Solutions For RealSolutions For Real
  • Home
  • News
  • Personal Finance
    • Savings
    • Banking
    • Mortgage
    • Retirement
    • Taxes
    • Wealth
  • Make Money
  • Budgeting
  • Burrow
  • Investing
  • Credit Cards
  • Loans

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest finance news and updates directly to your inbox.

Top News

Summer Financial Checklist

July 1, 2025

3 Gently Used Cars You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000

July 1, 2025

20 Companies With Permanent Remote Jobs

July 1, 2025
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Summer Financial Checklist
  • 3 Gently Used Cars You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000
  • 20 Companies With Permanent Remote Jobs
  • 8 Things You’re Forgetting to Include in Your Monthly Budget
  • NASA, Netflix Team Up to Live Stream Rocket Launches
  • Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Meta Superintelligence Labs
  • You Don’t Need A Retirement Coach—Or Do You?
  • Cut Costs Not Quality: 5 Grocery Upgrades That Save Money in the Long Run
Wednesday, July 2
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Solutions For RealSolutions For Real
Subscribe For Alerts
  • Home
  • News
  • Personal Finance
    • Savings
    • Banking
    • Mortgage
    • Retirement
    • Taxes
    • Wealth
  • Make Money
  • Budgeting
  • Burrow
  • Investing
  • Credit Cards
  • Loans
Solutions For RealSolutions For Real
Home » I audited my Amazon Prime membership to see if the $139 annual fee is still worth it
News

I audited my Amazon Prime membership to see if the $139 annual fee is still worth it

News RoomBy News RoomJune 16, 20240 Views0
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email Tumblr Telegram

To renew, or not to renew? 

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself every June since Amazon Prime first hooked me more than 10 years ago with a deeply discounted rate for college students.

Most years, my renewal date sneaks up on me before I even realize it. The notification from my credit card pops up on my phone and I realize that I’ve committed another $139 to the Seattle-based e-tail giant. 

But last year, when I yet again let auto-renew make my decision for me, I set a calendar alert for 2024 so that I could properly review my Amazon Prime subscription and see if I’m actually getting my money’s worth. 

After tax, my $151.34 membership comes out to $12.61 a month, less than what I pay for services like Netflix, Max or Spotify. Let’s audit the Prime perks that I do — and don’t — use, and see if it’s worth keeping around for another year. 

Free shipping, easy returns

Amazon’s free two-day shipping guarantee isn’t quite as impressive as it used to be, with some other retailers offering similar delivery speeds these days. But the convenience of being able to find most products I’m shopping for and receive them in a timely manner is still a huge value for me. Without Prime, I’d need to hit certain order minimums to qualify for free shipping, and it would take an extra day or two to get to me. 

I also like how Prime incentivizes me to choose later delivery dates in exchange for digital credits that can be used on movie rentals or Kindle purchases. When I’m not in a hurry to receive a package — and let’s be honest, I don’t usually need anything that urgently — it’s nice to accumulate my digital cash and get a free book or movie rental out of it. It’s a perk that is difficult to put a dollar figure on, but goes a long way toward making the annual fee feel worthwhile. 

Even better than Amazon’s shipping, however, is how easy it makes returns. I try to be conscious of my environmental footprint and not make unnecessary returns when I don’t have to. But in the event that I do need to send something back, few companies make the process easier than Amazon. Walking over to my local UPS store or Whole Foods and dropping a product off is a lot less of a hassle than printing out a label and packaging it up myself.

Prime Video

Stand-alone price: $8.99/month, $107.88/year

Unless there’s a new season of “Reacher” airing, Amazon’s streamer isn’t the first app I boot up when looking for something to watch. It’s probably not even the third or fourth. If I didn’t have Prime, I probably wouldn’t spend $8.99 every month for the service. 

But as it stands, I use Prime Video enough that I pay the extra $2.99 per month to avoid ads when I’m watching movies and shows. Plus, as a Yankees fan, 21 of my team’s games are available exclusively on Prime this season.

