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I have an Amazon Prime subscription. I don't know why, or when I signed up for it. This is the second time it's happened, so I gave up and kept it. I do order

I have an Amazon Prime subscription. I don't know why, or when I signed up for it. This is the second time it's happened, so I gave up and kept it. I do order from Amazon enough that it matters, I guess. It's scummy as hell, but effective. I'd much prefer a model like the one mentioned in this article.

bluepnume 4y ago
Yeah, with Amazon, it's always a step during the checkout, with a very small opt-out button. And it often advertizes itself as being more about free shipping than setting up a prime subscription. Pretty easy to miss!
- IceMetalPunk 4y ago
  You know, I've seen that, but I guess I didn't pay much attention and assumed it was opt-in. Silly me for thinking Amazon would have the tiniest shred of ethics in their functional design.
  - JamesBarney 4y ago
    Yeah it's scammy as hell. But it's also a really great deal 14.99/month for free faster shipping, books, movies, music, etc...
    - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
      I mean, if you use all that, sure. I don't do Prime books, the only media I watch on Prime is Legend of Vox Machina, I don't use Prime music, etc. So I'm really just paying $14.99/month for one TV show and faster shipping when I do order a package. I guess that's still not too bad, but it still feels gross that I was tricked into signing up for it, twice.
    - kgermino 4y ago
      It’s not a great deal if you don’t use it. I don’t use Prime’s content features and the handful of Amazon orders I make a year usually get free shipping anyway. I’ve definitely accidentally signed up for Prime and the confusing screen is always a reminder that I should try buying my [whatever] elsewhere. Sometimes it works and I find an alternative, sometimes I find the opt out button and finish my purchase. But their scummy tactics have probably pushed a few $k in annual purchases off Amazon for me.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Prime is up to $15 a month? Holy @#$@#$ I may have to cancel, the shipping isn't worth that much ...
      - nephanth 4y ago
        They raised the price earlier this year. I cancelled immediately upon receiving the email about that raise, but I hear they didn't lose a lot of clients that way
        bombcar 4y ago
        Yeah for some reason $180 a year doesn’t hit me as hard as $15 a month.
        nephanth 4y ago
        That's interesting, you'd think the bigger number hits harder
      - brewdad 4y ago
        You can still get free shipping if you spend $35 (sometimes $25). I've found that I've really cut back on the number of stupid purchases I used to make because "it's only $5 and it'll be here tomorrow".
  - lupire 4y ago
    It's not really "opt". There are two buttons, and the huge bright one is "Yes" or something (constantly changing), referring to whatever crap (Prime, credit card, rush shipping) thet are pushing in the big interstitial ads you are ignoring. Amazon isn't worth the bother anymore. You can almost anything worthwhile somewhere else better. Amazon was founded and run by proud Objectivists, so the ethics they have might not match yours.
    - ThunderSizzle 4y ago
      Where can I get stuff from better? Most big-box stores have horrible stock and their online systems are pretty lackluster, including shipping times. I don't use Amazon to find what I want to buy - I know what I want to buy (for the most part) before I even begin to look at Amazon. Too many crap brands to rely on Amazon's search features.
yeeyeeyee 4y ago
I'm happy to pay the $15/month just to have the capability to have stuff shipped to my door overnight for free. There are months where I don't order anything at all. Compared to rent or food it's a drop in the bucket.
- jfghi 4y ago
  Lately it seems as though overnight has shifted to 2-3 days later.
  - m463 4y ago
    Amazon chooses shipping defaults to benefit themselves. With prime I have to manually select the shipping speed to get it the fastest. Without prime, it defaults to faster shipping that you pay for. You have to manually select slower shipping to get the advertised "free super-saver shipping"
    - copperx 4y ago
      For me, most products get delivered in 6 days with Prime. It has stopped making sense to pay for the Prime subscription. It's cheaper to pay for faster shipping, given that I only order 1-2 items monthly.
      - notduncansmith 4y ago
        One nice part of shopping on eBay is their proximity sort. IME this tends to minimize shipping time (and, of course, carbon footprint). When I order something locally from the LA area, it’s usually there the next day or two even with free shipping.
- butwhywhyoh 4y ago
  I guess because you're happy with the Amazon Prime service, it's OK for them to use scummy business practices to sign up the OP? I'm genuinely confused by your take here.
kurupt213 4y ago
i've had it so long that it was definitely opt in when i joined. nothing should ever default to opt out.
- IceMetalPunk 4y ago
