!dev

Even though I bought Prime for cord-cutting now whenever I need to buy something I have an urge to just buy from Amazon because I feel like I'm making back what I paid since shipping is now free 2-day for anything and 5% cash back...

And when you search for anything, there's usually 1 result that's like Amazon Choice and I see there's a price huge price cut...

But in the back of my mind, I stop and think does this make sense. Could be cheaper elsewhere? Are these deals really deals...
And that $120 was for video and I'm pretty sure Amazon is not losing money no matter how many orders I make our how much I "save"....

And why am I even trying to make back X by doing Y....

Yes totally random but thoughts, how do you think about this?

Yup. A side effect of Prime is that it gives you incentive to buy more, which is good for Amazon, and which you're already experiencing. More business for them.

We don’t have a car, so we use prime to buy shit we can’t/don’t wanna carry from the store eg. cat litter, toilet paper

My partner still buys random shit from amazon for the same reason you said, but I just look at it like it’s the Big Item Store and don’t think about it aside from that

@baeovvulf today I was like I need a hdtv antenna for my new 4k smart tv... But then stopped myself before hitting the buy button...

Do I actually really want it, what exactly do I want to watch on live tv anyway... Am I going to even get signal...

Actually, Amazon does lose money on Prime. They still do it because a strong (read shopaholic) customer base is more profitable to them in the long run.

https://technologyreview.com/s/...

@rithvikp that article is 2yrs old. The old price was $80, yes at a loss. New price at $120... With it's huge subscriber base and even funding original series? Highly doubt it

I'm pretty sure it's sorta like a buffet, a few people will eat more than they pay but most won't come even close.

@billgates Even at $120, Amazon still loses money on Prime itself. It is offset by sales in areas like movies, music and apparently grocery subscriptions. The biggest reason is still to gain a monopoly. Once customers are irreversibly hooked to buying with Prime and getting one day and two day deliveries, they'll increase the subscription fees even more and make it profitable. Even if Prime in the USA is profitable currently, I live in India where the usual annual subscription cost is INR 999 (~$14 or ~$35 if you adjust for PPP). I joined Prime as soon as they launched in India so I am getting the subscription for half the price! I literally make up for that cost within a few weeks since every item I have bought in the last year or so had 2-day shipping.

https://theatlantic.com/technology/...

https://inc.com/minda-zetlin/...