Free, unlimited photo storage 

Stand-alone price: $1.99/month, $23.88/year for 100GB photo storage

All Amazon customers get 5GB of storage for their photos and videos  whether they pay for Prime or not. Prime members, however, can save as many photos to Amazon’s cloud as they want.

It’s not a perk that’s top of mind when I think of my membership benefits, but with a photo archive dating back more than a decade, it’s nice to not have to pay extra for my digital storage space.

What about the perks I don’t use?

Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

On paper, there’s value that I’m leaving on the table with my Prime membership. I’m a Spotify subscriber, so I never use Amazon Music. Likewise, I don’t do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods, so the “exclusive” deals only available to Prime members don’t move the needle for me. 

Prime Day is billed as a shopping extravaganza for Prime members, but to me it just feels engineered to get me to spend more money on deals that aren’t actually all that great.

I get most of my Kindle books from the New York Public Library, so having access to Prime Reading’s rotating collection of books isn’t something I take into consideration when assessing how much I pay for my membership each year. The newly added Grubhub+ membership is nice to have, but spending more money on take-out because of Amazon Prime will only make my membership feel more expensive, not less. 

To renew, or not to renew? 

Between free shipping, easy returns, some fun offering on Prime Video and all the photo storage I need, I still feel like I get enough value out of my membership to make the annual fee worthwhile. I’ll let my subscription renew for another year.

That said, over the next 11 months I’ll still be keeping a close eye on how often I’m using the perks listed above. My Prime subscription may be worth it this year, but I won’t let auto-renew make my decision for me anymore.

Want to be a successful, confident communicator? Take CNBC’s new online course Become an Effective Communicator: Master Public Speaking. We’ll teach you how to speak clearly and confidently, calm your nerves, what to say and not say, and body language techniques to make a great first impression. Sign up today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through July 10, 2024.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Read the full article here

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Articles

Lucid shares tumble following public offering of nearly 262.5 million shares

News October 17, 2024

Harris distances herself from Biden, bashes Trump in tense Fox News interview

News October 17, 2024

Alibaba’s international arm says its new AI translation tool beats Google and ChatGPT

News October 16, 2024

I bought a $54,000 abandoned house in Japan and turned it into a luxury Airbnb—take a look inside

News October 16, 2024

Trump’s crypto coin goes on sale with Election Day just three weeks out

News October 15, 2024

Cramer’s Lightning Round: Uranium Energy is ‘the real deal’

News October 15, 2024
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Demo
Top News

3 Gently Used Cars You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000

July 1, 20250 Views

20 Companies With Permanent Remote Jobs

July 1, 20250 Views

8 Things You’re Forgetting to Include in Your Monthly Budget

July 1, 20250 Views

NASA, Netflix Team Up to Live Stream Rocket Launches

July 1, 20250 Views
Don't Miss

Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Meta Superintelligence Labs

By News RoomJuly 1, 2025

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 41, is reshaping the company’s AI efforts to focus on superintelligence,…

You Don’t Need A Retirement Coach—Or Do You?

June 30, 2025

Cut Costs Not Quality: 5 Grocery Upgrades That Save Money in the Long Run

June 30, 2025

10 Creative Ways to Save for a Big Goal (Like a Vacation!)

June 30, 2025
About Us
About Us

Your number 1 source for the latest finance, making money, saving money and budgeting. follow us now to get the news that matters to you.

We're accepting new partnerships right now.

Email Us: [email protected]

Our Picks

Summer Financial Checklist

July 1, 2025

3 Gently Used Cars You Can Still Buy for Under $20,000

July 1, 2025

20 Companies With Permanent Remote Jobs

July 1, 2025
Most Popular

Century 21 CEO optimistic over 2025 real estate market: Here's what buyers 'don't realize'

December 16, 20241 Views

15 Best Paid Survey Sites For Kids

December 12, 20231 Views

Summer Financial Checklist

July 1, 20250 Views
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Dribbble
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Press Release
  • Advertise
  • Contact
© 2025 Solutions For Real. All Rights Reserved.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.