Amazon Prime: Is it Worth It?

Do you frequent Amazon.com? Has the price of gas altered your shopping patterns? Have you heard about an Amazon Prime membership?

Here is my story. Last year, I got pulled into the Amazon Prime program when they offered me the chance to try it out for a month for free. I never thought that I would wind up joining this program much less liking it.

My plan was to try Amazon Prime for a few weeks and then to go online and close my trial account before they charged me the $79 annual membership fee. But after the first month I didn't close the account as planned. In exchange for my annual fee, I get free two-day shipping on most of the items that Amazon stocks. We are talking millions of items here: books, music, photography equipment, even groceries! I can get all of these items in two business days with no additional shipping fees.

In addition, I can upgrade to next business day shipping for just $3.99 per item. Yup, $3.99 per item with no minimum order.

For comparison, a gallon of gas is my area is running about $3.99 per gallon right now. As fuel prices have skyrocketed, I find myself using my Prime delivery discount more and more. It is now cheaper for me to order a single item from Amazon and to have it delivered then it is to drive all across town and pick the same item up from a box-store.

Is this a good deal for everyone? No. If you don't shop at Amazon at least a few times a year then this is definitely a waste of money. For me though, a photographer who lives a great distance from a decent camera or electronics store, the discounted shipping has greatly exceeded the annual fee. If you are already a frequent Amazon customer, or if you live way out in the country too, check it out.

It is also worth noting here that the Prime shipping discount only applies to the items that Amazon itself sells. The shipping discount does not apply to all of the items that you can find from other retailers who are taping into Amazon's search engine. Is this a major concern? Not for me since Amazon stocks millions of items but it is worth knowing up-front.