I think that part was more about eliminating small frictions. It would be much more difficult for Amazon to convince you to pay for 2-day shipping on every tran

I think that part was more about eliminating small frictions. It would be much more difficult for Amazon to convince you to pay for 2-day shipping on every transaction, but by offering you Prime, they're eliminating the small frictions to keep you from paying them extra on top of your other order and still extracting another purchase out of you. The article wasn't discussing whether or not it was a "good value", it was discussing how Amazon makes you spend more, which it does.