Amazon Prime is quickly becoming my favorite way to buy nearly everything. I was a bit late to Prime Membership as I only signed up back in 2016. Until that point I had a car and didn’t mind driving to the store to grab what I needed. However, over time I moved closer to downtown Chicago and driving became ever more difficult. Eventually I caved and signed up for Prime. Over time I’ve found myself buying more and more stuff from Amazon, including everyday household items. I’ve found that it’s simply easier to order the items than to carry them home from the store.
Over the years I’ve continued to use Amazon Prime more and more. If I’m ever looking to buy anything I almost always search for it first on Amazon. Usually I can find discounts or expedited shipping. Not only that, but it’s so much easier having all of my personal information already populated when making a purchase.
Another aspect of Amazon Prime that I really appreciate is that Amazon continues to make improvements. Many of the benefits I have from Prime Membership didn’t exist just a few years ago. It’s nice to see a company continue to improve a product year after year. Amazon has increased Prime membership fees slightly over the years, but with the increased fees the benefits have also increased. Well, it seems Amazon recently announced a few more benefits which make Prime membership even more appealing.
Amazon Prime Updates May 2019
A few days ago I received an email from Amazon announcing further improvements to Prime Membership and personally I’m impressed with the changes. From the moment I opened the email from Amazon I appreciated the message. The intention of the email was not only to introduce new benefits, but also remind me of existing benefits I might not be taking advantage of.
The email from Amazon continued by highlighting a few of the New “Shopping” benefits offered from Prime membership.
The Shopping benefits list included things such as additional savings at Whole Foods, Prime Wardrobe, Key In-car or In-Home Delivery, and Amazon Day. I’ve known about the Whole Foods savings and the Amazon Key services, but I hadn’t heard about Prime Wardrobe or Amazon Day before.
Prime Wardrobe seems to be a direct competitor to something like Trunk Club as you receive clothes to try on and only pay for the ones you choose to keep. Personally, I don’t see myself using this service all too often, but it could beat going to a department store if the selection is comparable.
As for Amazon Day, I personally really like this feature. Essentially, you set up a day to receive all of your packages. So, if you work from home on Wednesdays it’s great to be able to just have everything delivered that day. This is perfect for those who work a typical 40-hour a week schedule and don’t want to risk having packages stolen from the front door.
Updated Shopping Benefits
The email continued with a few updated “Shopping” benefits, many of which I found extremely useful.
The list of updated shopping benefits began with an improvement to Free Same-Day Delivery. Essentially, if you order select items over $35, you could get it on the same day. I’ve seen this benefit offered in the past on several items for a small fee, but it’s nice to see Amazon expanding this benefit.
Additionally, Amazon Prime continues to increase its grocery offerings. With Amazon Prime Now, customers can get Whole Foods purchases delivered within two hours and access to Amazon Fresh which is grocery deliveries in select markets.
Updated Entertainment Benefits
Further down in the body of the email, Amazon highlighted a few more benefits, specifically updated Entertainment benefits.
This section of the email highlighted Prime Video (which I’m starting to use more than Netflix), Prime Music, Twitch Prime, and Amazon Photos. Personally, I don’t use Prime Music or Twitch Prime so I’m not sure how good or bad these benefits are. However, I do know that Twitch is huge and continues to grow so I’m guessing this is a valuable benefit to many, especially younger customers.
Finally, I haven’t had much experience with Amazon Photos, but it seems like an alternative to Google Photos of Apple’s iCloud. Like iCloud space is limited to just 5BG of free storage.
Final Thoughts
All in all I noticed three big takeaways from the Prime Membership Update email. Specifically I appreciated the expansion of One-Day Shipping and the introductions of Amazon Day and Car Deliveries. The expanded grocery services are also a positive change, but one that I don’t see myself using anytime soon.
I personally see a ton of value in Amazon Day. I don’t necessarily always need things delivered in two days or less. However, I’m not sure that I’m ready for someone to drop a package off in my home or car. Perhaps over time that will be more common and I’ll learn to accept it. For now, I plan to utilize Prime Day to make sure that I receive everything I order.
Either way, I greatly appreciate Amazon making an effort to ensure I’m getting the most out of my Prime membership. $120 a year is a bit higher than the original price I signed up to pay, but it’s nice to see that with the increased price Amazon continues to add more value to Prime Membership. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like I’m going to get rid of Prime anytime soon.
