Amazon Prime: Does it Really Worth it for Seniors?

Nowadays I can easily say that I buy most of my things online. It’s been now more than a year that I do my weekly groceries online, I also buy all my books, electronics and other “essential” items in the Internet. The only thing I still insist in buying in store is my clothes. And not all of them. If there is something I like in some of my favourite stores, I just buy the item online too (after all I know exactly my size and the kind of cuts of these particular stores). So, it’s not hard to guess that I do most of these transactions through Amazon.

Why should seniors subscribe to Amazon Prime? Because nowadays, buying online, once an exception, has become the rule. Most of people are doing it and it saves a lot of time in our daily lives. And Amazon is the easiest, and the most reliable platform to use. It is also super practical. Amazon Prime is just a way to facilitate your purchase, giving you access to extra discounts, faster delivery and many other perks.

Amazon has built a reputation as the online shop where you can find nearly everything without having to leave the house. So the best thing about Amazon is that you can find everything in there. And by EVERYTHING, I mean it. From basic food to the oddest item you can think of.

* Just for you to know, I don’t work for Amazon, but most of the items I mention in the website are from Amazon. So I do get a small percentage if you purchase something in there. But that’s all. No monkey business here!

First of all, let me clarify what exactly is Amazon.

What exactly is Amazon?

You would be surprised how many people don’t really know – or can’t really explain – what Amazon is.

Amazon.com is a vast Internet-based enterprise that sells books, music, movies, housewares, electronics, toys, and many other goods, either directly or as the middleman between other retailers and Amazon.com’s millions of customers.

Based in Seattle, Washington, Amazon.com was founded on July 5, 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It is now the largest Internet-based store in the world by total sales and market capitalization.

What is Amazon Prime and what are the benefits of getting the Prime membership?

If you look around the site you’ll notice the Prime logo next to many items. Prime is Amazon’s paid membership service for frequent shoppers that offers many benefits.

Get Amazon Prime here.

Here are the Perks that come with Amazon Prime Membership:

Shipping

Over 100 million items were eligible for Prime two-day shipping in the U.S. by the end of last year. Here are the highlights:

• Free same-day delivery: Some cities get a free same-day (or one-day) shipping on orders over $35 made before 9 a.m. Orders made after 9 a.m. for these cities can get next-day free shipping.
• Free 1-day shipping: Also you can get free 1-day delivery on millions of items, with no minimum purchase. Even if you buy a $5 book, it’ll arrive in 24 hours.
• Free 2-hour delivery (Prime Now): Tens of thousands of items are included.
• Whole Foods delivery: Some zip codes can also get a 2-hour delivery from Whole Foods through Amazon Prime.
• Deliveries to your car: Millions of items can also be delivered to 2015 model year or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and Volvo models through Amazon Key. It’s available in select cities.
• AmazonFresh Delivery: If you don’t have the time or energy to go grocery shopping, AmazonFresh will deliver groceries straight to your door. For an additional $14.99 per month, Prime members can shop at a large online grocery store and their groceries will be delivered the same-day or next-day.

Streaming

Streaming of video and music has become a much bigger part of Amazon since the launch of Prime Video in 2011. Here’s what you get with Steaming:

• Prime Video: Prime Video allows members to stream hundreds of movies and TV shows, at no additional charge – including Prime Originals. Additionally, Prime Video members may also subscribe to TV channels like HBO or Showtime and only pay for the channels they actually want. You can also stream 70 film-festival picks and some Emmy-winning originals. Prime Video also lets you download videos.
• Prime Music: Includes ad-free access to more than a million songs. The music can be played offline, through Amazon’s app.
• Twitch Prime: Amazon bought video-game streaming site Twitch in 2014. Prime members get discounts on physical games pre-orders and new releases, ad-free viewing on Twitch, some free exclusive content and a free Twitch channel subscription every month.

Reading

Amazon.com started as an online bookstore. As a prime member, you get access to the following:

• Prime Reading: This service allows you to borrow more than 1,000 books, magazines, and comics, and doesn’t require a Kindle (though you do need the Kindle app.) You’re allowed to borrow 10 at a time for free.
• Amazon First Reads: This program offers a new book for free every month, based on what Amazon picks as the six books eligible for early access (a month in advance). 
• Washington Post free trial: Prime members get a six-month free trial of The Washington Post (which normally has a paywall).

Shopping

This is not very well known but Amazon has physical locations like bookstores (which offer discounts to Prime members)and 2,000 lockers in more than 50 cities. Here are some other product-specific perks of Prime:

• Amazon payment cards: Amazon Prime now offers a rewards Visa (V – Get Report) Card – which offers users 5% back at Amazon and Whole Foods Market, 2% back at restaurants, drug stores, and gas stations, 1% back on some other items. Learn more about the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card here.
• Dash buttons: This is a physical or virtual button you put in your house (or homepage), and push it when you want to reorder a certain product. It’s only available to Prime members.
• Discounts at Whole Foods: For Prime members, shopping at Whole Foods comes with a 10% discount on sale items and select weekly best-sellers.
• Discounts on baby products: Prime members still 15 percent off items on a baby registry, and 20 percent off some diapers and baby food subscriptions. Grandparents can really benefit from it.

Extras Perks

Amazon Prime membership also offers you some random access or discounts to various services.

• Prime Photos: With Amazon Prime, you get unlimited photo storage and 5 GB of storage for other files for you and 5 people.
• Amazon Channels: You can stream HBO, Showtime, and Starz for a discounted price ($4.99 a month to $14.99 a month) through Amazon.
• Prime Pantry: Prime Pantry includes small, light objects like groceries and household items, (Amazon uses the example of a box of cereal).A single order is available to any Prime member for $7.99 shipping. Or, you can pay $4.99 a month for free shipping on orders over $40 (all the items in the order have to be Pantry products.)It’s not available in Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico, or for P.O. boxes. Membership includes some coupons.
• Membership sharing: You can share certain aspects of your Prime membership with up to 10 people: two adults, four teens and four children (teen and child profiles are just for streaming content or supervised shopping for teens).To share your profile, you and the other adult have to agree to use the same payment method. Some perks can’t be shared, like Kindle books, Prime Video, Prime Music, baby product discounts, and Prime Photos. There’s also an option to create a shared business account, which offers different benefits.

Amazon Prime Discount for Seniors 2021

Many of our senior citizen readers wants to know if there is an ongoing Amazon prime discount for seniors. Please note that there is no such thing called AARP Amazon prime discount. However, Amazon does offer some discount for seniors IF they qualify.

Currently Amazon is offering discounted price for qualified individuals who are receiving government assistance like Food stamps or Medicaid. Anyone with EBT card or Medicaid card qualifies for this discount offer. The discounted price would be $5.99 a month totaling to $71.88 a year in comparison with $99 for regular customers. Any seniors receiving government assistance can benefit from this offer. Make sure you visit the link above if you are looking for discounted Amazon prime for Medicaid recipients or for EBT recipients.

Get Amazon Prime here.

The Bottom Line

So the bottom line is if you are a senior willing to go online to buy all kind of things you may need from time to time, on a weekly or even monthly basis, Amazon Prime is the best membership you can get that could really simplify your life by finding the items you want in one place.

Particularly, as I mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Amazon and Amazon Prime. I currently use it on a weekly basis to buy all sorts of things. It really changed my life and I can’t imagine life without this service anymore (no exaggeration here).

If you are not 100% sure about it, you can always try the membership as a free trial for a month. No catch here. Free service for you to see if you find it useful or not. Go on and explore all your possibilities!

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