Free Same Day Delivery
What attracted most of us to purchase an Amazon Prime membership in the past has quickly evolved. Way back when, we used to just get two-day shipping with our memberships, but nowadays the list of perks the $119 can get you seems endless. It's not endless, but it's quite long.
When Amazon Prime launched in 2005, two-day shipping was all the rage. Now, the online retailer seeks to get products to customers as fast as possible by opening up new distribution centers.
The catch is that your order must total $35 or more, and not all items are eligible. Only about 3 million items are. If, however, you're below that $35 line, you'll have to pay an additional $3 for this perk. Non-prime members have to pay up a whopping $12.99 for this perk per item!
Free Two Hour Delivery
In more than 100 selected markets, lucky shoppers can now get free two-hour delivery on grocery goods. This includes Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Virginia Beach, and central New Jersey.
If even two hours is too much of a long wait for you but you want to avoid crowds while shopping, order your items and they'll be ready for pickup in one hour, so you can get straight to cooking without spending unnecessary time pursuing the aisles.
Get Paid For No Rush Delivery
Yep, you can now get paid if you're in no rush to get your items. By picking a no-rush delivery option you'll get promotional awards or discounts for future Amazon purchases.
In terms of rewards, Amazon will pick them for you but they range from eBooks to Amazon app store items, instant video downloads, and more.
Get Your Prime Wardrobe On
The pandemic has made shopping for clothes nearly impossible. But if you're in a need of a new wardrobe, you're in luck thanks to Amazon's Prime Wardrobe!
Convenient, huh?
Give To Your Favorite Charity
Through AmazonSmile you can now give to your favorite registered charitable organization of your choice while shopping!
There are more than a million eligible 501(c)(3_ public charities to pick from, so chose one near and dear to your heart the next time you're on an online shopping spree.
Membership Sharing
If you have Amazon Prime but your spouse or significant other doesn't, you can now share the perks! The only catch is that you'll share payment methods, meaning that you'll have to be comfortable sharing your debit or credit card information with the person you're sharing your Prime membership with.
Best of all, you can also include up to 4 teens and children. Thanks to parental controls, they won't be able to buy anything, but they can still gain access to digital content.
Access To Exclusive Brands
Prime members get access to exclusive brands, such as Amazon Elements. But Amazon is also rolling out more private-label brands, so it's expected that soon enough, you'll have a plethora of items to pick from that other, regular members can't get access to unless they buy a membership.
Unlimited Photo Storage (Videos, Too)
It's time to trim some costs by giving up on additional cloud storage, such as though Apple, if you have an Amazon Prime membership.
In addition to this, you'll also get 5GB of storage for videos, documents and other files. The only downside to this that only you can store them and not anyone else in the Family Vault. You can also buy more storage if you need it.
Prime For Students
Students and parents rejoice, now you can cut costs by using Amazon Prime Student. To open an account you need to use a real â.eduâ email address and provide proof that you're taking at least one class.
After the six months are up, membership costs $6.49 a month or $59 a year (less expensive, go with this if you want to save money overall).
Free Music
Plenty of music lovers pay extra for Apple Music, Spotify or Pandora without realizing they can get access to more than 2 million songs and a thousand playlists with their Amazon Prime memberships.
If you still need more music, consider Amazon Music Unlimited, for which Prime members will only pay $7.99 a month. They feature more than 70 million songs and new releases. You can also try it for 30 days for free to see if it's up to your musical standards.
Free Books, Magazines, Audiobooks
With Amazon Prime you also get access to Prime Reading, featuring a collection of more than 1,000 books, magazines and audiobooks. You and your household can borrow up to 10 titles at a time, and the available content is shuffled around periodically, so there's always something new in store!
If you're a fan of podcasts, even better, as you'll get free access to certain podcasts and even some audiobooks through Audible Channels (which is just like Audible, but limited). And hey, if you like this version of Audible, you can buy a full subscription for $14.95 a month!
