Let the cart sit until it ships free

Not on the orders the people here actually place — and the waiting turned out to be the point. Eight separate conversations say that after cancelling, any order over a set total ships free for anyone; three conversations say that since they were reaching that total anyway, the membership’s shipping was paying for nothing. The number itself is argued: two corrections say the threshold is lower than another account claimed and that it differs by country, and one caution says the checkout defaults to paid shipping and you have to pick the free option yourself — so read your own checkout page and do not trust a figure from these conversations or this one. Then the part seven conversations found: the membership removes the pause between wanting something and owning it, and without it you wait or you bundle, and the impulse purchases fall away. Four accounts in the prevalence notes say they buy less since cancelling, two say they spend less overall, one says only necessities now, and two say they forgot items in the basket and saved money by accident. Two cautions say prices on items can move while you wait, sometimes several times a day; one account says the retailer sometimes charges members more than non-members for the same item, three accounts say they have seen it, and one caution says the single observation is unverified — this page carries it as theirs. A trick two conversations use — putting an expensive item in the basket to reach the line and cancelling it after — is not carried here: these conversations’ own caveat says accounts get penalised for it, and it is gaming a rule rather than using one. One account says the free five-to-eight-day shipping usually arrives early, and four conversations say the paid speed was never the difference it was sold as.

Less than you were, the people here say, and they are specific about what was taken away. Seven separate conversations say the video service that came with the membership now carries advertising and the music service has had features removed, so the entertainment half of the price buys less than it did; single accounts say shows they had were moved behind extra payments, that searches return rentals rather than things they own, and that the ad breaks run long. Three conversations say the fee rose to a level that stopped making sense at the same time as the ads arrived. Four conversations say the retailer is no longer reliably the cheapest — big-box chains and local shops match or beat it, and four conversations say checking prices elsewhere turns up better deals; two say buying direct from a maker is cheaper even with the membership. Two conversations say the promised two-day delivery routinely takes most of a week, and two say returns have become inconsistent, with long refunds and different rules at different drop-off points. Six conversations say the marketplace is full of knock-offs and counterfeits — the safety line above carries which categories to avoid. Two corrections tidy the small print: the retailer’s credit card pays non-members only a little less cash-back than members, not nothing; and cancelling a free trial is not instant — one account says the trial takes a few days to appear in your account before you can cancel it, and one correction says the trial’s cancellation delay is designed to make you forget, and a caution says the process has a delay. One account says the deal-day discounts are often marked up first. One account defends the arithmetic: seen as a monthly cost against other streaming services, the fee is comparable — until the ads. And one account keeps it for a bundle with their insurance, which the accounts asked about and left unexplained.

Some people, honestly, and the people here name them without sneering. One exchange, three accounts to three, is the whole argument in one conversation: the retailer is useful or necessary where local shops are thin or specific items are cheaper there, against it no longer earning its fee, because prices are matched elsewhere, delivery is unreliable and the perks have shrunk — and the accounts’ deciders are where you live and what you buy. One account says the membership earns its keep for people in rural areas and small towns, for specific brands, sizes or organic goods no local shop carries; one exchange, three accounts to one, says the fast delivery is real and reliable even in some rural places, against packages that now take weeks. Two conversations say it pays for itself in time when something is needed urgently — medicine refills — and three accounts add emergency baby supplies — and one exchange, two accounts to three, weighs exactly that against the markups. Two conversations say that fast delivery of hard-to-find items, the repeat-order discount and the card’s cash-back together make the fee worth it for them, and one exchange, four accounts to one, answers that prices have risen, quality has fallen and the membership encourages spending; another, two to five, says a frugal person can batch orders and use local shops instead. One exchange across conversations — three accounts in three against two in two — argues whether even a heavy shopper — hundreds of orders a year, two accounts say — comes out ahead, and the two say the higher prices elsewhere on the site eat the saving. Five cautions say delivery speed depends on how close you live to a warehouse: same-day for some, a week for others, whatever the membership says. One account keeps it for four months of a season’s sport. One account used it for a wedding and cancelled after. The reader this question is for: if you live far from shops, order often, and have checked that the items really are cheaper there — keep it, and the people here would not argue.

Cancel, keep the days you have paid for, and let the free months come to you when you actually need them. One account says cancelling takes three clicks and you keep the remaining paid days, without a refund for the rest. Four separate conversations then use the membership the other way round: they take the one-month free or discounted offer only when a heavy month of ordering is coming, and cancel before it renews — one caution says the offers keep arriving after you leave and need some self-control, and two say the trial cancellation is built to be forgotten, so set a reminder the day you start it. Making new accounts to repeat free trials, and borrowing a friend’s login for the video service, are in these conversations and are not carried here — these conversations’ own caveats say they break the terms, and that abusing refunds can end an account, and this site does not carry ways round a company’s rules. One account says to watch the card statement after cancelling, because they were charged again or re-enrolled without asking. One account says a discounted tier exists for people on government assistance — worth checking if that is you before you cancel. One account shares the membership across a household so the fee splits several ways. For the video and the books: one account uses the library’s lending app for e-books and audiobooks, with a caution that popular titles have queues, and free ad-supported video for the rest. One caution says shipping speed may slow even before your paid days run out.

Nine accounts in one place, seven in another and six in a third say no — and this page carries the ones who did. The prevalence notes in these conversations are unusually one-sided: nine accounts say they cancelled or paused and are fine or better off, seven say they have cancelled or are planning to over the changes, six say they cancelled in the past year and do not miss it, five say the same, and three say they suspended it and never noticed. Against that, two conversations say some people simply prefer the shop — better service, a warranty that means something, a small business supported — and one exchange, two accounts to two, argues whether a warehouse club is any better, with one correction saying the club’s prices are not always lower either; the accounts’ answer is that swapping one membership for another swaps one trap for another. Two conversations cancel for reasons that are not about money — the company’s treatment of workers, its practices, and — one account adds — its market power — and this page carries that as their reason without weighing it. One account says the retailer’s whole model is built to make leaving feel costly; nine accounts who left say they are fine or better off. What no account in these conversations could give — and they asked — is the sum: how much a typical household actually saves in a year after cancelling, beyond the impulse buys that stopped. This page cannot give it either; the arithmetic in the first question is the closest thing.