EXPIRED: The cost of Prime membership is going up after tonight! Is Prime still worthwhile? And if you decide that it is, how can you lock in the old rate for yourself before tomorrow?

Sorry for the late notice, but you've probably heard the news already:  starting tonight at midnight Pacific, (5/11/18,) the price of an annual Amazon Prime membership is going up from $99 to $119.  

Current Prime subscriptions that are set to auto-renew before June 16, 2018 will be renewed at the $99 rate. After that, they will renew at the new rate of $119.

First question you need to ask yourself is, is Amazon Prime still worth it?  Prime has many secondary benefits (free Prime Video, for example), but in my humble opinion, the main advantage of Prime is always going to be the 2-day FREE shipping.  That said, let's crunch some numbers and do the math.

Shipping charges for non-Prime members start at around $4.99 on Amazon; let's round that up to $5.00 and round up the $119.00 membership fee up to $120.00, just because round numbers are easier to manipulate.  

That means that if you purchase 24 items or more over the course of the year, you will save money on Amazon Prime (24 x $5 = $120) . (Of course, this is not an exact calculation, because many items on Amazon cost more than $4.99 to ship and some items, like Subscribe & Save products, are free to ship.  But let's just guesstimate.)

Let's see how many purchases you made on Amazon in the last three years. 

Log into your Amazon account and click here to see how many items you purchased on Amazon in 2018 (look in the upper left hand corner) and then click here to see how many items you purchased in 2017 and how many items you purchased in 2016.  Take an average of the three numbers.  

Did you buy more than 24 items on average per year on Amazon?  Then, even at $119.00, being an Amazon Prime member will save you money. 

For me, Prime membership is still worth it, many times over. I average about 50 purchases over the course of the last two years and I don't want to have to worry about shipping charges when I come across a great deal.  I view my Prime membership the same way that I view my Costco membership:  an investment in saving money. 

If you're not a Prime member yet, here's how to lock in a rate of $99.00 for the coming membership year. for an Amazon Prime membership.  Today, 5/10/18, is the last day to lock in the old rate. 

1. Buy yourself a "gift" of a $99 Prime membership before midnight Pacific tonight, and send it your own email address. 
2. If you are already a Prime member, click here and change the settings on your Prime membership to NOT auto-renew, as follows:   Select “End Membership and Benefits” and then "End My Benefits" and then "Continue to Cancel" and finally, "End on ______"  That will continue your benefits through the end of the time period that you paid for, and your membership will not auto-renew. 
3. When your Prime membership expires, redeem the $99 gift membership that you purchased for yourself. Buy as many gift memberships as you like....you can continue gifting them to yourself ad infinitum.  (If you decide that you no longer want to be an Amazon Prime member, you can convert the membership into an Amazon gift certificate.)

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