  > nothing should ever default to opt out Agreed. Similarly, if DoorDash could stop automatically setting a high tip on all my orders, that'd be great, thanks. I always give a tip, but it's rarely as high as the app auto-suggests, unless I have a tiny order.
  - lupire 4y ago
    Tips are a living wage for drivers. If you don't want to pay the recommended tip, either you are a charity case (no shame, everyone deserves help when they are down), or you shouldn't purchase the service.
    - omegabravo 4y ago
      I hate the tipping culture with a passion. I should not be responsible for paying your staff a living wage, that's your obligation. I have no idea about what is expected for a tip every time I travel to the US. Don't get me started on "mandatory tips"
      - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
        Yep. Unfortunately, government regulations here in the US explicitly make the minimum wage for a "tipped job" much lower than the minimum wage for any other job, and the amount is not high enough for the tips to necessarily offset that difference. An employee can be getting paid the legal minimum wage, making the amount in tips every month that the law requires for that lower wage, and still end up unable to afford rent. The obligation really should be with the employer, but since capitalism breeds greedy assholes and the government regulations aren't well-designed, they mistreat their employees on the assumption they can just pass off their responsibilities to customers. It's awful. A good rule of thumb for waiters/waitresses is 15% minimum tip unless they're awful, 18% if they're good, 20% if they're amazing. The idea being that larger bills usually mean more food and/or more work for them. But for delivery drivers, in my opinion, it's the same amount of work whether I order $10 or $40 in food, especially if that amount is artificially inflated by app service fees, so I give all my app delivery drivers the same tip.
Ancalagon 4y ago
I've had this happen too many times to count. Just delete all payment methods on file in your account settings. Youll get warnings out the wazoo that your benefits are expiring cause they dont have a way to charge you, so if you really want to renew later you can.
- IceMetalPunk 4y ago
  But if I do that, I would have to enter my payment info every time I want to order anything. I order enough that it would be obnoxious.
  - Ancalagon 4y ago
    I just save the payment info to the chrome browser CC payment store.
  - lupire 4y ago
    You might consider changing your consumption habits.
  - brewdad 4y ago
    Bitwarden can store and autofill payment info. Also, you'll find that a lot of those little purchases really aren't necessary when you have to either get to $35 for free shipping or pay as much as the item is worth to have it shipped. I'm saving $15 a month and at least another $50 a month just from not buying crap I didn't really need.
goldcd 4y ago
I do quite like their "subscribe and save" system though. Sign up for the costco-sized packs of stuff you get through, and guess how often you want to receive it. Then once a month it tells you to check - and you see what they're planning on shipping, and can skip stuff you've got and pull forward stuff you're running out of. Always thought it would be quite nifty if you could make a site like this for third-party services. I might see my 2 audible credits on there, and decide I've got enough, or need more. Or maybe apple could offer a free month - so I might pause my netflix. Could even combine stuff (free $10 Dominos credit added for each month of Netflix after month 12 etc). Whole current system of every service having their own UI, is just a pain. Worked out paying for stuff works better then you can just stick it all on the same card - so why not manage it all from one place as well?
- ThunderSizzle 4y ago
  I like Subscribe & Save with two major exceptions, which stops me from using it: 1) Things go out of stock too much if it's a little more specific. 2) Prices are very sporadic and unstable. A subscription should be relatively predictable - with the exception of the obvious price inflation over time, but I'm talking month-to-month.
  - goldcd 4y ago
    I think that's "more of a feature, than a bug" When you subscribe to something it doesn't "lock in the price" - prices go up and down month-to-month. On the amazon side, there seems to be a bit of flex built in, when they'll still tell you the item is in stock, and tell you the price before the re-buy kicks in. A lot of the items I "get told are unavailable, would I like to go with the alternative?" are still available, just for a higher price. i.e. I think a lot of the "annoyance" is actually amazon bulk negotiating on your behalf. If say P&G decide to raise their price on their detergent, amazon has the power to decide whether 90% of their customers swallow the increase, or they all find an alternate brand. My guess is that amazon decides not to provide P&G detergent to a few hundred thousand subscribers in a month, that helps 'focus' the P&G rep in getting the price back down the next month.

bluepnume 4y ago

Yeah, with Amazon, it's always a step during the checkout, with a very small opt-out button. And it often advertizes itself as being more about free shipping than setting up a prime subscription. Pretty easy to miss!

