Amazon Prime

     Over 100 million Amazon items are eligible for free shipping if your one of the 100 million Amazon Prime members who pay a yearly fee of $99.  I've been an Amazon Prime member for several years starting with the yearly introductory rate of $72 then $99 every year there after.  This year Amazon will increase  that yearly fee to $119.  I know people who say they would never pay a company a fee for the privilege of shopping at their store, they will just shop some where else.  Those people are not looking at all an Amazon Prime account offers.  With the average shipping cost of $11 per item it would only take a dozen items to get your $119 annual fee back.  I probably order 20-24 items a year. I'm currently  waiting on a $2.23 item coming from China, I'll pay on tax and get free shipping all the way from China.
     Besides the free 2 day shipping Amazon Prime members get, there are a lot of other benefits.   I won't list all the benefits offered to Prime members, only the ones I use on a regular basis.
1 Amazon Prime Day  This event happens mid Summer every year with Black Friday prices
2 Free 2 day shipping
3 Amazon credit card.  Amazon offers two cards.  The one I use is the Amazon Store Card.  It offers 5% back on all Amazon purchases and if you would rather not take the 5% back on an item it offers no interest payment plans on any thing over $149.
4 Streaming video.  I stream a lot of movies, TV programs and original content from Amazon Prime Video.  I would say between 15-25 hours of video a week.
5 Streaming music.  Amazon Music is one of the best non commercial music streaming services anywhere.  I don't stream near as much music each week as I do video but I do use the service. Probably 8-12 hours a week
6 Reading Amazon.  Prime offers 1 free down loadable  book a month which is yours to keep forever, you never have to return them.  Prime members also can check out unlimited books and magazines from Amazon's Kindle  lending   library.  When your check out time is over the books or magazines automatically disappear  from your account.
     These are just a few of the many benefits that come with an Amazon Prime account.  So do I think I get my money's worth, HELL YES!  When you consider Netflix cost  $138 a year and all it offers is video streaming, the $119 a year fee Amazon charges is a huge bargain.  There will be a lot of Amazon Prime account holders who complain about the $20  raise in their yearly fee and many will probably drop their account.  In reality the $119 fee comes to $2.28 a week. You can't even buy a gallon of gas for that amount.   To all you Prime account holders who are raising hell at the $20 increase   go ahead spend that $20 on half a tank of gas so you can drive to what ever store your going to buy your stuff that would normally be delivered to your door step.  Then call your Television Cable or Satellite  provider and tell them you want to once again start paying them $105 a month or $1260 a year so you can watch movies and stupid prime time network programming . You better get a library card because your sure going to need it.  Last but not least, you better start working on your patience because your sure need it when you fight the Black Friday crowds.  The $119 Amazon Prime fee looks better and better every day.