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After nine years of free shipping and Amazon perks, the company is raising the price of its Prime membership by $20 ($10 for students). Existing Prime members will pay $99 annually, while Amazon Student members will pay $49. (Prime Fresh members will still pay $299, so whew!)
In an email sent out to existing members, Amazon pointed to the rising cost of shipping, plus the improved service over the years, which has come to include access to a streaming video platform and a lending library on Kindle in addition to deals on shipping. The company has some sort of fancy music streaming service in the works and world domination should follow shortly thereafter. Also, they're putting in place systems that would improve shipping speed by predicting what you order, so the lesson here is that sometimes convenience is creepy and more expensive.
· Amazon Prime and Amazon Student Prime Membership Fee Changes [Amazon]
· Amazon Can Ship You Things Before You Purchase Them [Racked]
· Amazon Seeks to Bring J.Crew, Ralph Lauren to its Site [Racked]
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