Amazon Prime subscribers furious at new change that removes major feature
Amazon is once again in the bad books of its consumers, and despite boasting a market cap of $2.41 trillion, it's accused of penny-pinching with Amazon Prime.
While the streaming services are at war, it's Netflix that reigns supreme over the likes of Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, and the rest.
Still, Prime shines as it also includes free next-day shipping on your Amazon products.
Alongside Amazon giving us an impressive roster of original shows like Fallout and The Boys, the added bonus of free shipping means those last-minute DIY essentials, Halloween costumes, and even food can be with you in a flash.
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Now, Amazon has confirmed it's ending its Prime Invitee perk that allowed members to share free shipping with people outside of their household.
Similar to how Netflix and others have clamped down on password sharing to ensure people are in the same household, Prime now requires its users to be under one roof.
As pointed out by CBS, Amazon last raised its annual Prime fees from $119 to $139 in 2022. Even though that's better than the many others upping their prices, the implication that people outside of your household can no longer get free shipping means they're now being pushed to get their own membership.
There's some savvy incentivizing here, as Amazon is offering a one-year Prime subscription for just $14.99.
Of course, how many of you are going to forget to cancel and then be slapped with a full price membership at the end of a period? An Amazon spokesperson told the outlet: "The Invitee program, which enabled sharing of the Prime shipping benefit only, is being phased out, and Prime members can instead share a broad range of Prime benefits with Amazon Family."
It should be noted that Amazon actually stopped new users from joining the invitee program back in 2015, but for some, they've been on thin ice for the past decade.
The changes will come into play on October 1, 2025, and as you can imagine, subscribers aren't happy.
Taking to Reddit, one disgruntled Amazon user wrote: "Been sharing for 15 years. With the increased cost and this petty money grab we're done. No need to list the many reasons Amazon sucks these days."
Another raged: "I wonder what percentage of people who have been getting free Prime shipping for a decade or more, as 'invitees' on their parents' accounts, are going to be eager to shell out for an annual Prime subscription. I guess Amazon is about to find out."
A third concluded: "I have family that have been linked to this for maybe 15 years??? I have to send some messages today to explain to them what is happening.
"I understand why they are doing it, but I am just getting tired of companies encouraging this behavior for years (looking at you Netflix) to get subscription numbers up and shutting this down all at once. I guess we are all just expected to bow down to the altar of Wall Street."