IceMetalPunk 4y ago
You know, I've seen that, but I guess I didn't pay much attention and assumed it was opt-in. Silly me for thinking Amazon would have the tiniest shred of ethics in their functional design.
- JamesBarney 4y ago
  Yeah it's scammy as hell. But it's also a really great deal 14.99/month for free faster shipping, books, movies, music, etc...
  - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
    I mean, if you use all that, sure. I don't do Prime books, the only media I watch on Prime is Legend of Vox Machina, I don't use Prime music, etc. So I'm really just paying $14.99/month for one TV show and faster shipping when I do order a package. I guess that's still not too bad, but it still feels gross that I was tricked into signing up for it, twice.
  - kgermino 4y ago
    It’s not a great deal if you don’t use it. I don’t use Prime’s content features and the handful of Amazon orders I make a year usually get free shipping anyway. I’ve definitely accidentally signed up for Prime and the confusing screen is always a reminder that I should try buying my [whatever] elsewhere. Sometimes it works and I find an alternative, sometimes I find the opt out button and finish my purchase. But their scummy tactics have probably pushed a few $k in annual purchases off Amazon for me.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Prime is up to $15 a month? Holy @#$@#$ I may have to cancel, the shipping isn't worth that much ...
    - nephanth 4y ago
      They raised the price earlier this year. I cancelled immediately upon receiving the email about that raise, but I hear they didn't lose a lot of clients that way
      - bombcar 4y ago
        Yeah for some reason $180 a year doesn’t hit me as hard as $15 a month.
        nephanth 4y ago
        That's interesting, you'd think the bigger number hits harder
    - brewdad 4y ago
      You can still get free shipping if you spend $35 (sometimes $25). I've found that I've really cut back on the number of stupid purchases I used to make because "it's only $5 and it'll be here tomorrow".
- lupire 4y ago
  It's not really "opt". There are two buttons, and the huge bright one is "Yes" or something (constantly changing), referring to whatever crap (Prime, credit card, rush shipping) thet are pushing in the big interstitial ads you are ignoring. Amazon isn't worth the bother anymore. You can almost anything worthwhile somewhere else better. Amazon was founded and run by proud Objectivists, so the ethics they have might not match yours.
  - ThunderSizzle 4y ago
    Where can I get stuff from better? Most big-box stores have horrible stock and their online systems are pretty lackluster, including shipping times. I don't use Amazon to find what I want to buy - I know what I want to buy (for the most part) before I even begin to look at Amazon. Too many crap brands to rely on Amazon's search features.

yeeyeeyee 4y ago

I'm happy to pay the $15/month just to have the capability to have stuff shipped to my door overnight for free. There are months where I don't order anything at all. Compared to rent or food it's a drop in the bucket.

jfghi 4y ago
Lately it seems as though overnight has shifted to 2-3 days later.
- m463 4y ago
  Amazon chooses shipping defaults to benefit themselves. With prime I have to manually select the shipping speed to get it the fastest. Without prime, it defaults to faster shipping that you pay for. You have to manually select slower shipping to get the advertised "free super-saver shipping"
  - copperx 4y ago
    For me, most products get delivered in 6 days with Prime. It has stopped making sense to pay for the Prime subscription. It's cheaper to pay for faster shipping, given that I only order 1-2 items monthly.
    - notduncansmith 4y ago
      One nice part of shopping on eBay is their proximity sort. IME this tends to minimize shipping time (and, of course, carbon footprint). When I order something locally from the LA area, it’s usually there the next day or two even with free shipping.
butwhywhyoh 4y ago
I guess because you're happy with the Amazon Prime service, it's OK for them to use scummy business practices to sign up the OP? I'm genuinely confused by your take here.

kurupt213 4y ago

i've had it so long that it was definitely opt in when i joined. nothing should ever default to opt out.

