Amazon Prime rocks my world

Last year my folks signed up for Amazon Prime. $80 a year gets you free two-day shipping on all applicable items without the $25 minimum order.

“Ha!” thought I, “Look at those suckers throwing away their money!” This, of course, is a thought which I kept to myself.

In the Autumn of last year Amazon gave me a free trial period for Amazon Prime. A few months to bait the hook. “What the hell,” I thought, “I’ll use their free shipping then cancel. Their loss, not mine.” I used the feature rarely within the trial period.

2007 rolls around. I find myself placing a lot of orders at Amazon, feeding the seemingly insatiable need for impulse-purchased music. It occurs to me that perhaps this Amazon Prime thing isn’t such a bad idea after all. Free shipping? On a $10 CD? Without having to pad it out with another $15 CD? The way I’d been buying things that $80 a year would pay for itself in no time.

So I bit the bullet, signed up and haven’t looked back. I gotta say, for my needs this feature is GREAT. Free two-day shipping? Ha! Maybe for you it is, but for me it typically ends up being free overnight shipping as I live relatively close to one of their distribution centers. For instance, this morning I ordered a book. This afternoon I received the shipment notification. Expected date of delivery? Tomorrow morning.

How great is that? This is turning out to be entirely worth my $80 a year. I’m glad I came to my senses and signed up.