10 Reasons to Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership Today
Amazon has been a titan in the online shopping world for years, and for a good reason. They have always provided major perks to their Prime members with everything from convenient free two-day shipping to special deals and discounts. However, it may be time to break up with your prime membership.
After a closer investigation into some of these “Prime Member Perks,” we realized that those extras that you’re getting for a whopping $119 per year, might not be worth it. Here are ten reasons you should cancel your Amazon Prime Membership today.
1. Amazon Prime Doesn’t Come Cheap
Amazon Prime comes in two different subscription options (not considering any special deals or discounts). There is the yearly option that you can purchase for $119 or a monthly option that is $12.99. This doesn’t even cover items that don’t qualify for free shipping or any other discounts. This membership fee is for HAVING the Prime membership.
This means that you still have to pay full price for the items that you purchase, and while you do get some bonus things like Prime Reading and Music, etc. your purchases on Amazon aren’t discounted.
2. You’re Likely Not Getting Your Money’s Worth
The main perk of Amazon Prime is the free two-day shipping, but your Prime membership includes so much more.
For your membership fee you also get access to:
There are many features included in your Amazon Prime membership, but very few of them get used.
Let’s be honest. Do you use the photo storage that you get for being a Prime member?
While the main appeal is Amazon’s free shipping, many other features included in your Prime membership might end up sitting there collecting dust.
3. You Can Still Get Free Shipping Without a Prime Membership
Your Prime membership gets you free two-day shipping on MOST items, but not all of them. However, you don’t need a Prime membership to get free shipping on your purchases. If you have an order over $25, you can still enjoy free shipping! There have even been times when the Free Shipping option was still 2-day shipping! It’s a far better deal to wait until you have $25 of items in your cart and get free shipping that way.
4. There are Other Retail Memberships With Better Deals
Amazon Prime has A LOT of features, but other retailers offer competitive membership programs that can save you just as much or more. For example, Costco offers a membership price of only $60 for the basic membership for the year, and this includes two people.
This gives you access to the warehouse store and ordering online with Costco’s free two-day shipping option. When compared to the price of shopping for bulk items, or even TVs, you will likely find a better deal here than on Amazon! Plus, they have a better return policy.
5. There is Almost Always a Free Trial of Prime
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to checkout and there was an offer for a free month or week of Prime. Amazon is banking on the fact that you will sign up and forget that you ever did! Then, you’ll be stuck paying for Prime and not even notice. Take advantage of this scheme and make it work for you!
When you go to sign up for that free trial, head to the manage your membership area right after you check out. There will be an option to cancel your membership. Click cancel your membership, and when your trial period is up, you don’t have to worry about being charged! It’ll cancel it for you automatically.
6. You’re Likely Paying More for the Membership Than The Savings You’ll Receive
If you order a lot of products on Amazon, you are only getting back the shipping cost. Many online realtors do have free shipping options and discount codes that you’ll rarely find on Amazon. This means that essentially, you’ll only be saving the cost of the shipping on each purchase. While Amazon does have lower prices from time to time, some stores will even match Amazon.
This means that your membership will likely result in fewer savings. While other warehouse stores will give you more than the membership cost in savings, you’ll be hard-pressed to find the same savings from Amazon’s membership.
7. Shop Local to Make a Bigger Difference
When you purchase something from Amazon, you aren’t helping keep a family’s roof over their head or helping someone pay their bills. What you’re paying for is the ability to buy from a big box store. Shopping local can help your money make a real difference in the community and help support a small business. While you may not be able to buy everything this way, you can choose to be more intentional about your purchases.
8. Amazon Does Not Allow Price Matching, Which Can Lead to Lazy Shopping
Amazon does not allow price matching. Since you already had to shell out money for the membership, you may be tempted to shop on Amazon to justify your membership. This can often lead to lazy shopping and cause you to miss out on deals or better prices elsewhere. We get so used to just heading to Amazon or buying off our wishlist directly that we don’t think about the other options.
9. There are Better Options for the Added Prime Features
Amazon Prime is about a lot more than just free shipping. However, when compared to the competition, many of these added bonuses or features aren’t as good as the competition. For example, Prime Video does not have nearly as many movies and shows as Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+.
You could argue that the price for everything you get doesn’t compare to these other streaming services’ prices. But if you never use Prime Video because it doesn’t have the shows you like, it doesn’t matter what is included in your membership price because you’re not using that feature.
10. You Don’t Really Need 2-Day Shipping on Most Items
This one is going to sting a bit, but you don’t need two-day shipping on most of the things you’re purchasing. If you’re out of diapers, having the ability to use Prime Now or two-day shipping can be a lifesaver. But, you could easily set up Subscribe and Save and never worry about running out again for no extra cost!
You might need that 2-Day saving grace now and then, but it will happen so infrequently in real life. Plus, knowing you have to wait a week to get what you are ordering can help you cut down on impulse purchases!
Conclusion
Amazon Prime might start to feel like a necessity because it’s become so ingrained into our lives and culture. Everyone you know has a membership, so you feel like you need one too. However, after looking at these reasons to cancel, it can be hard to justify paying a Prime membership these days.
Hopefully, this guide has helped you determine if you’re getting value out of your Prime membership and if it might be time to say goodbye to Amazon Prime.
