Tomorrow is Amazon Prime Day, an online shopping Cyber-Monday-like event open exclusively to people who have an Amazon Prime Membership. Deals start tonight at midnight and range from sweet deals on headphones, to everyday essentials like your favourite ingredients.
IS AN AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP WORTH IT?
Do you make more than one online purchase in a month over $50?
Have you ever forgotten a friend/family members birthday – and needed to send something their way FAST?
Do you pay for a tv or movie service like Crave, or Netflix?
Do you buy books on Audible, or for Kindle?
Do you pay for a music streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music?
If you answered YES to all 5 of these questions, an Amazon Prime Membership could definitely be worth the $79 CAD membership fee.
PROS OF AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP:
An Amazon Prime Membership can be worth it even if you only answered Yes to Questions 1 and 2, for the “Shop” and “Shipping” membership benefits alone. This is because eligible Amazon Prime products have FREE, two day shipping attached to them!
I have been an Amazon Prime member for two years, and have taken full advantage of their free and fast shipping on eligible purchases. Whether it’s for books, kitchen accessories, or my favourite workout headbands – it’s like magic seeing that item in our mailbox so quickly after clicking ‘confirm purchase”‘.
Did you forget to send a card or gift to someone you love, and the special occasion is now only a few days away? Relax! Find a sweet gift in the form of a book, electronic, or bbq tool and send something affordable (and with free shipping!) in seconds. There’s even an option for gift wrapping and you have the ability to write a personal message!
Did a costume idea come your way for this weekend’s party on a random Tuesday? Maybe you need a wig, or sunglasses? Order it – it will be there just in time to send your friends a sneak peek the day before the party!
Run out of diapers? There’s an Amazon subscription service for that! In Edmonton, the winters can be freezing – and I’m super pumped to know in a pinch, those diapers might be able to make it to the door before I can make it out of it.
While I’ve tried to take advantage of Amazon’s “Watch”, “Listen”, and new “Read” services, they just don’t compare to my current favs Netflix for tv/movies, Spotify for music, or Audible for listening to the latest books.
CONS OF AN AMAZON PRIME MEMBERSHIP:
Remember when Canadian Netflix was super crappy compared to the US version? I think Amazon is going through those growing pains right now for video and music. Downtown Abbey moved from Netflix to Amazon Prime, but is unavailable in Canada – unless you want to pay another fee of about $15 a season. Phewf, glad we watched that one while it was on Netflix – there are 6 seasons!
Then – with Prime Music – I tried it out only to be met with most popular songs giving me “Go Unlimited” wanting an upgrade to listen to it. Maybe that’s only a Canada thing? But NO THANK YOU. Even though there is an “Enable Offline Music” mode with Prime Music – it’s way easier for me to download the Spotify music and playlists than to pay more to learn how to do this in Prime Music.
We have a Google Home Mini and while it syncs up easily to Spotify, Prime Music remains only easy to install on the Echo. This is the same on our Smart TV. Spotify plays quickly and easily and even though we tried Amazon Music on the tv, and phone – right now without upgrading to “Unlimited” Prime Music just hasn’t been worth it.
Even though Audible is an Amazon product, if you love reading/listening to the latest books they remain a separate paid entity ($14.95/month). There are free libraries of recorded content for Prime Members, but nothing I found worthwhile, or wanted to spend time listening to – GIVE ME THE BEST SELLERS!). Maybe one day these services will have content available that’s worth it in Canada – but for now – you might want to only count on Amazon’s free and fast shipping.
Not every item on Amazon is eligible for free and fast shipping. I recently bought a pregnancy floatie which was not eligible for Prime Shipping, and it didn’t arrive on time for vacation. But – 90% of the time, the items ordered are eligible for prime, and that is wonderful.
SO, SHOULD YOU INVEST OR KEEP YOUR PRIME MEMBERSHIP?!
In my opinion, the fast and free shipping is worth the $79/annual Canadian membership price alone. If you’ve ever forgotten a special occasion, or needed a last minute costume – the fee quickly pays for itself.
Sign up for a 30 Day Free Trial of Amazon Prime by clicking on the Amazon ad below! Let me know if the fast and free shipping comes in handy!