Binge On Your Favorite Shows
If you've given cord-cutting a thought, you may be pleased to hear that you can binge series and movies though your Amazon membership thanks to Prime Video. Similarly to Netflix, get access to thousands of shows while Amazon will work on showing you titles that are relevant to your tastes.
This option also lets you download movies or shows to your mobile devices to watch them on the go. You can also buy titles, which will be available to you in your Video Library on Amazon.
Early Access To Lightning Deals
Who doesn't love Early access!? If you're a Prime member, you get to see hugely discounted Lightning Deals 30 minutes ahead of everyone else. These stay around only for as long as supplies last, which is why it's so important to get to them first. In some cases, some items get sold out before they're even available to the greater public.
Ever heard of Amazon Mom? Now known as Amazon Family, this perk offers parents 20% off baby food, diapers, and more, in addition to free returns and shipping.
Say Hello To Alexa
Do you have an Echo Dot or an Amazon Echo? No? What about any other devices with Alexa? If so, if your hands are ever busy, ask Alexa to order stuff for you.
Furthermore, she also has exclusive deals. All you have to do is ask âAlexa, what are your deals?â and she'll give you a list- at times, this is a bit hard to follow, so keep that in mind and pay attention!
Whole Foods Discounts And Delivery
Since the online retailer purchased Whole Foods in 2017, shoppers have been able to order products from them on Amazon.com. In select cities, you can even get your order delivered within two hours, or (as we mentioned earlier on in this article) you could pick it up one hour after ordering.
The same app will send you notifications regarding various in-store deals too, for some extra convenience.
Fun With The Treasure Truck
You can find Amazon Treasure Trucks in 29 major U.S. cities such as Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.
Oh, you can also sign up for text notifications if you ever forget to check the app.
Free Release Date Delivery
If you're not known for your patience, then you're going to love Amazon Prime's free release-date delivery. Using this feature you'll be one of the first to get your hands on new releases such as movies, books, games, or music.
Amazon Prime Day Deals
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Amazon.com hosted a Black-Friday type of sale in July 2015. The tradition has continued since then, with the mega-retailer offering juicy deals on all sorts of goods. Keep in mind this is when most shoppers tend to do less shopping, focusing more on vacations and activities. So it's a good strategy to generate extra cash.
In 2020, Prime Day was not what it was supposed to be largely due to the ongoing pandemic. As such, it was held in October. Ironically, they set new records for the company with millions of sales, likely because everyone was cooped up and hoping to find some joy while shopping online and saving money.
Easy Re Ordering
With how much shopping we do online, especially on different websites, it's inevitable that eventually, you'll forget where you purchased certain items for. Luckily, Amazon helps by offering you the chance to look at your whole order history while also making it easy to re-order certain items.
Free Delivery To Your Car
This delivery option is currently unavailable, again, due to the pandemic. But it's a great way to deter porch pirates. Instead of having your products delivered to your home, you can instead have them delivered and stored in your car, either in the truck or in the cabin.
You will need the Key by Amazon app, which allows delivery people to access your car, so long as it is parked in an âopen, street-level, and publicly accessible area.â Just make sure your package fits in your car before you order it!
In Home Delivery When You're Not Home
A step above allowing your delivery person access to your car is allowing them to deliver your order inside your house when you're not at home. Of course, COVID-19 put this nifty and somewhat scary feature on pause, but it's good to keep in mind for the future.
You do have to pay extra for the special lock and camera, but they go a long way for peace of mind, both for the delivery person that will have access to your home and for the items that won't get stolen off your porch. You'll get notified of the delivery and you can watch the driver drop the package off right at your door through the camera.
In Garage Delivery When You're Not Home
Finally, here's an option that is NOT put on hold due to COVID-19! You can have your items safely delivered to your garage instead, also using the Key by Amazon app. Available in more than 4,000 cities, this option is free for Prime members and also includes Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh deliveries.
And, yes, all drivers are vetted for this process.
In Gate Delivery When You're Not Home
This is yet another way to allow drivers to deliver your packages safely, meant for those who live in small apartment complexes or behind gated driveways or fences.
