WTH, Amazon Prime?

[Brie]

So I finally discovered pacifier clips because our pacis keep disappearing at inopportune times. I love the one I bought so much I want to buy more. So I go on Amazon Prime and find them for $4.99 each, and it says:

"This item is available because of the new Add-on program
The Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own. These items ship with qualifying orders over $25 and are eligible for free shipping."

So...is this new? I am annoyed. The whole appeal of Amazon Prime is that I can buy piddly cheap stuff without having to run to the store or pay shipping. I would hope my $79/year would cover the "cost prohibitive" part.

[CloudBee]

It's been going on for a few months.

At first, I was annoyed. Then it got me thinking about how often I spend a few dollars on an item, causing cardboard and fuel waste. Quite the carbon footprint! I'm more mindful now about pairing up my purchases now, even when I'm not trying to buy an add-on item.

There are still plenty of items that are less than $5 and ship free.

Once I got over my annoyance, I just can't bring myself to be mad about this any more. We shop from Amazon SO much that I was basically abusing the use of Prime AND resources by placing an order for socks at 8am, cereal at 1pm, a new book at 5pm, and oh at 10pm I realized we needed shaving cream. Clicking is so easy, and the prices are great. But still. That's just Crazy. I try to let items sit in my cart 24 hours now before purchasing, as another item has likely come to mind or ended up in my cart by then.

So, I kind of get the annoyance, but I think they're being responsible by rolling this program out. From a financial standpoint they're losing money by sending a $4 paci clip via UPS 2 day. I bet they break even which IMO, is losing money.

[bunch]

Look on the right for "more buying options". A lot of times there are other sellers for the same price with free shipping. Last week I even found one cheaper.

[bunch]

It looks like it'll cost you $1 more that way. Spitfire, the nipples are cheaper

[hski2349]

I find it annoying too. I need some level 2 Dr. Brown's nipples and I really did not want to purchase anything else at the time. I ended up getting them at Target.

[asoctoberfalls]

It's infuriating. I feel they really pulled a bait and switch with Prime. You pay for one thing, then they change the terms on you. I wanted to buy spoons and I couldn't because they were only available as an add on item. Also, you can no longer request an extra order of diapers (or anything else) and get the subscribe and save price... You have to wait until your next shipment date. And, all your S&S items now shIp on the same day every month. So, if you make a change or add a new S&S subscription, it could take weeks for it to ship.

Basically, Prime pretty much sucks now.

[Brie]

Dec 26, 2012 17:21:36 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

It's been going on for a few months.

At first, I was annoyed. Then it got me thinking about how often I spend a few dollars on an item, causing cardboard and fuel waste. Quite the carbon footprint! I'm more mindful now about pairing up my purchases now, even when I'm not trying to buy an add-on item.

There are still plenty of items that are less than $5 and ship free.

Once I got over my annoyance, I just can't bring myself to be mad about this any more. We shop from Amazon SO much that I was basically abusing the use of Prime AND resources by placing an order for socks at 8am, cereal at 1pm, a new book at 5pm, and oh at 10pm I realized we needed shaving cream. Clicking is so easy, and the prices are great. But still. That's just Crazy. I try to let items sit in my cart 24 hours now before purchasing, as another item has likely come to mind or ended up in my cart by then.

So, I kind of get the annoyance, but I think they're being responsible by rolling this program out. From a financial standpoint they're losing money by sending a $4 paci clip via UPS 2 day. I bet they break even which IMO, is losing money.

I gotta say, I don't really feel bad for Amazon losing $1 on 2 day shipping for a paci clip when I spend probably thousands of dollars there each year because of this service.

I'm plenty environmentally friendly--we CD and recycle and whatnot--but I paid for the convenience of Prime and I'm annoyed that they're changing it.

[catbus]

Dec 26, 2012 17:21:36 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

It's been going on for a few months.

At first, I was annoyed. Then it got me thinking about how often I spend a few dollars on an item, causing cardboard and fuel waste. Quite the carbon footprint! I'm more mindful now about pairing up my purchases now, even when I'm not trying to buy an add-on item.

There are still plenty of items that are less than $5 and ship free.

Once I got over my annoyance, I just can't bring myself to be mad about this any more. We shop from Amazon SO much that I was basically abusing the use of Prime AND resources by placing an order for socks at 8am, cereal at 1pm, a new book at 5pm, and oh at 10pm I realized we needed shaving cream. Clicking is so easy, and the prices are great. But still. That's just Crazy. I try to let items sit in my cart 24 hours now before purchasing, as another item has likely come to mind or ended up in my cart by then.

So, I kind of get the annoyance, but I think they're being responsible by rolling this program out. From a financial standpoint they're losing money by sending a $4 paci clip via UPS 2 day. I bet they break even which IMO, is losing money.

Ditto, except I was never annoyed by the change in the first place. I was never one to order just one small item from Amazon, precisely because I felt guilty about them shipping me just that one thing (unless I really, truly needed it and really, truly didn't need anything else). I think it's completely reasonable.

