Some of us have been living without an Amazon account since 2007 and we're still alive. Go figure.

Buying anything on Amazon hardly seems viable anymore. There's so much counterfeit crap there, and a million low-effort rebrandings of the same stuff you can get on AliExpress for cheaper.

Shop local when you can, and at least shop not-Amazon for the rest.

I cancelled Prime late last year, and haven't really missed it, either.

Leaving Prime also meant the end of free Amazon Prime Video (you can still rent or buy many movies without it), but I’ve been able to bear it.

While I had Prime, I think there was 1, maybe 2 instances where I wanted to watch something and it was actually included with Prime. Every other time, Amazon Video had the movie, but they wanted an additional fee to watch it, so this was absolutely no loss.

One thing to note: Every time I check out on Amazon, now, they offer me a reduced price 1-week "trial" of Prime, to get the expedited shipping, for like... $5 or so? If you cancel yours, and also see this offer: You can take the offer, submit your order (and get the free 2 day shipping), then once you get the shipping confirmation, go in and cancel the Prime subscription. Since you've had it for only a few hours, Amazon actually refunds the price you paid. In effect, you get the shipping benefits for free. We'll see if they close this loophole, but for now, it works.

Dude... We're trying to live without Amazon and this guy is just giving up prime??? What a martyr...

I dropped Scamazon Slime a long time ago when I figured out they were not meeting their 2 day shipping promise. I really have never missed it.

I can't live with Amazon, so I NEVER use them out of principle.

Every time I've ordered something from Amazon, they always push Prime for fastest shipping. Then when you turn that down, they give you an option to pay a little more this one time to get your order shipped faster. I always pick the cheapest shipping option. The order generally comes just as fast as the fastest shipping, without paying the extra money.

They are going to ship according to whatever is easiest and cheapest for themselves if you pick the cheap shipping option. By now in most large population centers, Amazon warehouses are already stocked. Until they start cutting shipping costs, it will almost always arrive well before their estimates. So just save yourself the money and ditch Prime.

Prime used to mean something. Guaranteed 2 day shipping with no minimum for no extra charge. $5 for next day shipping. Then next day disappeared. Then the 2 day guarantee disappeared. Then delivery times were in the 3-5 day range for most things. Then, in my university town, around the time of students returning to school for terms it would be 1-2 weeks. I’m not paying an ever increasing annual fee for that.

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Live Without an Amazon Prime Subscription

Water is wet

You're kidding right? Are there actually people thinking they just can't live without Amazon Prime? Seriously? Fuck even if you HAVE to order something off of Amazon, which you absolutely don't HAVE to do, you don't fuckin need prime just for... what... slightly faster shipping?

I hate to be honest, but I used Amazon Prime a lot because:

1. I cannot drive. Thus, getting to the store is difficult.
2. I must bring in 3-4 items a week, so yeah, I save on shipping.
3. Auto-subscriptions save a little.
4. I have priced a lot of stuff over the years, and while Amazon is not always the best, the convenience is impressive.
5. They have, multiple times, been incredibly helpful with customer service. Like above and beyond.
6. COVID and nobody masks around here. I have an autoimmune condition, so it's important that I not leave unless it's a medical appointment or similar need.
7. They just have stuff I can't find anywhere. Yes, as some have said, caveat emptor, but that's true for all the stores.

I also save a shit ton of money. When I used to browse Walmart or Target, I used to buy a lot of shit I didn't need. I don't get as distracted with focused buying. I also order from Aliexpress if I can wait 30 days, and I have only been ripped off three times in several years, for a total of maybe $35.

I'm not saying my way is better, and certainly not if it's better for you, but it's been a godsend to the house-bound.

I have prime for the no rush shipping. Every time I delay my same day or next day shipping to the 3-4 day no rush shipping I get a few dollars of digital credits which I use to buy ebooks. Over the course of a year it essentially pays for the cost of prime with free books I would have bought anyway.

Cancelled two weeks ago, and while it's too early for me to have a fully informed opinion, so far I've noticed that if you just hold items in your cart until you reach some kind of threshold (and I admittedly don't know what that is) you can get free shipping anyway.

It's almost like I was paying all that money just so I could one off order anything on a whim. I'm an adult, I can exercise impulse control and stick it to Amazon in some small way by doing it. Win/Win.

There's only 24 hours in a day and I have plenty of things to do other than watch commercial-plagued programming on Amazon.

Ive never understood the dependence on Amazon. It's not even a monopoly, I've never bought anything online that somewhere else didnt also offer the product, usually an online store specializing in that product.

I don't have access to amazon at all, ao don't get the rave about amazon itself either.

The shipping time never bothered me. If I need something urgent I’ll go to the store and get it. Otherwise a week or 2 won’t make a difference.

I canceled my prime subscription when it was announced they would be putting ads on prime video. I don't even use prime video but I cancelled out of principle.

Pro-Tip: If you’re already signed up for prime, you can go to your membership details and cancel auto-renewal OR they allow you to cancel now and will refund whatever they owe you before the renewal date.

One of the final nails in the coffin for me was when I tried to specify the delivery date to a day I would actually be in, and they completely ignored the instruction and delivered immediately. Like, I pay for that option, and you're not delivering the service.

I've also been getting free trials for Prime every so often, so I still get the benefits when I might need them (eg before Christmas). They did make it very hard to cancel, though, half the links didn't work and the instructions were out of date and didn't match the pages.

I've cancelled several years ago because I rarely buy anything online outside of games so it's just not worth it (also Prime Video's selection sucks ass)

The bastards still try to charge me about 4 times a year and I have to do a charge back with my bank.

Also if I ever have to actually buy something through amazon, even if I specifically tell the fuckers not to add prime to my account, they do it anyway.

Fuck Amazon.

I don't even have an Amazon account anymore. If I need something, I just give the money to a friend and have them order it for me. Definitely saves me money because I don't want to go through the hassle of doing that for most things.

I just bought new name brand tires from Amazon for $200 cheaper per tire than my local tire shop was selling them, and about 80 cheaper than other online stores that I checked. Plus free shipping.

Hate Amazon or not, they do still have good deals and free shipping for certain items is huge. Plus they ALWAYS have better selection than any local or big box store.

They started putting commercials on Prime Video.

Nope, not paying for that. Certainly not paying EXTRA to remove 'em. Dick rocket Jeff can go eat shit.