Reckoning day for my prime subscription was July 26th. I decided to cancel it because there are better ways to spend a Benjamin. I don’t plan to totally stop using Amazon, but to use it in a more conscience way that doesn’t have me defaulting to purchase things with Prime. I made a business out of finding products cheaper elsewhere and reselling them on Amazon, so I know that there you can often find better prices off the site. After coming out of many years in the fog, I can say why for the majority of people that Amazon Prime will be unnecessary.
Reading
Using Prime books is nice, but if you need a book to read you should head to the library or better yet, use the digital library. Getting rid of Prime still allows you to use your Kindle and even the Owner’s Lending Library. So lacking free access to some OK books should not be the reason that you keep Prime, if you feel a tug to remain that may be laziness.
Music
Amazon is great for music and makes it very easy to download for offline listening. But you know what else is easy? Spotify. It is free if you can handle commercials. I got a three month trial of the premium version for 99 cents. If you are constantly listening to music then Prime may make sense for you to get the membership, but I bet this is not the majority of people.
Photos
Amazon allows Prime members to store unlimited photos which is a nice perk that can be helpful for peace of mind in case your computer gets stolen or fried. However, you know what is another good way to store photos? Print them out. Just kidding, come on. Get an external hard drive and put your photos on there. For $50 you can get a terabyte which is probably enough unless you are a photographer. Better yet use that Staples money you get from cashing in ink cartridges.
Shipping
Amazon free shipping is great and it sure is nice to get my stuff fast. However, I don’t need more stuff as we’ve been living out of suitcases for a year now and getting free shipping promotes overconsumption. Even without a Prime membership there are many items with free shipping and often you can get free shipping above a threshold.
Conclusion
Unless you think you will get great value from Prime I think you you could do without it. In fact, you can easily test it. Try going a month without Prime once your current subscription is up and see how it was. I will bet you a Prime subscription you will survive. You probably better off without all those cardboard boxes. However, it is possible to use the service intermittently for $10.99 a month which may be worth it if you just need it for a short period like me when I’m in America, but I will holdout.