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Actually I found it to be worthwhile to have Amazon Prime. So many times I am making a purchase on items that I cannot find anywhere. Many of the items are better priced on Amazon. I have been building DIY items out of pallets and reclaimed wood. I can always find the hardware on Amazon for a better price and get shipping right away (overnight many times). Prime reading is great, I have enjoyed reading books and magazines for free. We also get a free book every month in First Reads. Amazon Prime is a time saver, as well as a money saver.
Hi May, I’m glad you’re finding value in it! I’ve been paying for Prime for years, but thought it may be a good idea to offer a different view to help people determine if they are really fully getting the value from it.
My Amazon Prime membership has been “free “ for the past 3 years because I get supper saver shipping on virtually all of my items. If I need something shipped in 2 days, I have that option. Even with Super Saving shipping my items arrive in 3 to 5 days on average. I use the credit on my account to pay the Amazon Prime membership fee. I do this to get the Prime video, basically for free. I also, have more access to the Prime Member deals throughout the year & on Prime Day.
Another ancillary benefit is the good to great customer service Amazon customers receive is amplified when you are a Prime member. Amazon generally goes goes out of there way to provide good to great customer service but being a Amazon Prime gives a member beyond exceptional service. I take that for “free”.
Excellent article. I’m cancelling my membership. These past few years the shipping even if your a prime member sucks it take longer than two days, their fillfulment centers are having a lot of errors which are causing delays in shipping. Covid or not is not an excuse because Best Buy, Wal Mart and many other smaller outlets ship just fine. I think Amazon is so huge they think customers will not go anywhere. Thanks to my negative experience with Amazon lately and this article I’m cancelling. The two day shipping really is not needed at all patience is a virtue. Also the article makes a good point about lazy shopping we need to shop around for better deals than what Amazon has.
Yes shipping has been longer, but I do think the current situation has been part of that reason. I’d love to hear in 6 months how it is going for you after cancelling your membership!
If Luke is unhappy with his cancellation, then just reapply. What’s the problem? My reason for cancelling is because of 3rd party sellers and China junk. They make returns a huge problem and even want you to pay return shipping costs?? My prime is up in August and if I want to rejoin then I have that choice. Good article!
I loved the article. For me, it’s a bit personal after working at Amazon and seeing how things are run. That plus measures they took to prevent their employees from Unionizing, plus their treatment of private businesses on the AWS platform, have led me to slowly replace them with other, local stores.
I’ve been using Amazon since they were just an online book store and nothing else, and it’s kind of sad to see the path the business has chosen. I’ve decided to leave and, philospohical / ethical differences aside, the benefits are
* Support local business. Hey, my neighbor might work someplace I shop now. Nothing beats community.
* Freedom. This is less tangible. But they can adjust prices, deals, advertising, to influence *how you shop*. Also since you do pay a subscription fee, you don’t feel obligated to shop there.
* Small carbon footprint. Buying locally means few delivery trucks, planes, etc rushing all over to make the 2 day delivery happen.
* Meet more people. Getting out from behind the computer screen or other device screen and interacting with people is better for society ( go social interaction! ) in general. We need more of it.
I shop quite a bit on deal sites. The advantage to prime is you can add that one item to your cart; use the promotional code and place the order. If you find multiple items you want to purchase, you can only enter one code at checkout. For this reason alone, I think prime works for me.
I’m glad to hear it is working for you! YES, if you shop a lot, buying low priced items, then Prime is useful!
I really enjoy having the membership. I do have mine at the discounted price. I love the 2 day shipping. I am too addicted to cancel.
Ha ha! Well, I think you’re in the right place. WE cater to prime addicts. 🙂
Ads before during and after programs on prime now was last straw for me. How much $ do u need? It’s disgusting. Ads=more $. Period. Doesn’t care about prime members. Come on. That and Bezos not paying taxes since 2016 I believe? nope. No way. Not supporting this greedy company anymore. And intimidating to manipulate employees to not unionize should b illegal if it’s not, but it tells us about ethics, or lack of, at Amazon/bezos. Shipping stinks. Never know how long with Amazon. Never ever 2 days. But other carriers r timely. Hmm. Naw. MUCH can b found for less. Online and in stores. And WAY higher quality. Made in USA or at least not China which is often simply junk. I’m opting to support my community, businesses and workers. Face to face. We all need that socialization. Sense of caring and community. Get out of the house, off the computer, get some fresh air, exercise, and support PEOPLE. Let’s get back to humanity. 😊
Surely Amazon competitors is behind this! Who doesn’t want to get stuff in 2 days and sometimes ONE!
Two-day shopping? That’s a LAUGH! Oh my goodness….funny! I’m one of the “original Prime” members and I can’t even tell you how pathetic the shipping has been in the past two years. And I don’t want to hear any excuses. I run a business too and if I handed my customers the shipping crap that I’ve been dealing with from Amazon I’d be closed up the same month. Yes, we did pay for their service, but like any other service we all buy it has to be consistent . Amazon is not. At this point it doesn’t seem like it’s worth all the extra hassle of worrying about when I’m going to get what I purchased. And I don’t like the fact that we are now being taking advantage of by passively accepting the fact that Amazon adds days to delivery that weren’t originally planned. We are moving on.