For those not familiar with Subscribe & Save the deal is you can set recurring delivery schedules of things you know you need like paper towels, laundry soap, diapers, hand soap, etc. All items are at fairly low prices, and if your order contains 5 or more items they take off an additional 15%. Usually this makes for a pretty good deal and not having to lug heavy or bulky items around the store is great.
Diapers are even further discounted at 20% off, which was what made me sign up originally. (Costco couldn't beat the price.)
With an Amazon Prime account you get access to the Subscribe & Save program for free, but I soon found other benefits to having a Prime membership.
FREE SHIPPING: With your prime membership you get free 2-day shipping on everything Amazon sells directly. This came in handy when I wanted to order something delivered to a hotel while travelling, or was impatient to get a new gadget.
If your order ever arrives after the 2-day guarantee Amazon will extend your Prime membership by a month for free.
VIDEO: You gain access to Prime Video. Amazon licenses some great content, including HBO's old catalog so you can watch shows in HD with no problems. (I suggest "Vikings" if you haven't seen it yet.)
Amazon makes some award-winning content now, like "Mozart In The Jungle" or "Transparent". If you never heard of these shows don't be surprised, especially if you live in Canada. Prime Video isn't available in Canada, although that is easily solved by using a geo-unblocking service like Getflix.
There is also a decent catalog of educational and entertaining shows for children of various ages. Creative Galaxy (a show that teaches children about art) is quite popular in our house, and their content on that front seems to be constantly growing, but not at the expense of quality.
Amazon allows Prime members to download Prime movies and television shows free for offline viewing. All Amazon, Android, and iPad devices can do this. It's a great alternative for your next plane ride when the airline wants to charge you to view their onboard content.
MUSIC: With your Prime subscription you have access to Prime Music, Amazon's streaming music library. What I like about Prime Music is I can create my own playlists from any songs Amazon has, and they have over a million.
Like Prime Video, with Prime Music you can download any songs you like for offline playback. This is great if you're going to take a long flight or road trip.
To get Amazon Music outside of the USA you will probably need to use a VPN like Tunnelbear to download the app. Once downloaded it should work fine,
STORAGE: Prime gives you unlimited storage for your photos in Amazon cloud drive. You also get an additional 5GB of storage for other files. All files are stored in Amazon's cloud. I use Amazon's photo storage as a free offsite backup for all our pictures, it helps me worry less about disaster recovery.
EARLY DEAL ACCESS: Amazon has daily deals on a range of different products. Prime subscribers have access to the deals 30min before the general public. In many cases the deals involve limited stock and are filled on a first-come-first-served basis, so Prime gives you a head start.
FREE BOOKS: If you own a Kindle, Fire tablet or Fire Phone (No one really owns the Fire Phone) you get to borrow one e-book a month from the Lending Library for free. There isn't a return date but you can't download a 2nd book until the original is "returned". (Removed from your Kindle.)
If you own a Kindle you also get the "Kindle First" program, which gives you one editor's pick book a month in addition to the Lending Library.
Works in Canada and the USA: Your prime membership works with both your Canadian and US-based Amazon account. If you are going to be in the USA and wanted to order a FireTV you'll enjoy the free 2-day shipping your Prime account gives you, even if you originally registered on Amazon.ca instead of Amazon.com
With all these benefits I find Amazon Prime to be one of the few worthwhile subscription plans out there.
Amazon will let you try out a Prime membership for 30 days for free, so what have you got to lose? Give it a try and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Happy surfing!
-The Home Geek.
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