Service Review for Amazon Prime

It seems lately that I've had several people ask my about my opinion of Amazon Prime! I love it for many reasons and decided that I would write my love letter to Amazon right here on my blog for the world (or at least all eight of you) to see!

Before I begin said love letter ... allow me to set the stage. I live in a small town and there is no shopping. When I say no shopping I mean there is a Smith's and a local department store. Now, I'm not talking one of those fancy Smith's Marketplaces. I'm talking a smaller and older than usual Smith's grocery store with about half of the retail space dedicated to alcoholic beverages and gourmet cheese. Let's not forget the incredibly rude employees and the seemingly never-ending parade of giant stocking crates that line every aisle ... no matter when you go! You can see why this would deter me from taking my four children there to do some leisurely shopping.

But you say, Julia, didn't you say there was also a department store? Why, yes I did. Unfortunately it is about 2 to 3 times more expensive than buying things anywhere else! They are not open after dinner. And their selection is limited.

So where can a girl turn for buying diapers, cleaning supplies, craft supplies, party favors, gifts, books, etc. etc. etc. Why the interweb! No rude employees, no stocking crates, and certainly no gourmet cheese displays for my 2 year old to knock over!

We started subscribing to Amazon Prime about four years ago. My husband had been getting our diapers in the next town over about 40 min. away on his way home from his masters classes. But once he was done with that class we had to find a new way to buy the boxes of diaper that our ever growing family required! Since then it has become the main way we buy almost everything!

Okay so the info you want! An Amazon Prime subscription will cost you $79 a year! But that gets you a ton of stuff:

1) You get free 2 day shipping on all Prime-eligible items. There are a lot of eligible items! I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to get what I need but we've had everything from a new bike to a shower chair to soup delivered by Prime.

2) There isn't a minimum limit to get the free shipping. If you just need a set of flashcards for 2 bucks...it's still free shipping! This comes in handy because I am constantly thinking of things I need and instead of making a giant list and waiting for it to add up to the right amount I can just order it and have it here in 2 days.

3) You can have things delivered anywhere. We've used this feature for a lot of different reasons. We've ordered things for other people. My grandparents live in the middle of nowhere and so I have different food items sent right to their house. It saves them money and they don't have drive into town to get them. We buy a lot of our Christmas/birthday presents on there as well and can have them sent right to the people they are for. We've also used it on vacation/evacuation situations where we've forgotten something we need! I've also used it for book group a few times to order several people copies of the same book and have it sent to them!

4) It saves us money. A lot of items don't have tax, depending on what state you live in of course. But this has saved us some money too, especially on things we get every few weeks (like baby supplies). Often they are priced about the same as they would be in a store but ... you can get bigger boxes of things, with no tax, and it's delivered to your door! A lot of items are cheaper than in the store too. It just depends what you want. And of course it saves us gas money because our closest Wal-mart is half an hour away!

5) It saves us money another way! Any Amazon member can subscribe to the items you buy most. This is great for things like diapers, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. You sign up for the item and tell them how often you would like them delivered. Not only does this mean one less thing to remember but it also saves you 15% on items! And by joining Amazon Mom you can save an extra 15% on baby items (and a three month trial of Prime, too)!

6) Videos! You can stream videos for no additional cost. We have netflix, so I can't say we've used it that much, but it is another perk. You can stream them to your computer, some televisions, and your Roku box.

7) You can get exactly what you want! You can browse for things and save them in wishlists. You can do this without Prime but I'm including it in my list because it is something I do all the time. It helps because my husband can make lists and then I know exactly what little piece of technology he needs to go with all of his other gadgets! I also make lists of things for the girls and then Amazon emails me when those things go on sale! I often order things for Christmas on sale and store them away. Also, sometimes I will get online with an idea of what I want and my search results will bring back several items with reviews of each. This way I can study out what I really want after the kids are asleep instead of trying to read about irons in the store with all of them yelling!

And speaking of yelling kids...there are a couple of hungry twins calling! So in conclusion, Amazon Prime, in my opinion, is definitely worth the price! It's great for people who live in towns without shopping but it is also great for those of us who are busy or can't easily cart all our children out to the store! Give it a try for a year and I think you will come to the same conclusion!