaining solid benefits via our Target Circle Mastercards. In the past few years, we’ve been particularly pleased with how Walmart and Target have streamlined the delivery process, shipping times, return policies, and package pickup/dropoff procedures.
The Primary Time I Return
The vast majority of my Amazon purchases over the past few years have been third-party gift cards via periodic pay with points deals. I’m able to easily discount a variety of retailers 15-50% when I’m targeted for these promos (and such gift cards aren’t excluded). Plus, maximizing these deals has not required an Amazon Prime membership. I plan to periodically return to Amazon for this play as long as it continues. But I’ve noticed these offers seem to come around less frequently these days. Plus, I’m only targeted in a portion of those instances, anyway.
We Unintentionally Return
Generous friends and family provide our little ones birthday and holiday gifts, and they’re increasingly providing gift cards. As our two continue to grow, they’re receiving Amazon gift cards more often. Inevitably, they’ve had an annual Amazon mini-spending spree the past couple years or so, and I don’t see that ending. While we’d prefer ours don’t get into the Amazon weeds, dictating such terms to our friends and family isn’t worth it. Perhaps you can relate. Anyway, Amazon gift cards showing up for our kids generally comes out ahead of a random, holy-crap-they’re-still-in-business gift card.
I’m Not a Jeff Bezos Fan
I find Jeff Bezos insufferable. I’m not interested in supporting an individual with such confounding superyacht desires and what I consider hamfisted handling of certain other business moves. Therefore, if all the provided goods and services are a tie, I’ll go out of my way to support the non-Amazon company. The vast majority of the time, non-Amazon companies’ prices are similar enough for our needs. And I’ve periodically gone with ones that cost more of my time and/or money, purely because I want to avoid Amazon.
Do my actions alone make any real difference here? Of course not. But it makes me feel better about how I live. Obviously, I know that I’m inevitably sucked in by Amazon via other companies who use their services. Nonetheless, I’ll continue to control what I can.
Incidentally, I think he now looks like a villain from the movie franchise his company controls.
Prime Video Sucks
In my view, Prime Video’s a mess. To an extent, I know some of this has to do with how infrequently I’m a Prime member, even on a temporary basis. Since I rarely use it, I’m not as acquainted with all of the ongoing changes.
But when I do, I’ve noticed a larger amount of home screen junk than on other streaming platforms. It appears options requiring additional purchase beyond Prime membership are more prominently displayed compared to other apps. I don’t notice the same level of upsell attempts (if any) on Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Netflix, or Paramount+.
Oh, and the live events – yikes. A few times a year, I’ll watch a Thursday Night Football game on Amazon. In my opinion, Amazon’s production is vastly inferior to the traditional major networks offering NFL games. Navigation blows, too, in my experience. In these instances, I remind myself that I would’ve been better off recording the NFL Network game replay overnight and watching the next day.
Conclusion
So yeah, our Amazon patronage is fairly minor, and I’m less apt to shop there than ever before. I also know that plenty of consumers are on the other end, with quite-valid reasons to continue with Amazon. But I’m confident a growing in-between exists – consumers who shop there by default but might be better off elsewhere. Even worse, many have fallen prey to the set-and-forget Amazon Prime membership. But it’s never too late to do the right thing for your situation. How do you feel about Amazon? Consider your options elsewhere and maybe make a change.
