9 Benefits to Amazon Prime Beyond 2-Day Shipping

Amazon Prime is so much more than free 2-day shipping. If you thought it wasn't worth it before, you may want to take another look at all of the money saving options available.

I wasn't always a fan of Amazon Prime. When it was first introduced I didn't see the benefit to paying $99 a year for free shipping, especially since I didn't think I spent that much in shipping costs. Since it's incarnation, though, Amazon Prime has expanded it's offerings to include a lot more than just free expedited shipping.

Beyond 2-day shipping, Amazon Prime offers:

1. Multiple free delivery options:

• No Rush Rewards—If you don't need your package delivered in two days, Amazon will give you credit towards online content if you opt for the longer delivery times. Granted, 2-day delivery is a godsend around birthdays and holidays (we recouped our yearly subscription cost in free deliveries alone), but the No-Rush Rewards can come in handy.
• Release Date Delivery—Choose Release-Date Delivery at checkout on qualified items, and your package will be delivered on the release day by 7pm. No more waiting in line. No other retailer can really compete with this.
• Prime Now Delivery—for those in areas where it's available, you can get free one- and two-hour delivery on thousands of items.

2. Video streaming:

• Prime Video—like Netflix or Hulu, Prime Video allows you to stream thousands of movies and TV shows for free. (Unlike Netflix and Hulu, not all of Amazon's streaming videos are free—BUT for the price, it's not a bad set of offerings, AND you generally don't have to wait a year to view Amazon's selection.)

See how Amazon Prime compares to Netflix, Hulu.

3. Free streaming music:

• Prime Music—like Pandora, Prime Music streams music to your smart devices (phones, tvs, etc.). Your Prime subscription gets you limited access (to 2 million or so songs), ad free. If you're paying for another music streaming service, you might think about switching over to save money.

Read how Amazon Prime Music stacks up to Spotify, Pandora, and Slacker.

4. Free eBooks & audio books

• Kindle First—1 free editor's pick book a month (you can choose from 6 upcoming/new titles).
• Prime Reading—Enjoy unlimited reading on any device, with over a thousand books, magazines, books with Audible narration, comics, articles, Kindle Singles, and more. 
• Amazon Audible Channels—Unlimited listening to original audio series and Prime exclusive audiobooks. (You'll have to download the free app.)

5. Free photo storage

• Prime Photos—Free unlimited photo storage for you and five others . If your Dropbox or Google Drive is getting full, consider using Amazon's unlimited storage for those selfies and family shots.
• Amazon Drive—Amazon also gives you 5GB of storage for videos, apps, and music.

6. Free online video games & box game discounts

• Twitch Prime—for the gamers. Get free game content every month, ad-free Twitch viewing, Twitch Channel Subscription, discounts on new release box games, plus loads more.

7. Discounts for the family

• Prime Pantry—For a flat shipping fee of $5.99, you can order up to 45 lbs. of "every day sized" goods and have it shipped to your home. The prices are comparable to the store and you can easily use your manufacturer coupons. On top of that, Prime Pantry has coupons available only to Prime members. (And right now, if you buy 5 items—shipping is free.)
• Amazon Family—Save up to 20% on diaper subscriptions and other tot-related items.

8. Free trials

• Washington Post—6 month free subscription (digital access only).
• Amazon Free-Time Unlimited—1 month free trial. $2.99 a month after that. For families with younger kids, this gives you unlimited access to 13,000 kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games.
• Amazon Channels—7-day free trial. $8.99 a month after that. Only for Prime members. Sign up for a free trial for over 80 premium networks including HBO, SHOWTIME and STARZ. Cancel anytime. This is a good deal if you're considering canceling your cable but don't want to miss your favorite shows on HBO, Showtime, or STARZ. At $8.99 a month, this will cost you $108 annually in addition to the Amazon Prime subscription of $99 a year. If you're used to paying $1,200 a year for cable, then perhaps a $207 annual bill might be enough to entice you to take the leap and cut the cable.

9. Discounted upgrades on other subscription services

• Music Unlimited—If Prime Music isn't enough for you, you can subscribe to Amazon's Music Unlimited service which has access to tens-of-millions of songs. 
• $3.99/mo.—Alexa, Echo, & Tap device owners can subscribe for $3.99 a month. 
• $7.99/mo.—If you don't own one of those devices, your subscription will cost you $7.99 a month (that's discounted from $9.99 for non-Prime members)—or if you pay for the full year, it will only cost you $79 (a discount of $16 over the monthly Prime rate). 
• $14.99/mo.—Families can subscribe for $14.99 a month and include up to six family members (that's a cost of $2.50 a month per person)—or you can pay for the full year at the discounted price of $149 (essentially giving you two months free).

(As a comparison, Pandora Plus costs $4.99 a month and Pandora Premium costs $9.99 a month)

If you don't already have a Prime account and you're interested in one, you can sign up for Amazon Prime here.*

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Note: since originally writing this, Amazon has dropped it's non-Prime member threshold for free shipping from $39 to $25 (in order to compete with Walmart). If you're only using Amazon Prime for its free 2-day shipping, it may be enticing to drop Prime altogether and save $100 / year.

If, however, you're also using Prime for its streaming content, this new bit of information may have little effect on your decision.

*Just FYI, this is an affiliate link.