Amazon Expands Free Shipping with No Minimum Purchase to Everyone

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Amazon has expanded the free shipping option, with no minimum purchase, to everyone for the holidays. Prime members will receive free same-day delivery on more than 3 million eligible items. This will last as long as Amazon can promise to deliver items on time for the Christmas holiday. Amazon Prime members can order from Whole Foods and receive their delivery within 30 minutes to an hour in more than 60 cities with Prime Now. It is estimated that just over half of U.S. households have a Prime subscription.

The U.S.-only promotion, effective from Nov. 5, waives the $25 minimum that customers outside Amazon's loyalty club Prime must hit for free shipping. The deal lasts until Amazon can no longer promise items in time for Christmas with free delivery, which typically takes five to eight business days. Monday's news will pile pressure on Walmart and Target Corp (TGT.N), which in recent years have chipped away at Amazon's lead with their own offers of free two-day shipping. While Walmart has maintained its $35 order threshold this holiday, Target has scrapped its minimum until Dec. 22.
 
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I've had Prime a few times (mainly when they offer me a free trial) and it never seems worth it to keep. Yeah it is nice getting stuff in a few days, but getting it in a week makes no difference to me. If it is something I actually need quickly I'll just go buy it at a store that day.

Maybe if I lived somewhere that stores were farther away and I somehow didn't drive by any on the way to/from work it would make sense.
 
Dermen said:
I've had Prime a few times (mainly when they offer me a free trial) and it never seems worth it to keep. Yeah it is nice getting stuff in a few days, but getting it in a week makes no difference to me. If it is something I actually need quickly I'll just go buy it at a store that day.

Maybe if I lived somewhere that stores were farther away and I somehow didn't drive by any on the way to/from work it would make sense.
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Single I’m guessing ?

Wife and three kids here , from diapers/wipes to subscribe and save kitchen pantry items it’d be stupid for me to not have it , no stores sales can come close to the prices amazon has on it. My yearly sub fee pays for itself x5 over every year.

And that’s not even taking into account time savings and videos/music all that junk that come with it.
 
Dermen said:
I've had Prime a few times (mainly when they offer me a free trial) and it never seems worth it to keep. Yeah it is nice getting stuff in a few days, but getting it in a week makes no difference to me. If it is something I actually need quickly I'll just go buy it at a store that day.

Maybe if I lived somewhere that stores were farther away and I somehow didn't drive by any on the way to/from work it would make sense.
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Prime for me has a been incredible for both products and entertainment value. We watch Amazon movies and shows almost once a week (we also have Netflix/Hulu/Animes stuff), paired with the free shipping it's been great. While mileage obviously varies for others, it's been super nice for us.
 
driving into work today.. the city were i work has already started putting up christmas decorations..

*SIGH*

so now i know i will be forced to start to hear non stop christmas music as well.

:rage:
 
I don't recommend the free "same day shipping" option ever. It usually means it will be shipped by couriers who are flaky and ignore (and/or don't receive) shipping instructions in your account.
 
aldamon said:
I don't recommend the free "same day shipping" option ever. It usually means it will be shipped by couriers who are flaky and ignore (and/or don't receive) shipping instructions in your account.
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This is highly dependant on the area you are in. I order a lot through same day shipping and only had an issue twice where a package was delivered to my neighbor by mistake.

Getting something by 9PM the same day is awesome for things you can't buy locally.
 
I liked Prime because they had digital credits if you passed on 2 day delivery. Now that there is a Whole foods In town, they now give credits if you order food delivery. Gimme back my digital credits (music, e-books).
 
All that work we've done to reduce how much goes into the garbage dumps... Undone in one corporate announcement...
 
Dahkoht said:
Single I’m guessing ?

Wife and three kids here , from diapers/wipes to subscribe and save kitchen pantry items it’d be stupid for me to not have it , no stores sales can come close to the prices amazon has on it. My yearly sub fee pays for itself x5 over every year.

