Should You Finally Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership?

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Is Amazon Prime worth your money? Read on to find out. 

Many of us get used to paying for certain services and just keep paying as a result. Often, in these situations, we end up wasting money when we should be trying to add to our savings account balance instead.

Such may be the case with Amazon Prime. The cost of a Prime membership is $14.99 a month, but if you pay for a year of the service at a time, your cost will be just $139. That amounts to under $12 a month, which may not seem like a big deal at first. But when you add it to all of the other small-ish charges on your credit card, it can be a lot.

As such, you may want to consider cutting ties with your Amazon Prime membership. Here are a few signs that it’s time to cancel.

1. You’re making fewer online purchases these days

A big benefit of Amazon Prime is getting to score free two-day shipping on orders of any size. Want a $3 bottle of body wash? With Prime, you can have it show up in 48 hours without spending a dime on shipping.

But perhaps you’re doing less shopping online these days in general. Maybe you recently started working from home and are finding that you need those frequent trips to the store to get out of the house and have some semblance of social interaction. Or maybe you just moved to an area where there’s a Target two minutes away, so it’s easier to get the things you need on the spot, as opposed to having to wait for them to arrive in the mail.

There’s nothing wrong with doing more of your shopping in person. But if so, then it may not make sense to keep paying for Prime.

2. Most of your Prime orders are large ones

One big misconception about Amazon is that you need to be a Prime member to get free shipping. Not so. All you need to do is spend $25, and you won’t be charged shipping as a non-Prime member. Meanwhile, if your orders on Amazon generally amount to $25 or more, then you may not need to pay for a Prime membership, since you’re eligible for no-cost shipping by virtue of what’s in your shopping cart.

3. You’re not using any of the side benefits of Prime

The main perk of Amazon Prime is free two-day shipping on orders of any amount. But Prime members also get other perks, like a free book each month, free streaming content, and the option to try on certain clothing items prior to purchasing them. If you’re not making good use of these perks, then it may not be worth it to pay for Amazon Prime.

For many people, an Amazon Prime membership really is an easy call. But you may be at the point where your Amazon habits are such that Prime just isn’t needed. If so, don’t hesitate to cancel — and pocket that money rather than pump it into Amazon, which, rest assured, has plenty of cash to go around.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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