What is Amazon prime and how does it work? If you are interested in uncovering all of the secret goodies you get with a membership, we have it here!
Amazon Prime is a subscription service ($99 a year or 10.99 a month) which is an extension of the regular Amazon delivery service. It includes several features, the most notable of which is free 2-day shipping, but it also includes other services like a music streaming service, video streaming service, free rentals of digital books, and access to other things like exclusive deals and Prime Pantry, a service which allows you to order groceries (non-perishables, generally) right to your door. I personally have a membership because I feel I get my money out of it, and, additionally, I also have a discounted Prime Student account, which is only $50 a year after a 6-month trial period. Truthfully, I feel most of the value will come from the free shipping benefits, so if someone orders enough that it justifies the cost of the subscription, I believe it would be worth it for them. If a person only orders things occasionally from Amazon, its hard to get the full value out of the relatively high cost. I feel like some of the other services can be found in better quality elsewhere, like Spotify or Google Play Music for music streaming or Netflix or Hulu for video/movie streaming. However, these kinds of additional services provided by Amazon, while potentially not as good (breadth of selection, mostly, when I say this), they add a great additional value if you use them. I personally use Amazon Music to stream music that's not on my phone when I'm in the car, which keeps me from having to purchase another streaming service for music; it doesn't have all the songs in the world, but it has most of the big ones you'd want to listen to. More on Prime Pantry, I've used it a lot in college, especially since I'm in my first year, and I'm required to live in a dorm and can't have a car. I order things like cans of Starbucks coffee, soda, hygienic products, and snack foods like chips and bars, primarily. Like I said, I can't really make it to a grocery store without significant effort, so it's nice to get things delivered relatively close to me (still have to pick it up from a mail room). I imagine that it would be similarly beneficial for others who don't have very good access to transportation (as well as those who are just a little lazy sometimes). So, to reiterate, Amazon Prime should primarily be purchased for the option of free two day shipping, but it works best if all of its parts are used together as a package.