A reminder that by purchasing an item from a link on this website, What the Tech? may earn a small commission on the purchase price. I do not recommend products that I have not used or tried with a good deal of satisfaction.
If you’ve been paying for an Amazon Prime membership by the month, you just got hit with a price increase. Amazon has raised the monthly subscription rate $11 to $13 for Prime, an increase of 18%.
The annual price remains the same at $100, so clearly, Amazon hopes to convert those monthly subscribers to annual memberships.
Even if you’re paying annually you may not be getting your money’s worth out of Prime. If you’re only subscribing for the free 2-day shipping, you’d need to place 20 different orders just to break even. There’s more to Prime that means the eye though. Are you taking advantage of the perks?
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Prime Video is perhaps the best known (outside of free shipping) Prime perk. The Netflix competitor streams TV shows and movies over smart TVs, computers, mobile devices and streaming devices such as the Amazon Fire Stick and Fire TV. In my most recent comparison of Prime Video to Netflix, I found Amazon actually has a better selection of some genres of movies. You can subscribe to Amazon Prime Video only for $9 a month.
Join Amazon Prime – Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now
Prime Music is the perk I use most often. The streaming service, comparable to Spotify and Apple Music carries music from many artists you cannot find on Spotify. I’ve made playlists of my favorite genres and eras of music and stream it over bluetooth speakers and through earbuds connected to my phone. You can also order Prime Music separately. Amazon has a free unlimited trial here
Try Amazon Music Unlimited Free Trial
Are you running out of storage on your phone from all of those pictures you’re afraid to delete? Amazon Prime Photos backs up those photos in the cloud. You can access them (download them) to any computer or device and your phone can be set up to upload the photos to Prime Photos automatically whenever you take a new one.
The feature most people miss is Amazon’s Lending Library. It’s a library of some 800,000 e-books. You can check out books from the lending library just like you would do from your public library. You can check out 1 book per month and keep it for as long as you want with no fee. You cannot check out a second book until you turn in the first one. The e-books can be read on any Kindle or mobile device running the Kindle app. Finding great books in The Lending Library is hit or miss though. If you haven’t downloaded the Kindle reading app you can do that here.
Amazon.com – Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices
If you have a Prime Membership because you signed up early to get free 2-day shipping, you may be missing out on one of the best Prime features. Rather than ordering everything with Free 2-day shipping, consider waiting a few days before receiving your order. On most items, Amazon offers Prime members a “No Rush Reward”. In exchange for accepting free standard shipping, you’ll receive a reward of a few dollars that can be used at Amazon Prime Pantry. On a recent order I accepted No Rush Reward, got my order in a week (it was no rush) and was given $6 that I could use at Prime Pantry. I’ll choose this option whenever I can and will save even more money by buying some of my grocery items from Amazon and have them delivered to my home.
You can sign up for a trial membership to Amazon Prime, but I will caution you that if you do not cancel the trial before the end of the 30 days, your credit card will be charged for a full membership. It’s in the contract you’ll agree to so set a reminder on your phone to cancel Prime unless you’re sure it’s worth the money.