Title: Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime
Headings: Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime
Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime
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Content: Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime
Consumer Reports
Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime
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November 12, 2015, 3:00 AM
A decade ago, Amazon Prime debuted as a membership service that offered fast, free shipping. While two-day delivery remains the cornerstone of the $99-a-year service, the e-commerce juggernaut now provides buffet-style access to thousands of free TV shows, movies, music, and hundreds of thousands of e-books (for Kindle owners) as well as unlimited cloud storage for photos. Members also get 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon, and can shop on MyHabit.com 30 minutes before other customers for things such as designer duds from the likes of Burberry, Fendi, and Hermès. There are periodic teasers, too, including Prime Day, a one-day, members-only global shopping event last June that touted more deals than on Black Friday. Then there's the latest perk, Prime Now, an app-enabled service that offers shoppers in 16 metropolitan areas ultra-quick delivery. If you want, say, paper towels or a container of milk, you can get it in an hour for $7.99 per order or in two hours for free. The service is available for tens of thousands of items, including television sets and Kindles. In some locales, you can even browse menus of participating restaurants, place orders, track the status of a delivery, and watch as the driver travels from the restaurant to the delivery address in real time. So what's to complain about? Actually, not much.