Amazon Prime is a remarkable success but also dystopian. It has made convenience and speed the norm, habituating consumers to buy more products. Prime’s flywheel effect - where more customers lead to more data and scale which attracts more customers - has fueled Amazon’s dominance. Prime subscribers spend twice as much and Amazon’s value has multiplied 97 times since 2005. While canceling Prime may not hurt Amazon, it can benefit local businesses by gaining a new customer. However, Prime has rewired how people think about what is possible to obtain and how fast, making a Prime-free life unimaginable for many.

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
26 points

I bought in because of the free shipping, but I cancelled when the price went up.

Turns out, you can still get free shipping if you bundle your orders together and are willing to wait an extra day or two.

permalink
report
reply
12 points

And at least in my case, shipping got faster once I canceled my prime. Lol. Fast shipping had been the only reason I had signed up in the first place.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

I was the same. I don’t use it enough to make the cost worth it, and I can wait a few extra days for free shipping. It usually ends up arriving faster than predicted anyway.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Technology

!technology@beehaw.org

Create post

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Community stats

  • 2.8K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.4K

    Posts

  • 78K

    Comments