[ilikedonuts]

Dec 26, 2012 18:39:12 GMT -5 asoctoberfalls said:

It's infuriating. I feel they really pulled a bait and switch with Prime. You pay for one thing, then they change the terms on you. I wanted to buy spoons and I couldn't because they were only available as an add on item. Also, you can no longer request an extra order of diapers (or anything else) and get the subscribe and save price... You have to wait until your next shipment date. And, all your S&S items now shIp on the same day every month. So, if you make a change or add a new S&S subscription, it could take weeks for it to ship.

Basically, Prime pretty much sucks now.

I'm pissed about both of these as well. Especially what I bolded that you said. I ended up having to buy a pack of diapers at Target to tide us over until our next subscribe and save came. And it was more than a month away. I should have been able to at least move it up to exactly one month from the day I wanted them.

We just paid for prime in September too and all these changes happened. Total bait and switch even if it is technically in the terms.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2012 18:39:12 GMT -5 asoctoberfalls said:

Basically, Prime pretty much sucks now.

Well this is kind of an overstatement IMO, but yeah, the add-on items suck. Fortunately I can usually find something else I need, or get the item on an upcoming trip to Target, or just find another Amazon seller that sells it at a slightly different price, but it's irritating.

I have not run into it very often but I'm sure I will more when we have a young baby in the house again.

I also do not use Subscribe & Save so I might have stronger feelings if I did. My biggest beef with Subscribe & Save is that it automatically dings your gift card balance with new shipments--there is no option to ONLY pay for S&S shipments with a credit card. This is a dealbreaker for me as we get our credit card rewards in the form of Amazon GCs usually and we use them as extra "fun" money that doesn't come out of the budget. I don't want to use my fun money on buying face lotion or toilet paper or whatnot.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2012 17:08:54 GMT -5 Brie said:

I would hope my $79/year would cover the "cost prohibitive" part.

I don't like the new policy either, but just to play devil's advocate, Amazon actually loses money on Prime: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203503204577036102353359784.html

"Mr. Munster estimated that Amazon spends more than $90 a year for each Prime customer, losing $11 annually for each subscriber. Of the $90, $55 comes from shipping costs and $35 comes from acquiring digital video content."

It's a calculated loss for them for sure though, and I do see why they are trying to curb their losses on shipping these little piddly items. Edit: I have to wonder how much the add-on item thing saves them in shipping, though, if their shipping costs are only $55/year per Prime customer. At the rate I order on Amazon that is less than $1 per shipment.

Admittedly this article is 1 year old so their losses might be smaller (or bigger) now.

[pugz]

all the items I used to do subscribe and save with are no longer eligible.

I may cancel Amazon Prime and then do the month to month next Nov/Dec when I am buying Christmas gifts.

I find better prices for cleaning products/cosmetics/hair products on drugstore.com plus a large % cashback thru ebates.

[dcn]

Amazon is a total lifesaver for me up here in Alaska shopping and shipping wise. There are annoying things about it but avoiding crazy shipping charges and actually being able to get some things is worth it to me!

[cjeanette]

Dec 26, 2012 19:48:14 GMT -5 pugz said:

all the items I used to do subscribe and save with are no longer eligible.

I may cancel Amazon Prime and then do the month to month next Nov/Dec when I am buying Christmas gifts.

I find better prices for cleaning products/cosmetics/hair products on drugstore.com plus a large % cashback thru ebates.

Me and drugstore.com broke up when I kept ordering items only for them to tell me it was no longer in stock. Though the item would still be listed on their site.

The add-on change doesn't bother me. It's not hard for me to order $25 worth of items. Not all smaller priced items fall under this either.

I would much prefer this over the annual cost of prime being raised.

[flashmeyer]

There's a lot of entitlement in this thread.

The "Add on" feature is really no big deal. If a business is losing money because too many are taking advantage of the program they have every right to change their policy.

[justjen]

The carbon footprint is exactly why I don't have Prime. The packaging in particular really bothers me. I've never heard anyone else bring it up...

[jr009j]

I don't mind the add-on as a general idea, but I hate that I can't even pay shipping to get them alone. I was ordering wondfus and was willing to pay shipping because even with shipping costs, they'd be cheaper than most drug store pregnancy tests, but couldn't.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2012 20:25:53 GMT -5 flashmeyer said:

There's a lot of entitlement in this thread.

The "Add on" feature is really no big deal. If a business is losing money because too many are taking advantage of the program they have every right to change their policy.

How are people taking advantage of Prime?

Amazon knows what it's doing. Ever heard of a loss leader?

It is annoying to pay for a service and then have the terms change. Nobody is arguing that Amazon is not within its rights to make the change.

[Brie]

Dec 26, 2012 20:49:54 GMT -5 @carmensandiego said:

Dec 26, 2012 20:25:53 GMT -5 flashmeyer said:

There's a lot of entitlement in this thread.