Take Your Amazon Returns To Kohl's
Here's a win-win situation for both Amazon and Kohl's, who partnered up so that unsatisfied shoppers could drop off their unwanted Amazon purchases. It provides us with more variety in terms of returned items other than Whole Foods, Amazon Hub lockers, and UPS.
So, if you want to save up a bit of money, make sure you don't lose track of your objective and avoid going on a shopping spree while you're at it!
Amazon Hub Locker
If you've had one too many packages stolen by porch pirates and neither of the options listed above suits your needs, then you should make use of Amazon Hub lockers. Prime shoppers can both receive and return items here. Find them in various retailers, such as Whole Foods, as they're free to use.
You'll receive a code once your package is delivered- use this to unlock your locker and you're done!
Pick Up Or Return Your Amazon Purchase At An Amazon Hub
But it doesn't stop there. There are plenty of Amazon Hubs peppered around the U.S. These serve as a great place to pick up or return your orders while, again, providing foot traffic for the stores.
Fast Gift Others
I also love using Amazon as a quick way to send my friends and family gifts from time to time. I'm not fussed, and neither are they, by the lack of gift wrap. How could I, when the best perk is the fact that I get free two-day shipping, no matter which addresses I input?
Shop Women Owned Businesses
If you, like many others, are trying to give women-owned businesses a boost, then you should thank Amazon for the help. Go to Amazon Storefronts and look for this option. You'll find lots of great quality stuff from books to clothes, spa goods, and even party supplies!
Make Any Day Your Amazon Day
If you regularly shop from Amazon and would like to better fit deliveries in your routine, then you can pick your Amazon Day. What this means is that your items will be delivered on that day. If you have a pretty busy schedule, you can ensure that at least you'll be home during that time, but there are plenty of other reasons to do this.
Oh, and it also gives me a chance to say hello to the driver!
Discounts At Amazon Stores
Yep, Amazon has even started opening brick-and-mortar stores! Even though it's so comfortable to order goods in a fluffy robe and warm slippers, sometimes it's nice to head out and buy things the old-fashioned way. Prime members get discounts when shopping at one of their 5 real-life locations.
So far there are only 31 of these in the U.S., either open or almost open, though due to the pandemic, they're only operating in a limited capacity.
If you live in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle, head on over to Amazon Go for already assembled, ready-to-eat meals and snacks. Whether you're looking for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, this is the most seamless place for you to shop.
Want all of that and some baked goods to go with your meal? Then you should visit Amazon Go Grocery. Here, you'll also find fresh seasonal produce. Sadly, only two of these are open, both in the Seattle area.
Remember, anyone can shop in these places, but if you're an Amazon Prime member, you get discounts and Prime prices, so make good use of your membership!
Game For Free And Score Loot
If you're an avid gamer (or know someone who is, such as your kid) you could use Amazon Prime for free games and game loot. What this means, for the less tech-savvy readers out there, is that players can gain some pretty cool exclusive in-game items if they use Prime.
Make Amazon Your Prime Prescription Drugstore
Recently, Amazon has launched Amazon Pharmacy, giving all other drug stores a run for their money, literally.
So it's worth it to compare Amazon Pharmacy to your current pharmacy or online service. You never know, you could save a few dollars in the process.
Shop Used In The Amazon Warehouse
This one is perfect for shoppers who want to save money but don't mind buying open-box items! At Amazon Warehouse you'll find millions of items sold at discount prices, from used computers to kitchen goods, cameras, cell phones, TVs and more!
Head Over To The Shop By ShopBop For Designer Deals
Check out The Shop by Shopbop (that's a mouthful!) to get designer work-from-home gear. Seeing how this pandemic is going, we think everyone needs to check this section on Amazon out.
Zappos + Premium Shipping
On top of The Shop by ShopBop, Amazon also owns online shoe giant Zappos. You can make a Zappos account, link it to your Amazon Prime accounts and earn 2 Zappos shopping points for every $1 you spend. Use these for great perks on their website!
