Don't look now but Amazon raised its minimum order for free shipping to $49. (Non prime members)
[OP]
Member
Don't look now but Amazon raised its minimum order for free shipping to $49. (Non prime members)
"Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
- Rick Dale
Contributor
A far cry from the $25 a few years ago. Business models change!
Contributor
Ebay keeps looking more and more attractive.
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
Member
A good reason to get Prime then. I get everything with free 2 day shipping and since they put in an Amazon warehouse right by my house, I can get a lot of it with free one-day shipping. I can't wait until they start delivering via drone, I can get it in an hour.
Contributor
Im not sure that their free shipping is so great anyways. Ive noticed the last two times Ive used it that a package which normally takes 4 days to arrive when Im paying for shipping, doesnt even leave their warehouse until about 5 days and doesnt arrive until 10 days. YMMV.
Smells like they are nudging regular customers toward buying Prime, rather than giving them free shipping.
Fred
Moderator
I was shocked to receive a package from Amazon...on a Sunday! I am a Prime member and that was way cool. They said it would be delivered on Sunday and it surely was!
Prime has gone up, too. I think I had it for $99 and most recent was $119 or $129. I'm not sure if it is quite worth it but we'll kick it around for a year and see....
[OP]
Member
I am not a Prime member but also have received packages on Sunday. Most of my shipments are also received quick. I think the last was only 3 days.
Amazon use to be my go to place, but I am buying more now from Wal-Mart on line. Free shipping to store ($50 min)and it is across the street from work. I like the fact that expensive items are not sitting on my front porch all day.
At Christmas I purchased a digital camera. Walmart was cheaper and they had it in store. I clicked buy now with store pick-up. It was ready for pick up and back home in around 90 min. (No drone needed)
I can see where Prime is a good value for some but I am not a big movie person and I may go months before I order on-line. I buy local If I can find it.
"Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
- Rick Dale
Member
I think when looking at the big picture, free shipping on $49 is still a really good deal. Even at that, they are probably not making any money on most items shipped for free at $49 and are probably looking at the long run to make a profit. Prime is a very good deal for me, but not for everybody at $119 per year. The free movies alone are worth it for me and the free freight on the couple thousand dollars of product that I buy is the icing on the cake. Of course, if you don't watch the movies and only buy a couple hundred per year then that is different.
In the big picture, Amazon is still not making any money as a company and will need to raise their prices or drive most other players out of business to make any money - unless they start moving their own freight and take advantage of the stupidity of Fedex, UPS, and the USPS...........
Contributor
For books, I've been using barnesandnobles.com a lot since late last year. Free shipping at $25 and if you're a B&N's member it's free.....membership fee is $25 a year. I feel their shipping is very quick and I'm impressed by their packaging, my books arrive in new condition as expected.
Mac
Last edited by Mac McQuinn; 02-23-2016 at 3:52 PM.
Contributor
Has anybody found a reliable third party comparison of prime and non-prime prices? With the Amazon dynamic pricing model it seems easy to manipulate the pricing at the individual level possibly making the "free" shipping not quite so free. Seeing a large number of price searches on items across the spectrum from different accounts (both prime and non-prime) could be enlightening. How many times have you looked at a price and found it different when you returned, or a friend says they got one price but when you check you see something else?
Contributor
Apparently my wife has Amazon Prime. I found this out when I purchased a Freud stick & cope set of bits. I placed the order around 8:00 PM and received the bits at 10:00 AM the next day. A friend of mine who works at Amazon explained to me how this was possible. Amazon has an agreement with the US Post Office in 40 metropolitan areas, covering about 70% of Zip Codes in the US, that if they get the package to the local PO before 4:00 AM the PO will deliver it that morning. Impressive.
Contributor
I thought Prime is still $99. I just checked Amazon.com and to upgrade my account to Prime was listed at $99.
The USPS also delivers newspapers same day for people who live outside of the normal delivery area. The newspaper companies truck newspapers to Post Offices all over the place overnight and the newspapers are delivered the same day with the normal mail delivery. (The difference is newspapers are not delivered via USPS on Sunday.)
[OP]
Member
I was reading someplace you can pay by the month at $9.99Originally Posted by Brian Elfert
"Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
- Rick Dale
Member
i just got a dehumidifier delivered on Sunday (USPS) with the free shipping and im not a prime member. and even returned an item for free, just had to drop it of at a ups store.
gotta love amazon
I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....
Member
funny this reminds me of when i was purchasing a hair trimmer. Target had it in the store but wanted $2 more for it than target online, which was going to be fulfilled by the target store i was in, so i bought it on line and waited 20 minuets.
I got cash in my pocket. I got desire in my heart....
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
