Others have said it, but Amazon's free two-day shipping with $25 (or was it $50?) purchase felt nearly magical. As a student, I could take a $40 cab ride, or s

Others have said it, but Amazon's free two-day shipping with $25 (or was it $50?) purchase felt nearly magical. As a student, I could take a $40 cab ride, or spend all day Saturday on train schlepping a shower curtain from Bed Bath, music from Best Buy, and a cheap dorm fridge from Wal-Mart. Or I could order it from Amazon at competitive prices, and it showed up on my door step in two days. Amazon was the equivalent of finding entire extra days in your schedule. (Note, Prime came later. The original magic was two-days, $25 minimum, no membership.)