Is the Amazon Prime Price Increase to $119 Still a Good Deal?

Amazon announced the price for Amazon Prime Membership will increase from $99 to $119 per year. $20 is a big price jump. $20 is a 20% price increase. Is the Amazon Prime Price increase to $119 still a good deal? Will you continue to be an Amazon Prime member? Why or why not?

Amazon Prime Price Increase to $119

Do you remember when the price of Amazon Prime was only $79?

In February of 2014, Amazon announced they were considering a price increase for Amazon Prime from $79 to either $99 or $119. At the time, there was a lot of controversy about a $40 price hike and the value of Amazon Prime.

Then in March of 2014, Amazon only raised the price of Amazon Prime $20 from $79 to $99 per year.

In December 2016, Amazon began offering an Amazon Prime membership for $10.99 per month.

In February 2018, the Amazon Prime monthly membership fee increased to $12.99 per month.

Now, four years after the last price increase for the annual membership (March 2014), Amazon is raising the price of the Amazon Prime annual membership from $99 to $119. The price increase will go into effect on May 11th for new members, and begins on June 16th for renewals of current Prime members.

If you want to start a new Amazon Prime membership, be sure to sign-up before May 11th. And don’t forget you get a Amazon Prime 30-day Free Trial.

Amazon Prime Discount Prices

Don’t overlook these great Amazon Prime Discounts.

Amazon will still offer Amazon Prime discounts for eligible members. Medicaid and EBT recipients can get Amazon Prime for $5.99 per month. College Students can receive half-off the annual price of Amazon Prime Student memberships plus a 6-month free trial.

Amazon Prime Has Grown

When Amazon Prime started in 2005, the concept was simple. Amazon Prime was a shipping service. For $79 per year, Amazon Prime members received FREE 2-day shipping and discounted 1-day shipping. That was it!

Over the years, Amazon Prime members got more and more services as part of the Amazon Prime membership bundle.

And certainly since the last price increase four years ago, the Amazon Prime service has improved. Now the Amazon Prime membership bundle includes more features and better services than it did even just a few years ago.

The following are all part of the Amazon Prime bundle:

• Prime Delivery: FREE Two-Day Shipping on over 100 million items
• Prime Reading: Prime Members read free books, magazines, audiobooks, and more
• Amazon Elements: Access to Amazon Elements products, Amazon’s own line of everyday essentials
• Prime Video: Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows
• Prime Music: Growing choice of 2 million songs – always ad-free
• Thursday Night Football: Amazon live streamed 11 Thursday Night Football games in 2017-2018 NFL season
• Prime Photos: FREE unlimited photo storage for you and five others
• Prime Pantry: Shop for groceries and household products in everyday package sizes
• Twitch Prime: Twitch is the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers, video game culture, and the creative arts
• Amazon Channels: Watch your favorite shows and movies from HBO, SHOWTIME and STARZ channels — no cable required, cancel anytime and no other apps to download. $4.99–$14.99/month for Prime members.
• Amazon Key: Get Amazon packages securely delivered inside their car or home with Amazon Key

Is the Amazon Prime Price Increase to $119 Still a Good Deal?

For Cord Cutters, potentially the biggest value of the Amazon Prime bundle is Prime Video and Amazon Channels (A LA CARTE TV).

Amazon Prime Video has a great choice of movies and shows included as part of the Amazon Prime bundle. And Amazon creates Original Programming such as Bosch, Transparent, and Sneaky Pete.

But does a $20 price jump to $119 make sense for the Cord Cutter?

$119 per year breaks down to $9.92 per month.

Amazon Prime Video is similar to other streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. But Netflix costs $10.99 per month and Hulu costs $7.99 per month. And both seem to be better values when directly compared to Amazon Prime Video. Both Netflix and Hulu both offer more TV entertainment.

But of course, that’s not an entirely fair comparison because of everything else that is included in the Amazon Prime bundle.

What other services do you use and what is the value of those services TO YOU?

Do you use Amazon Music? Apple Music costs $10 per month. Google Play costs $9.99 per month. Spotify costs $10 per month. But Amazon Music isn’t quite as good as these music services.

Do you store photos in Amazon Photos? Amazon Prime members can store UNLIMITED photos. But Amazon Photos really isn’t a great way to back up or share your photos.

Do you value FREE 2-day shipping? Or can you wait 5-8 business days for Amazon FREE Shipping?

Still a Good Deal for You?

Is the Amazon Prime price increase to $119 still a good deal for you? You will need to decide the value of the Amazon Prime services you use.

If you use a lot of the Amazon Prime benefits, $119 is probably a very good deal.

If you are a Cord Cutter and use Amazon Prime Video and a few of the other services, the decision to keep Amazon Prime may be more difficult.

Do you find the Amazon Prime services valuable? Amazon hopes so.

 

What services do you use from Amazon Prime? Is the Amazon Prime Price increase to $119 still a good deal for you? Will you continue to be an Amazon Prime member? Why or why not?