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["Cristóbal Palmer" <cristobalpalmer AT gmail.com>]

On 8/26/07, Calvin Powers <calvin AT cspowers.com> wrote:
>
> Any INWers out there have experience with Amazon Prime? Any
> gotchas/surprises with the program?

I got offered a free three-month trial membership last year. While I
had it it was awesome, and it was really easy to drop it when I
decided that the $79 wasn't worth it.

I'll tell you why I decided that it wasn't worth it: I realized I was
doing a lot more impulse buying. I'm talking like four books and three
CDs I wouldn't have otherwise purchased during that three-month
period.

It's fairly easy to do the math, actually: approximately $15 for
second day air for an order of a CD and a paperback. You'd have to
place six orders a year on which you would have gotten second day air
ANYWAY to get any savings whatsoever.  If you're needing second day
air that much, perhaps you should ask if there isn't another problem.
For me, it makes a lot more sense to stop and think about when I'll
need something and order it ten days in advance. Chances are I'll get
my item within three business days anyway: Amazon ships a huge chunk
of their inventory from Kentucky.

Also, Amazon gives you the opportunity to pay a percentage and read
(some) books online immediately after you've placed your order, so it
doesn't matter that much what shipping speed you've chosen. I found
this out after a recent purchase (towards the bottom):

http://pebkac.homelinux.net/2007/08/21/first-class-systems-analysis/

Hope that helps,
-- 
Cristóbal M. Palmer
celebrating 15 years of sunsite/metalab/ibiblio:
http://tinyurl.com/2o8hj4