Oh good, I just renewed last week @ C$79 for 12 months. A quick head math check our Prime costs half as much! We have a still new Amazon warehouse opened recently on the Dartmouth side of the bridge and have noticed improvements in delivery times. We also have an Amazon.com account for use when visiting family in California but it is not Prime.
Amazon.com Inc. is hiking the price of its Prime membership, but in an email to BNN Bloomberg, the company confirmed the increases will only apply to Americans.
In a press release on Thursday, the e-commerce giant announced it will raise the price of its monthly Prime membership in the U.S. to US$14.99, from US$12.99; and the annual fee is going up to US$139, from US$119.
The changes take effect on Feb. 18 for new Prime subscribers in the U.S. and at the time of renewal after March 25 for existing members.
But if they had a way to bunch up deliveries further, I think they would cut costs a LOT.
That is NOT what customers want.
Amazon has a variety of delivery date options, including having all your packages delivered one day per week. That would cut down on a lot of “right now” deliveries–offering competitors an opportunity to nab them instead. Very few people use that choice. And the incentive to use it is pretty minimal.
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If I were King of Amazon for a day, I’d initiate a project that would help them aggregate deliveries.
Agree, I ordered four items early in the week and if the two items promised for today (unlikely in freezing rain and snow) make it they will have involved three deliveries. I think they are trying too hard to meet the 2 day delivery target vs. common sense involving a case of “Ocean Delights Cat Food Variety Pack 24–156g Cans” pâté of course that we don’t need for a month. Nor does wife need the “Safety Glasses, Blue Light Blocking Eyeglasses Anti Pollen Safety Goggles” that she added to the order because … well who knows?
Perhaps they should make it an optional tick box if there is no hurry? Another interesting innovation is that for years when the contract delivery guys buzzed I would tell them to leave it in the lobby and run down. Now Amazon does their own deliveries they insist they have to deliver it to our 5th floor door!
That’s the problem for me. There is effectively zero reason for me not to get my package for the free 2 day delivery. I would be happy to do it if they provided an incentive.
What is that incentive? I don’t recall ever seeing one. Now if they offered something like 5% off to group up all the purchases, I would check the box to do it.
What is that incentive? I don’t recall ever seeing one. Now if they offered something like 5% off to group up all the purchases, I would check the box to do it.
Exactly. Instead they offer something like pennies off of some sort of digital media, like a song or book. Useless to me.
“Canadians spared from Amazon Prime price increase”
amazon is pushing me close to the edge of not renewing Prime. Not sure if I reup
or not.
I kind of looked at it as free shipping, and get to watch their video library as part
of the deal. But the video library is not that good. Got a Costco membership, they
also have an annual fee, but definitely get more value out of that than Prime.
I do own some Amazon stock, so I hope nobody else cancels their Prime membership, lol.
Paul: Profits come from the membership fee. Everything else is low margin.
I read in the CC magazine a year ago, that supposedly they sell everything AT COST.
(First line tires are super low priced. Life time rebalancing, rotating, etc. They do it all but alignments. Odd that.)
Their bottom line net comes from card membership fees.
Sounded like a bit of a stretch to me, but that’s what they said in their own monthly magazine.
Between extremely low prices, the annual rebate check, and further ‘incidental’ rebates I have no idea why they’re giving me, we do renew every year. For ~~~30 years now.
Factoid: When they made the switch from AmEx to Citibank VISA ~~~6 years ago, I read somewhere that Costco was ~20% of AmEx total volume. OUCH.
I read in the CC magazine a year ago, that supposedly they sell everything AT COST.
I recently picked up a big ticket item at Costco. When I asked if it would be going on sale anytime soon, the employee shrugged and said they put things on sale when the supplier told them to do so. Don’t know if that was just for big ticket items though.
I read in the CC magazine a year ago, that supposedly they sell everything AT COST.
Likely untrue by a wide margin.
At least not true if you are thinking about the cost of goods that they pay the manufacturer.
Else how would you account for labor costs, rent, utilities, etc if the membership fee was all the profit?
I recently picked up a big ticket item at Costco. When I asked if it would be going on sale anytime soon, the employee shrugged and said they put things on sale when the supplier told them to do so. Don’t know if that was just for big ticket items though.
FWIW
IP
Costco pricing “tips”
Supposedly this article goes into the fascinating twists and turns of Costco’s “Pricing Codes”. Don’t know if it addresses your question, but it makes for quirky reading. (And I think there might actually be useful tidbits therein.)
I read in the CC magazine a year ago, that supposedly they sell everything AT COST.
Likely untrue by a wide margin.
Most goods are sold at a price just high enough to cover ALL costs. Maybe cost + 8%? A figure I read/saw a few years ago. This applies to virtually ALL the competing firms (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJs, etc).
Sales of goods + services covers all operating costs while profit is closely based on membership x annual fee.
CIBC strikes deal to take over Costco credit card business in Canada
Banks are looking for ways to boost credit revenue as Canadians cut back on high-interest borrowing
Author of the article:Stefanie Marotta Publishing date:Sep 02, 2021 • September 2, 2021
I’m one of those people that never pays interest, drives the banks crazy. }};-D
We got the new Amazon.ca rewards card (included a $50 gift card and other benefits) recently but I set it up to have the bill paid automatically from my RBC savings account on the day it is due. Many of the rewards expire after the first year … at which time I will dump the card.
Those are helpful and I have used them to my advantage before. Be aware that the *, which is supposed to imply no longer ordering, may just mean they have switched supplier for the same item, or the same item is being ordered but in different packaging. And some things, like Matteo’s Salsa, is seasonal, so the * comes about this time of year every year. Sadly sometimes it really is a discontinued item. I have been known to clear their shelves when it is a super deal. This is how some Costco sales wind up as a re-sale on Amazon for a higher price.
This was a 60" double sink vanity that was the only one I had seen anywhere that would work for our upgrade in a limited space. And there were only 2 in stock. I had seen them $300 off just 6 weeks earlier and almost bought it then, but didn’t have my van and didn’t remember the buy now and pick up in 24 hour policy. $300 mistake. Ah well, tax deductible as it is an upgrade for our rental. Having the thing shipped would have been much pricier.
Most Costco deep sales seem to be only “advertised” by the wall posting having the original price Sharpied off and written in. This is particularly the case for “display only” sales.