When will Amazon start charging "prime members" for shipping?

Another former member of the Prime staff said "It was never about the 79 dollars. It was really about changing people's mentality so they wouldn't shop anywhere else."
THIS ^^^^ Amazon is no longer the cheapest, nor do they ship the fastest compared to competing online retailers and they don't have to. They know that if they can get you to pay for prime then you will feel obligated to get your moneys worth out of it and just shop Amazon instead of shopping the competition. People are too lazy to give up the convenience of one stop shopping at Amazon and they know this. Paying for prime is just as much about making you feel obligated to use it as it is about it's perceived benefits to the customer
 
Lol..do you know how many times I've received either the wrong product (sometimes totally my fault) or I received something that was slightly broken but still usable and Amazon said we'll send you another one for free and oh yeah just keep what you already have?

They have money to burn....
 
You say Amazon will never charge for shipping, but Prime used to be about 2 day shipping too. That isn't guaranteed at all now. Amazon is todays Sears in 100 years, our kids will say "You used Amazon...hahahahaha"
 
THIS ^^^^ Amazon is no longer the cheapest, nor do they ship the fastest compared to competing online retailers and they don't have to. They know that if they can get you to pay for prime then you will feel obligated to get your moneys worth out of it and just shop Amazon instead of shopping the competition. People are too lazy to give up the convenience of one stop shopping at Amazon and they know this. Paying for prime is just as much about making you feel obligated to use it as it is about it's perceived benefits to the customer
They are not the cheapest anymore. I only usually only use them if I can't find something locally or cheaper elsewhere online.
 
PA is considering passing legislation to charge an additional fee for packages delivered from Amazon, FedEx, and UPS. Their argument is that the added numbers of delivery vehicles on the roads is causing the roads to degrade faster. So, their solution is to charge a "package tax" of $0.25 per package to help offset the "damage" being done to the roads by delivery vehicles. Considering there were 800,000,000 packages delivered in PA last year, that would give the state another $200M in the coffers to squander spend to benefit residents.
Considering passing is a long way from enacting. Anyway how do you consider passing, it‘s considering introducing a bill to be rejected or passed.
 
It was always claimed that they lost money on their online sales but made big bucks on AWS. I suspect they've profited quite well now.
They're a publicly traded company. Those details will be spelled out in their (annual) reports.
 
PA is considering passing legislation to charge an additional fee for packages delivered from Amazon, FedEx, and UPS. Their argument is that the added numbers of delivery vehicles on the roads is causing the roads to degrade faster. So, their solution is to charge a "package tax" of $0.25 per package to help offset the "damage" being done to the roads by delivery vehicles. Considering there were 800,000,000 packages delivered in PA last year, that would give the state another $200M in the coffers to squander spend to benefit residents.

This is hilarious

30% fewer cars on the road due to people working from home, but they're worried about some delivery vehicles running around?

It's just a tax grab
 
Sooo, Walmart still wins, no? 🪖
If Amazon starts charging shipping, Walmart might see an uptick but once they add shipping charges back, it's likely to shift back to like it was before (Amazon - X%, Walmart - Y%, etc, etc). As it is, they both offer free shipping but Amazon still has far add'l revenue than walmart.com. For our house, we order next to nothing from walmart.com.
 
Said vehicles don’t use gas or diesel, huh???

Heavier vehicles cause considerably more wear to roads. There’s far more pressure on the roads. We have one freeway stretch around here where heavy duty trucks aren’t allowed. While still old, the road surface has few cracks compared to the next stretch where trucks are allowed. I also remember talking about driveway wear with an HOA. There was severe wear at the place where garbage trucks stopped. The rest was worn but only needed a sealant after over 30 years.
 
When will Amazon start charging "Prime Members" for shipping?

We all know the business model. Get everyone hooked, eliminate the competition, and then start to charge for something previously provided for free or part of a membership.

Hit me- Amazon will likely start to charge "Prime Members" for shipping. IMO not if- but when.
EVERY businesses plan is to eliminate the competition. Why the hate on Amazon. I would say never will they charge Prime members for shipping. Why would they.....they are growing gangbusters and making a decent profit. And btw, they will never eliminate the competition because if they do and raise prices, the competition will just roar right back. Walmart and Target are not going away.
 
