Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Web

You’re about to pay more for Amazon Prime

Phil Nickinson
By

Amazon announced in its quarterly earnings call today that the cost of Amazon Prime is going to increase for the first time since 2018. Starting February 18, 2022, for new sign-ups — and effective after March 25, 2022, for current members when their next renewal comes around — the monthly fee for the Prime will increase by $2 to $15. Yearly memberships will increase $20 to $139.

“Amazon also continues to invest heavily in Prime,” the company said in its earnings release. “In the last few years, Amazon has added more product selection available with fast, free, unlimited Prime shipping; more exclusive deals and discounts; and more high-quality digital entertainment, including TV, movies, music, and books.”

An Amazon worker boxes up products.
Amazon

Amazon Prime is the subscription that covers all kinds of services from Amazon, including the illusion of faster shipping, a basic plan for Amazon Prime Music, loads of free original shows and movies on Amazon Prime Video (as well as other content from other providers), books, gaming and more.

Recommended Videos

While no one on the consumer side of things is going to be excited to see the price increase, Amazon notes that it’s tripled the amount of Amazon Originals on Prime Video in the past three years, same-day delivery nearly doubled to more than 90 metropolitan areas in the United States, and there’s been a more than 50 percent increase in the number of products available for free Prime shipping.

Related

More on Amazon Prime

Amazon’s stock saw a double-digit increase in after-hours trading on Thursday on the news of the Amazon Prime price increase.

Amazon Prime was birthed in 2005 with a $79 annual fee as a way to get “free” two-day shipping and discounted one-day shipping. The price increased to $99 a year in March 2014. That price held until May 2018, when it increased to $119.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
Section Editor, Audio/Video
Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…
Amazon to shed thousands more workers in ‘next few weeks’
Amazon logo on the headquarters building.

Amazon will shed 9,000 workers in the coming weeks, according to a memo sent to staff by CEO Andy Jassy on Monday.

The layoffs follow the company’s decision in November to slash its workforce by 18,000, meaning Amazon will soon have lost 27,000 workers in a matter of months.

Read more
Amazon closing 8 of its high-tech pay-and-go stores
Amazon go sign.

Amazon is closing eight of its Go stores as part of its latest effort to streamline its brick-and-mortar retail operations.

Affected stores include two in New York City, four in San Francisco, and two in Amazon’s home city of Seattle. All eight will close their doors by April 1, according to a GeekWire report.

Read more
Amazon starts drone delivery trials in California and Texas
Amazon's delivery drone carrying a package.

Amazon has launched drone delivery trials in a couple of new locations in California and Texas.

David Carbon, vice president of Prime Air Amazon, announced the development on LinkedIn. His post included a photo (below) showing one of its drones carrying a small box on the end of a tether.

Read more