Pages

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Amazon Prime addiction!

 This is a bit "off topic" however I'm going to be including more here about my everyday life and less about just fitness.   I figure that way I'll blog more.

That out of the way.  Let me say, I'm a huge fan of Amazon Prime.  To me, it is the best offering out there.  For those of you that don't know what Amazon Prime is, the short of it is you pay $79 a year for a Prime membership.  That gets you free two-day shipping on all your orders from Amazon.  Also, if you're in a hurry, you get $3.99 next day delivery per item.  At first, some people may balk at that $79 fee and think this is not for them.  However, you have to look at all the factors before deciding.
  • Right now there is free super saver shipping for Amazon orders over $25.  How many times have you needed a $20 item off of Amazon then added a $7 paperback you didn't really need to get the free shipping?  I know I did this a few times.  Now, I just order the $20 item and forget about it.
  • Sales tax.  In Illinois Sales tax is outrageous.  For example, I was looking at buying my iMac from the apple store in Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL.  Sales Tax in Crook Cook County is 10.25%.  So, that $1499.99 iMac would have been $1653.74 out the door.  Amazon had the same iMac for $1449.00 and I opted for next day delivery.  The cost was $1452.99.  So, right on that order alone I saved $200+. 
  • You can't beat Amazon's prices.  Sure, there are rare exceptions, but 9 times out of 10, the most affordable price you can find online is at amazon.  Amazon Prime eligible items are items housed at an Amazon warehouse.  But, there are thousands of retailers and companies that send their products to these warehouses for Amazon to ship.  That means you have thousands of companies competing for your business all on one website.  
  • It's not just books anymore.  Everything is on Amazon.  Monica and I have bought diapers, hard to find health food items, water filters for my fridge, furniture, electronics, etc etc etc. You name it, it's available on Amazon.  In fact, I've been looking at buying a case of coconut milk off of Amazon for a few days.  It's to the point right now that I look to Amazon first before anywhere else.
  • Subscribe and save options.  If you look around, you'll find items available for subscribe and save.  For example, we recently ordered a bunch of Pampers.  By signing up for a subscription, we save 30% per order, and have free 2-day shipping.  We can change the frequency, add an extra shipment, change the size of the diapers, and have free returns.  You can't beat it!
  • Release date delivery.  Another new feature is release date delivery for video games and movies.  If you pre-order certain items, like the newest version of Halo, the item will show up on your door on the release date.  
So, there's my plug for Amazon Prime.  We just ordered a changing table off of Amazon two days ago.  I checked out the UPS tracking info and it's coming via UPS 2nd day air from California.  It's a 50 lb package going from Cali to Illinois.  I did a quick check on UPS and for me to ship this item 2nd day air it would have cost me $212.  I don't know how Amazon does it, but it works.