And that’s not even taking into account time savings and videos/music all that junk that come with it.
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Yep. I do have a friend who say it is a no brainer for diapers, but then my sister looked at it for her kid who decided to still get diapers from Target. To be fair our mother works there so she gets 10% discount, never misses the gift card sales, and nobody has to go out of their way at all. Then there are some items I've looked at buying on Amazon because I didn't need them right away, except they were more than local stores. Mostly bath/beauty products like shampoo/facewash/bodywash.

trentchau said:
Prime for me has a been incredible for both products and entertainment value. We watch Amazon movies and shows almost once a week (we also have Netflix/Hulu/Animes stuff), paired with the free shipping it's been great. While mileage obviously varies for others, it's been super nice for us.
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I already watch too many shows without adding Amazon :)
 
MacLeod said:
Competition in a free market, capitalist system is a wonderful thing.
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capitalism is nothing but a hindrance in the current day and age as many products are necessary despite not being profitable to make. That's where capitalism fails to provide the best solution. Sure it can do that in an idealized competition situation where multiple equal sized players compete for a lucrative market. But that's only a small fraction of the things we need / want.
 
M76 said:
capitalism is nothing but a hindrance in the current day and age as many products are necessary despite not being profitable to make. That's where capitalism fails to provide the best solution. Sure it can do that in an idealized competition situation where multiple equal sized players compete for a lucrative market. But that's only a small fraction of the things we need / want.
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Then production of those necessary but unprofitable goods reduces, until the price increases enough for it to be profitable. Or a new process makes production cheaper. Or demand for the good increases and production remains the same.

The situation you described is solvable with market forces.
 
Joust said:
Then production of those necessary but unprofitable goods reduces, until the price increases enough for it to be profitable. Or a new process makes production cheaper. Or demand for the good increases and production remains the same.

The situation you described is solvable with market forces.
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If what you say goes then there is zero effort put into research in emerging fields. Or research into obscure but serious illnesses. And it shows. There are numerous ailments that have no viable cure because it is not profitable to put billions in research costs to cure them. What is profitable however is creating something that barely mitigates the symptoms and sell it to the ill people in bulk perpetually. You think that's a good thing? Can't we do more about these unless the market demands it? The market system is not a god, letting it govern every aspect of our lives is completely backwards and counter productive. The market system only works in a scarcity situation. Not when our technology has made it possible for 10% of the population to fulfill the demands of the entire people.

The market system created demand for cryptocurrency mining, yet it is the most wasteful endeavor on our planet. How is that a good thing?

Putting all your faith in "market self correction" is worse than putting your faith in god.
 
M76 said:
If what you say goes then there is zero effort put into research in emerging fields. Or research into obscure but serious illnesses. And it shows. There are numerous ailments that have no viable cure because it is not profitable to put billions in research costs to cure them. What is profitable however is creating something that barely mitigates the symptoms and sell it to the ill people in bulk perpetually. You think that's a good thing? Can't we do more about these unless the market demands it? The market system is not a god, letting it govern every aspect of our lives is completely backwards and counter productive. The market system only works in a scarcity situation. Not when our technology has made it possible for 10% of the population to fulfill the demands of the entire people.

The market system created demand for cryptocurrency mining, yet it is the most wasteful endeavor on our planet. How is that a good thing?

Putting all your faith in "market self correction" is worse than putting your faith in god.
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There are many, many, many things worse than putting your faith in God, my friend.

Innovation in emerging tech is driven by market forces - by profit motive. It is commonly rewarded. The first to a viable, marketable good often does very well. The Chinese just want to ride those coattails and get some of the second-to-market windfall without the R&D. China is an excellent example of where economics do not function freely.

I think you might be well-served by taking some instruction in macro and micro economics. I'm not saying this lightly or derisively, but I truly think if you had a little more foundation to operate from, you might refine your arguments in a meaningful way.
 
M76 said:
The market system only works in a scarcity situation. Not when our technology has made it possible for 10% of the population to fulfill the demands of the entire people.
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The current world lives under a state of scarcity. You're insisting we live in a Star Trek like universe where scarcity of all goods is a thing of the past. We aren't there yet. If you want to increase production of necessary goods for the millions of illiterate people dressed in rags around the world you're going to have to cut production for other items and work people in developed countries to death and quality of life will go down. You want 40 hour work weeks or want to work to death and pay for the people who can't help themselves? Pick one.
 
If I have to clean this thread up from off topic and political posts again I am going to go all Oprah on ya'll. You get a ban, you get a ban, everybody gets a ban.
 
While watching football yesterday, I noticed Walmart was running an ad - free two-day shipping, no membership required. That was the hook, anyways. Looks like Amazon dropped it on them a day ahead. Nice.
 
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