IceMetalPunk 4y ago
> nothing should ever default to opt out Agreed. Similarly, if DoorDash could stop automatically setting a high tip on all my orders, that'd be great, thanks. I always give a tip, but it's rarely as high as the app auto-suggests, unless I have a tiny order.
- lupire 4y ago
  Tips are a living wage for drivers. If you don't want to pay the recommended tip, either you are a charity case (no shame, everyone deserves help when they are down), or you shouldn't purchase the service.
  - omegabravo 4y ago
    I hate the tipping culture with a passion. I should not be responsible for paying your staff a living wage, that's your obligation. I have no idea about what is expected for a tip every time I travel to the US. Don't get me started on "mandatory tips"
    - IceMetalPunk 4y ago
      Yep. Unfortunately, government regulations here in the US explicitly make the minimum wage for a "tipped job" much lower than the minimum wage for any other job, and the amount is not high enough for the tips to necessarily offset that difference. An employee can be getting paid the legal minimum wage, making the amount in tips every month that the law requires for that lower wage, and still end up unable to afford rent. The obligation really should be with the employer, but since capitalism breeds greedy assholes and the government regulations aren't well-designed, they mistreat their employees on the assumption they can just pass off their responsibilities to customers. It's awful. A good rule of thumb for waiters/waitresses is 15% minimum tip unless they're awful, 18% if they're good, 20% if they're amazing. The idea being that larger bills usually mean more food and/or more work for them. But for delivery drivers, in my opinion, it's the same amount of work whether I order $10 or $40 in food, especially if that amount is artificially inflated by app service fees, so I give all my app delivery drivers the same tip.

Ancalagon 4y ago

I've had this happen too many times to count. Just delete all payment methods on file in your account settings. Youll get warnings out the wazoo that your benefits are expiring cause they dont have a way to charge you, so if you really want to renew later you can.

IceMetalPunk 4y ago
But if I do that, I would have to enter my payment info every time I want to order anything. I order enough that it would be obnoxious.
- Ancalagon 4y ago
  I just save the payment info to the chrome browser CC payment store.
- lupire 4y ago
  You might consider changing your consumption habits.
- brewdad 4y ago
  Bitwarden can store and autofill payment info. Also, you'll find that a lot of those little purchases really aren't necessary when you have to either get to $35 for free shipping or pay as much as the item is worth to have it shipped. I'm saving $15 a month and at least another $50 a month just from not buying crap I didn't really need.

goldcd 4y ago

I do quite like their "subscribe and save" system though. Sign up for the costco-sized packs of stuff you get through, and guess how often you want to receive it. Then once a month it tells you to check - and you see what they're planning on shipping, and can skip stuff you've got and pull forward stuff you're running out of. Always thought it would be quite nifty if you could make a site like this for third-party services. I might see my 2 audible credits on there, and decide I've got enough, or need more. Or maybe apple could offer a free month - so I might pause my netflix. Could even combine stuff (free $10 Dominos credit added for each month of Netflix after month 12 etc). Whole current system of every service having their own UI, is just a pain. Worked out paying for stuff works better then you can just stick it all on the same card - so why not manage it all from one place as well?

ThunderSizzle 4y ago
I like Subscribe & Save with two major exceptions, which stops me from using it: 1) Things go out of stock too much if it's a little more specific. 2) Prices are very sporadic and unstable. A subscription should be relatively predictable - with the exception of the obvious price inflation over time, but I'm talking month-to-month.
- goldcd 4y ago
  I think that's "more of a feature, than a bug" When you subscribe to something it doesn't "lock in the price" - prices go up and down month-to-month. On the amazon side, there seems to be a bit of flex built in, when they'll still tell you the item is in stock, and tell you the price before the re-buy kicks in. A lot of the items I "get told are unavailable, would I like to go with the alternative?" are still available, just for a higher price. i.e. I think a lot of the "annoyance" is actually amazon bulk negotiating on your behalf. If say P&G decide to raise their price on their detergent, amazon has the power to decide whether 90% of their customers swallow the increase, or they all find an alternate brand. My guess is that amazon decides not to provide P&G detergent to a few hundred thousand subscribers in a month, that helps 'focus' the P&G rep in getting the price back down the next month.