Prime is more than about just free shipping. I had a trial period for Prime back before they had a lot of video, and I bought something like a $6 book with free shipping and without having to pool a $25-35 order. And it was at most 2nd day when a lot of their non-Prime free shipping orders back then might have been up to a week.

But as others stated, AWS is where they make most of their money now. They theoretically lose money on the membership, but it builds brand loyalty and is includes a lot of prestige projects that keeps the brand in people's minds.
What is actually happening is Amazon Retail would have lost money had they not have prime program. Not that they lose money on Retail or Prime, at least that's the company line 4-5 years ago.

Most of the money is in AWS because its nature is very profitable. So the correct investment play is realy to buy Microsoft (because of Azure) instead of Amazon. My investment from the last 4 years is actually going much better with Microsoft than Amazon, really.
 
PA is considering passing legislation to charge an additional fee for packages delivered from Amazon, FedEx, and UPS. Their argument is that the added numbers of delivery vehicles on the roads is causing the roads to degrade faster. So, their solution is to charge a "package tax" of $0.25 per package to help offset the "damage" being done to the roads by delivery vehicles. Considering there were 800,000,000 packages delivered in PA last year, that would give the state another $200M in the coffers to squander spend to benefit residents.
Package fee, gas tax, registration charge, toll road, sales tax.

Seriously they are all the same thing depends on who is lobbying for what, and which industry dominate the state.
 
Heavier vehicles cause considerably more wear to roads. There’s far more pressure on the roads. We have one freeway stretch around here where heavy duty trucks aren’t allowed. While still old, the road surface has few cracks compared to the next stretch where trucks are allowed. I also remember talking about driveway wear with an HOA. There was severe wear at the place where garbage trucks stopped. The rest was worn but only needed a sealant after over 30 years.

I‘m curious:

how much extra wear do they create?

how much extra fuel do they burn?
 
If Amazon starts charging shipping, Walmart might see an uptick but once they add shipping charges back, it's likely to shift back to like it was before (Amazon - X%, Walmart - Y%, etc, etc). As it is, they both offer free shipping but Amazon still has far add'l revenue than walmart.com. For our house, we order next to nothing from walmart.com.

Goalposts moved. Wally has the store advantage. Wally wins for a period if Prime moves to shipping costs; how long would be the right question..
 
EVERY businesses plan is to eliminate the competition. Why the hate on Amazon. I would say never will they charge Prime members for shipping. Why would they.....they are growing gangbusters and making a decent profit. And btw, they will never eliminate the competition because if they do and raise prices, the competition will just roar right back. Walmart and Target are not going away.
What is the hate on Amazon? Discussing a possible COA on how Amazon will increase its profit?
 
Goalposts moved. Wally has the store advantage.
We tend to buy stuff from Amazon that we (almost) never buy in stores. We do primarily shop at Walmart for household / daily stuff. Since we're at BITOG, I've never bought oil, ATF, oil filter, etc on Amazon. I (we) buy them at Walmart, Honda, auto parts store, etc*. I have bought some air or cabin filters on Amazon because one time I needed them for my wife's Fusion (not exactly a rare car), no one stocked them locally ! I buy many car parts locally, brake stuff on Rockauto usually, and so on.

* Our son did buy a 6-pack of Honda ATF that was on sale or a price mistake at around $4/bottle. Couldn't pass that up !
 
Goalposts moved. Wally has the store advantage. Wally wins for a period if Prime moves to shipping costs; how long would be the right question..
I used to believe Walmart would at least be able to compete with Amazon, but my opinion has changed. Walmart doesn't even have a clue if a given item is in their store at a given time. I have been burned 3 times where I look up an item on Walmart.com and it says, yep, it's on the shelf of my local Walmart. Get in the car, drive there.....NOT THERE. I now buy most of my stuff from Amazon and the only error they have made so far was an item that was damaged, and they exchanged that quickly. Walmart stores are an absolute mess, their employees are miserable. Recently shopped Target, like night and day between the two stores. Walmart's physical stores are a hinderance in competing with Amazon, not a positive. Yet they cannot abandon their stores as that is their main source of income. Amazon is a machine that won't be stopped.
 
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