Nearly everyone has heard of Amazon – they are a dominating force in the world of online sales. Chances are you’ve probably also heard about Amazon Prime – where you pay a flat annual fee and then nearly everything in the Amazon universe is available with ‘Free’ 2-day shipping. That sounds pretty good because who doesn’t want free shipping? Personally, I hate paying for shipping when I buy anything, but the fact of the matter is, it costs retailers money to ship those goods to you. So, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you’re really just pre-paying for shipping up to a point. The good news is Amazon Prime also offers a ton of other perks and benefits with a membership, along with that 2-day shipping.
Prime Perks
Amazon offers these additional benefits for Prime members to help entice them to keep coming back every year. If you’re already a Prime member or thinking about signing up, get the most out of your membership by taking advantage of some of these perks. Here are my favorites:
1. Kindle First
If you love checking out the new release section of the book store, then this will be a highlight for you. Amazon editors select 5-7 books from various genres that will be released next month and let you pick up the e-book version of one of them for free. That’s right, you’ll have a copy before it’s even for sale. Kind of makes you feel like an insider doesn’t it?
2. Prime Reading
Another perk for the book lover – Prime Reading is a library of e-books that Prime members can borrow from Amazon, read, and then return before grabbing another. There are thousands of books available in the Prime Reading library, and best of all, there’s no waiting if someone else has the book you want checked out – the entire library is always available to you. That includes the entire Harry Potter series, which always has a long wait list at the public library. As a bonus, if the e-book is also available on Audible as an audiobook, you can add it to the e-book and listen for free.
3. Amazon Photos
Did you get the email from Google about how they’re changing Google Photos? Google will start counting even your compressed, lower resolution photos against your storage limit in June 2021. But guess what – Amazon offers a photo backup and storage solution, too. It works like Google Photos only it backs up your images at full resolution instead. Just download the Amazon Photos app for your phone or computer to get started.
4. Credits for Amazon Day or No-rush shipping
The beauty of Amazon prime is you can get anything in two days. But what if you don’t need that box of tea, throw rug, or stuffed panda right away? All those priority deliveries put a lot of stress on Amazon’s logistics so they’re willing to give you a dollar or two to spend on digital media if you’ll wait a few extra days to get your goods. At checkout there’s usually an option to select either no rush shipping or Amazon day delivery, which is a day you set for later in the week to have all your packages delivered. With both no-rush shipping and Amazon day delivery you’ll still have a timeline of when your packages will arrive so you won’t have to worry about when they’ll be delivered.
5. Amazon Music
Amazon music has tons of albums, digital stations, and curated playlists for every musical taste. Some music is for purchase only or requires an upcharge to stream, but there’s tons of free stuff. If your favorite tune isn’t available for free, use your no-rush shipping reward to add to your digital collection.
6. Prime Gaming
If you (or the kids) are into video games, check out Prime Gaming. It has all kinds of games for free that you would otherwise have to purchase in Google Play or Apple’s App Store. You can also get free upgrades, boosts, and exclusive characters.
7. Prime Video
The streaming wars have never been more heated, but that’s great for us as consumers, because all the streaming services are adding as much content to their libraries as they can get their hands on and generating high quality original programming of their own. Amazon’s Prime Video is no exception to this trend, so if you haven’t browsed their catalog lately, take a gander and consider pausing one or two of your other streaming subscriptions.
Which Prime Perks Have You Tried?
Give some of these Prime Perks a try to get the most out of your Prime membership and see if you can utilize them to stretch your budget by cutting back on other areas where services are duplicated. Or maybe you have a favorite Prime Perk not mentioned here – post it in the comments below.
