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It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription (slate.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

420 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The author canceled their Amazon Prime subscription on a whim and realized they didn't really need it.
Leaving Prime meant slower shipping but the author was happy to wait and still found the selection and delivery speed satisfactory.
Many people love Prime for its fast shipping and convenience, but some readers expressed ambivalence and considered canceling.

Archive link: https://archive.ph/3M27c

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[–] viralJ 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wow, never thought I'd see a headline like this. I've never had Amazon prime except for the free month trial. I had no idea it was such a problem for others that there are articles written about it.

[–] Wolf_359 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think what a lot of people are missing in this thread is that not everyone has access to convenient physical stores and many people do have good reasons to want faster shipping.

For example, young families who don't live near a Walmart. When you realize you need a few things for the kid, it can be pretty tough to pack them up and drive however far to the store that may or may not have what you need. If they do have it, you aren't going to get reviews or many options.

My recent prime purchases have included bottle brushes, a crib mattress protector, a replacement remote for our sound bar (dog ate it), and a cheap car camera to check the baby since he started daycare last week and I'm completely paranoid about my ADHD brain leaving him in a hot car and killing him.

Did any of these need to be prime purchases? I guess not but you can see how I would want them sooner rather than later.

Walmart near me didn't have any good car cameras in my price range.

The sound bar remote was online only and was required for us to watch TV since our TV speaker doesn't work.

The bottle brushes were just convenient.

The mattress protector could have waited but would have been a gamble on ruining our very expensive crib mattress. This could have been a a Walmart purchase for sure though.

I'm not saying these were life or death purchases. They weren't and people got by just fine before Amazon. But does the convenience and reliability outweigh the monthly prime cost? For us, yes. And I admit we have become pretty dependent on it.

[–] viralJ 6 points 9 months ago

Thanks for explaining this. I'm a childless guy living in the UK in a big city, close to many big markets and specialty stores, so I guess my experience is totally different than what you're describing and you gave a few pretty good reasons why there's such a gap in how much the convenience of Prime is worth for someone like you and someone like me. I guess the article just isn't aimed at people like me.