Amazon earlier in the year began offering prepaid 2-day shipping for an annual fee. I was going to call it a low annual fee, but this is debated all over blogland. It’s $79 per year for up to four Amazon customers in the same household.
So the fee’s cheapness depends on how much you buy at Amzon in a year and how much you succumb to the get-it-instantly urge. For that fee, you would get free, 2-day shipping — now about $10 or even faster overnight shipping for $3.99.
Apparently, some Amazon people are making this seem affordable by buying household goods like toothpaste at Amazon, saying with zero added shipping, this makes good economic sense. (The toothpaste and other items I checked, had no “you save 32%” marked on them, so I’m guessing this may be comparable to a reasonably priced local store.)
For example, the big sellers in Health and Beauty are electric shavers, electric toothbrushes, and baby things. While the electronics are “Amazon priced,” the diapers and baby formula sometimes are reduced by 7% — not a big bargain. Still if you want to skip the hauling, maybe even that makes sense.
Investors and the cynical have questioned whether this is a rather desperate measure to gain sales. One shopper even noticed that things sittinng in his shopping cart to buy later have been creeping up in price. Maybe that’s how they make certain that Amazon is on the right side of the “free fast shipping” deal.