Amazon to increase cost of Prime; annual sales rise 22%

[brooklynite]

Seattle Times

Amazon is increasing the cost of its Prime membership for U.S. customers, in part to offset rising expenses associated with wages and transportation, the company announced ahead of its quarterly earnings call Thursday.

The monthly fee for Prime membership will go up from $12.99 to $14.99, and the annual membership from $119 to $139.

The price change — Amazon’s first since 2018 — will go into effect on Feb. 18 for new members. For current Prime members it will apply after March 25, on the date of their next renewal.

“As expected over the holidays, we saw higher costs driven by labor supply shortages and inflationary pressures, and these issues persisted into the first quarter due to Omicron,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. “Despite these short-term challenges, we continue to feel optimistic and excited about the business as we emerge from the pandemic.”

[Rebl2]

1. Big mistake

[USALiberal]

4. Why? What do you think will happen??

[Deuxcents]

2. Amazon has enough funds for pay raises

W/o raising rates on their customers. I don’t have Amazon accounts..nothing with them but so many others depend on them. Give the customers a break..

[Demsrule86]

3. That includes free shipping on most things, free prime TV, music...for and extra few dollars

Kindle unlimited...I don't care about the increase.

[Ohio Joe]

18. Also free computer games to keep each month

https://www.democraticunderground.com/12115567

It's not like they go away if your membership is canceled, once downloaded they are yours to keep. Surprisingly, there are even some pretty damn good games they give away.

[USALiberal]

5. I'm fine with it! Nt

[Saboburns]

6. I love Amazon Prime. My family saves thousands $ every year with free shipping alone.

For us a $20 hike is less than negligible. And the best customer service I've ever encountered. I'm sure somebody around here will try to get me to hate Amazon and tell me how evil they are.

Just no.

[budkin]

7. Understandable

Considering everything else going on. I just hope they pay their people well and take care of them.

[mcar]

8. For me, it pays for itself

I buy a lot of things from Amazon and saving the shipping cost more than covers the fee. Plus, I use Amazon music for my playlists and there are a lot of good things on Prime Video.

[highplainsdem]

13. Same here.

[MichMan]

9. If people still think it provides value, they will renew. If not, they won't

It's not required

[dempls]

10. Yacht

That yacht won't pay for itself.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

11. Mine renews March 23rd

Two days before the price increase!

[Tracer]

12. Bye Bye Prime.

I don't buy that much from Amazon, so the cost of it doesn't make sense. And I almost never watch Prime. So small loss all around.

[Dial H For Hero]

14. I won't hesitate to renew, well worth it. The new Lord of the Rings series premieres in September,

so it’s not as if I have a choice.

[dwayneb]

15. Same here

We buy lots of things from Amazon it is a great convenience for $11.60 a month.

[Samrob]

16. If sales increase, why do they need to raise prices?

Hostile capitalism. When your customers support you, punish them.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. Prime pays for itself several times over

Prime TV is worth it alone.

[Earth-shine]

19. I return about 1/3 of things I buy from Prime. Why? Because I can.

We live in a world of crap! Cheap electronics, appliances, textiles -- everything!

If had bought that same crap-masquerading-as-better-merch from other sources, returns would be more complicated.

UPS even picks up the returns. Credit received in hours -- every time!

In many respects, Bezos is a despicable human being. But, he had the vision to create and run this company at a loss for years until it became profitable.

On the other hand, he knew that rocket was being designed to look like a big penis and okayed the plans. Why? Because it's his penis.