Amazon Prime Price To Go Up To $139 A Year; Retail Giant Promises 'Greater Benefits'

Amazon Prime's price is going up to $139 annually, up from the previous $119. The online retailing giant announced the price hike in its recent earnings report last February 3rd.

Aside from this, monthly subscriptions will also go up from $12.99 to $14.99.

According to CNN Business, the price hike for Amazon Prime memberships is to allow for "expanded membership benefits." Among these perks include additional Prime Video content and better same-day shipping.

The price hike is also designed to help the company compensate for increased labor and transportation costs that have been posing challenges to its distribution networks.

As for when the price hike takes effect, it depends on whether you're a new or old customer. New ones will feel the price hike on February 18th, while long-time members will not see a price increase until they renew on or beyond March 25th. For those who might want to try Prime at its old price, however, you're going to need to sign up now to keep the year's current pricing, writes Engadget.

This Amazon Prime price hike is the first major one since 2018. Back then, the original $99 membership fee was bumped up to the current $119. The latest increase is a 17% price bump.

Alongside the price hike, Amazon also revealed its massive growth during the December-end quarter. Revenue doubled to a cool $14.3 billion, a figure way past initial analysis by Wall Street.

As per the company, this profit jump was because of their recent investment into the EV maker Rivian Automotive. Amazon owns around $20.5 billion worth of Rivian's stocks, paying a tiny $78 per share, writes TechCrunch.

Bloomberg reports that while this price hike might come as a surprise to regular customers, it was an expected move from the online retail juggernaut. The company has been spending billions of dollars to ensure that all packages reach their customers on time, despite massive supply chain issues and labor shortages.

Is Amazon Prime Worth It At $139?

After passing 200 million members last year, Amazon Prime has proven to be an excellent offering for those who do a lot of their shopping online. As such, Amazon has made moves to expand the service, offering faster shipping speeds, more Prime Video and music streaming content, and even perks on the game streaming platform Twitch, according to The Verge.

BusinessInsider wrote an article last year detailing 12 reasons why Prime is worth the $119 annual fee. Among the reasons include the retail giant's increasing library of digital content via Prime Video, which is free for Prime members. It's not as popular as Netflix as of the moment, but the media streaming war is expected to just keep heating up for the foreseeable future.

Of course, there's also the option for same-day shipping of anything you buy. Many people might consider it a bit extravagant. But since the world is in the throes of a pandemic and going to brick-and-mortar stores isn't safe, then maybe it might not hurt too much to get what you buy online the same day you ordered it.

But whether these perks (alongside other unmentioned or upcoming ones) are worth $139 a year from here on out depends entirely on you.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce