- Joined
- Apr 9, 2016
- Messages
- 4,305
- Reaction score
- 3,824
- Points
- 348
- Resorts Owned
- RCI Weeks: LaCosta Beach Club, RCI Points: Oakmont Resort, Vacation Village at Parkway. Wyndham: CWA and La Belle Maison, and WorldMark.
and another Prime Day has come and gone, how many TUG'gers are still holding Amazon Prime memberships?
I have to admit I gave strong consideration to dropping when the annual fee was increased last year but I did not. One thing I have tried to do over the last year was actually track our utilization of Amazon resources. Listed in no particular order, our utilization was something like this:
Amazon Music: used just about everyday BUT this segment of Amazon membership is perhaps the most consumer UNFRIENDLY aspect of Prime Membership. If you enjoy a particular song (or songs) too much, they disappear behind a 2nd paywall. If you try and build custom libraries, a good number of these songs will be targeted for moving behind the 2nd paywall as part of an effort by Amazon to extort more money from the consumer. Grade D-
Amazon (shopping): the basic ordering functions, free shipping, etc. No matter how much I've tried, I cannot find any items we use on a regular basis to order from Amazon. For all of the effort by Amazon pushing us toward subscription based ordering of items, it just does not work for us.
BUT
Where we did find usefulness in Amazon shopping this year was with those one time purchases. Comparison shopping sometimes found the lowest cost on Amazon and the free shipping helped in that calculation.
BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY
For reasons OTHER THAN damage or incorrect items ordered, Amazon has been exceptionally good to work with when it comes to product returns. That is a definite positive for Amazon and it keeps us looking on Amazon when we need an item. Grade A
Amazon Photos: We use photos as a defacto backup for all photos taken on phones, and other mobile devices. The daily journals that pop up and offer the opportunity to look back at your photos taken on that day in previous years is an excellent feature. In our experience, this is the most useful feature of Amazon. One thing we will need to do soon is make a backup of all photos on Amazon for safe keeping. I say that NOT because I think Amazon will lose our photos as much as we cannot get back to the originals of the photos anymore. I always like having TWO separate copies of all photos - just in case. Grade A
Amazon Streaming: You have to give Amazon credit for one thing - there is a lot of material on their streaming service. Not too much of it good that we have found (yet) but in all fairness it seems we are at a crossroads in how we peruse and view television these days. The fact that Amazon streaming is also fairly portable (it is easy to use away from home) is a positive as well. If the quality of content would just improve.... Grade B
Overall as we start another membership year, I can say our satisfaction with Amazon improved this year.
What about you? How are you using your Amazon Prime membership one year after the price increase? Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?
I have to admit I gave strong consideration to dropping when the annual fee was increased last year but I did not. One thing I have tried to do over the last year was actually track our utilization of Amazon resources. Listed in no particular order, our utilization was something like this:
Amazon Music: used just about everyday BUT this segment of Amazon membership is perhaps the most consumer UNFRIENDLY aspect of Prime Membership. If you enjoy a particular song (or songs) too much, they disappear behind a 2nd paywall. If you try and build custom libraries, a good number of these songs will be targeted for moving behind the 2nd paywall as part of an effort by Amazon to extort more money from the consumer. Grade D-
Amazon (shopping): the basic ordering functions, free shipping, etc. No matter how much I've tried, I cannot find any items we use on a regular basis to order from Amazon. For all of the effort by Amazon pushing us toward subscription based ordering of items, it just does not work for us.
BUT
Where we did find usefulness in Amazon shopping this year was with those one time purchases. Comparison shopping sometimes found the lowest cost on Amazon and the free shipping helped in that calculation.
BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY
For reasons OTHER THAN damage or incorrect items ordered, Amazon has been exceptionally good to work with when it comes to product returns. That is a definite positive for Amazon and it keeps us looking on Amazon when we need an item. Grade A
Amazon Photos: We use photos as a defacto backup for all photos taken on phones, and other mobile devices. The daily journals that pop up and offer the opportunity to look back at your photos taken on that day in previous years is an excellent feature. In our experience, this is the most useful feature of Amazon. One thing we will need to do soon is make a backup of all photos on Amazon for safe keeping. I say that NOT because I think Amazon will lose our photos as much as we cannot get back to the originals of the photos anymore. I always like having TWO separate copies of all photos - just in case. Grade A
Amazon Streaming: You have to give Amazon credit for one thing - there is a lot of material on their streaming service. Not too much of it good that we have found (yet) but in all fairness it seems we are at a crossroads in how we peruse and view television these days. The fact that Amazon streaming is also fairly portable (it is easy to use away from home) is a positive as well. If the quality of content would just improve.... Grade B
Overall as we start another membership year, I can say our satisfaction with Amazon improved this year.
What about you? How are you using your Amazon Prime membership one year after the price increase? Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?