The "Add on" feature is really no big deal. If a business is losing money because too many are taking advantage of the program they have every right to change their policy.

How are people taking advantage of Prime?

Amazon knows what it's doing. Ever heard of a loss leader?

It is annoying to pay for a service and then have the terms change. Nobody is arguing that Amazon is not within its rights to make the change.

Yes, exactly. It's not the end of the world, but it is irritating. Prime is a convenience I pay for primarily to save time so I'm not constantly running to Target or BRU for that one little thing I need in fairly short order--I don't want to have to save up a list. I don't abuse it, or order multiple things in one day, but once or twice a week I order something--sometimes it's over $25, sometimes it's not.

As far as the carbon footprint issue, no, of course it's not eco-friendly, but neither are plenty of parenting choices.

[CloudBee]

I think that some of you may fail to realize that a bunch of these cheapie items may never have been eligible for Prime and NOW ARE via the add-on program. Amazon hasn't always offered $3 pacifiers with Prime shipping. (Or a large variety of them.) I'm seeing an increase in low priced items now that the add-on program has come into play. It seems like they're broadening their offerings by bringing in low priced items vs. limiting. It used to be rare to find a pack of pens for say, $3 on Amazon w/Prime, and now there's an abundance of things like that if you use the add-on feature. I'm happy to see I don't always have to buy in bulk now if I don't want to.

[chia]

Dec 26, 2012 21:15:09 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

I think that some of you may fail to realize that a bunch of these cheapie items may never have been eligible for Prime and NOW ARE via the add-on program. Amazon hasn't always offered $3 pacifiers with Prime shipping. (Or a large variety of them.) I'm seeing an increase in low priced items now that the add-on program has come into play. It seems like they're broadening their offerings by bringing in low priced items vs. limiting. It used to be rare to find a pack of pens for say, $3 on Amazon w/Prime, and now there's an abundance of things like that if you use the add-on feature. I'm happy to see I don't always have to buy in bulk now if I don't want to.

Yeah, this is kind of how I see it.
I am a little more annoyed by the S&S changes... but, I can't really complain, since I pretty much always cancel my subscription after ordering.

[asoctoberfalls]

Dec 26, 2012 20:25:53 GMT -5 flashmeyer said:

There's a lot of entitlement in this thread.

Well, yeah, I feel entitled to something that I paid for. It's within their rights to change things, sure... And it's within my rights to not renew my Prime membership. I actually called and asked for a cancellation and a refund of my unused months, and they refused. If it was JUST the add on items, I could live with it. But the subscribe and save changes are my biggest beef.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2012 21:15:09 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

I think that some of you may fail to realize that a bunch of these cheapie items may never have been eligible for Prime and NOW ARE via the add-on program. Amazon hasn't always offered $3 pacifiers with Prime shipping. (Or a large variety of them.) I'm seeing an increase in low priced items now that the add-on program has come into play. It seems like they're broadening their offerings by bringing in low priced items vs. limiting. It used to be rare to find a pack of pens for say, $3 on Amazon w/Prime, and now there's an abundance of things like that if you use the add-on feature. I'm happy to see I don't always have to buy in bulk now if I don't want to.

This is definitely news to me. I wish Amazon had done a better job of rolling out this program and letting people know it is mostly with items that were not previously available with Prime. The couple of times I have come across an add-on item I have been unpleasantly surprised that that was the case--they don't seem to be marked very clearly when you click on them, so it's kind of like being taunted--Amazon has it at a great price! BUT you have to spend another $20 to get it!

While the program may be a fair and good one, even a way to give value to customers that was not there before, I don't think it's the best job Amazon has ever done with execution.

[karinothing]

I do not get the big deal with add on items for the reasons suggested by cloudbee. Also I do not really even think they changed the terms I mean there is still a ton of things to order via prime . I personally never used prime to order small items so it really never interfere with what I want. Plus I am sure if anyone read their prime term agreement it said that they could change the deal at any time.

[Deleted]

Ironically, I had just read this post and my DH started complaining from the other room that the batteries he was trying to order weren't going through because they are an "add on" item and he'd never heard of that. Good timing, ladies.

Personally I'm with Cloudbee and the others who aren't bothered by this. I order stuff from Amazon all the time and I am certain my $79 has paid for itself several times over. I'm also in the middle of reading a book I got from the lending library and occasionally use streaming. I'm glad that they are using this tactic vs raising the price. I understand being annoyed if you don't need anything else right now and you need this right now -but if it were me I'd just find something else I'll need soon and add that into my order and walla!

I have never used subscribe and save so I don't know what I'm missing there.

[froggy76]

The add-ons don't bother me at all... I have always tried to avoid placing tiny orders because the shipping and packaging is so wasteful. I'm just annoyed that my packages rarely arrive in 2 days lately.

[Brie]

Update: I ordered 2 paci clips and some laundry detergent.

The pacis shipped separately from the laundry detergent anyway.

Annoying.