Well, what a difference a year .....and COVID-19.....makes.
Earlier this week came the annual membership fee for Amazon Prime and reviewing our usage over the past year reveals some definite changes (especially since March). Our (one time) orders of various items definitely increased over the past year BUT I think a lot of this is due to ease of availability and knowledge that a product is in stock (and can be obtained with just a click). the value of not having to go into a store definitely increased over the past few months, but even before then (throughout the entirety of the year), checking out product info (cost, availability, etc) increasingly became a regular habit.
This is NOT to suggest such shopping could not be done on other websites, but Amazon still remains among the easiest to use with the widest selection in our experience.
So to revisit the grading areas from last year:
Amazon Music: continues to be the ugly ducking of Amazon. The trend of favorite music moving behind a 2nd paywall continues but I do not listen nearly as often since COVID-19 hit. More on point, Amazon did nothing to improve this service over the past year. Grade F
Amazon (shopping): While it still remains true that we have not found any item(s) worth ordering on a recurring basis, given the changes in our shopping habits since COVID-19 started, we have more much more use of Amazon this year. I still do not have confidence with respect to their pricing (meaning I still have to check multiple websites to compare on price), but our number of one time (one off) purchases via Amazon jumped significantly over the previous year. It is not overstating the case to say when we consider a purchase of just about anything, Amazon has become our first stop. I noted last year where Amazon was exceptionally good to work with when it comes to product returns. This continues to be true in our experience with Amazon and it keeps us looking on Amazon when we need an item. Grade A
Amazon Photos: Really no change from last year's review, but this is an area where some enhancement would be appreciated. The look back feature (showing photos taken on today's date in years past) continues to be a strong point, but with the advent of facial recognition software, it would be nice to scan one's photo library for all photos of a selected individual. Grade A-
Amazon Streaming: In the year since my first review, I can definitely say we have found less to watch on Amazon Prime Streaming this year than last. It seems as of more streaming services want to create and provide content and are increasingly moving away from rebroadcasting older TV show and movies, and Amazon has been at the front of that trend. .... Grade D
So at the conclusion of another year, I do not see any positive movement overall with respect to our overall satisfaction with Amazon - perhaps even a slight drop - but we'll keep Amazon Prime for another year. The shopping at home option became a lot more valuable over the past year thus offsetting the declines elsewhere. Perhaps the largest disappointment over the past year was the lack of any new aspect to Amazon Prime.
What about you? How was your Amazon Prime membership experience this past year? Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?
