Amazon
Now that summer is approaching, shoppers are starting to wonder when Amazon Prime Day 2024? The highly anticipated sales extravaganza promises some of the best prizes of the year. Below you will find all the information you need to prepare for the big shopping event.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2024?
Amazon has not yet released the official dates Prime Day 2024, but anticipation is building for another spectacular shopping event. Based on previous years, shoppers can expect Prime Day 2024 to kick off sometime in mid-July.
In 2023, Prime Day took place on Tuesday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 12, with thousands of deals across all categories. If Amazon sticks to the tradition of starting this big event on Tuesday, we’ll likely see similar dates for this year’s event.
If you want to stay up to date on the ins and outs of Prime Day, stay tuned to CBS Essentials for all the important news and deals. You can also find out more through our explanation: What is Amazon Prime Day?
Is Amazon Prime Still Worth Paying For?
Prime Video
Yes, in most cases the net benefits outweigh the costs. If you’re still unsure, we’ve listed the biggest benefits below and how often you should use them to make the monthly cost worth it.
Free shipping and fast delivery
If you order products from Amazon several times a month, that alone is worth keeping your Prime membership. The only other way you can get free shipping on Amazon is if your orders total more than $35. Otherwise, you’ll need to pay $6.99 for standard shipping (prices may vary by zip code).
Conversely, if you place three orders per month for less than $35 per order, the shipping cost without Prime ($7 base) will be more than the monthly cost of Prime with ad-free Prime Video ($18).
Even if your monthly orders are over $35 (qualifying for free shipping without Prime), the one-, two-, or even same-day delivery you get with Prime is worth it. You won’t find faster shipping times at most other retailers.
The result: If you often rely on Amazon for everyday purchases or bargains, such as competitively priced household suppliesor if you just like the convenience of getting your orders in quickly, keep Prime.
Grocery delivery with Whole Foods
Amazon owns Whole Foods, so your Prime membership includes benefits you can use at the grocery chain. Prime offers you some in-store discounts, but the main draw is grocery delivery. You can only get groceries delivered from Whole Foods if you have a Prime account. If Whole Foods is your grocery store of choice and delivers groceries to you often, especially weekly, your Amazon Prime account is worth it.
Prescription benefits
Amazon’s Rx Pass lets you get select medications for a flat fee of $5 per month. Prime also lets you get two-day free shipping on prescriptions purchased through Amazon Pharmacy, which is better than waiting in line for 20 minutes at the IRL pharmacy. Plus, Prime lets you compare prescription prices from over 60,000 pharmacies, saving you up to 80% off your medications. If you rely on these types of discounts to save on more expensive prescriptions, it’s worth keeping Amazon Prime.
Prime Day deals
If you shop on Amazon’s Prime Days every year, keep your membership. Prime Day discounts are exclusive to Prime members. This is Amazon’s biggest sales event and guarantees some of the best discounts the site advertises all year round. Not only that, but Prime members get exclusive discounts on the site every day, as well as 30 minutes of early access to Lightning Deals (these deals can last anywhere from 30 minutes to a whole day). The amount of money you save on these deals could easily equal (or exceed) the cost of your monthly Amazon Prime membership.
Prime Day 2024 has yet to be announced, but based on previous years’ timing, we expect it to happen sometime in mid-July 2024.
Is Prime Video Still Worth It?
Prime Video
We think so. In case you didn’t know, Prime Video now includes ads, and the only way to opt out of (most) commercials is to pay an additional $2.99 per month. If you choose to pay the extra fee, that would bring Amazon Prime to almost $18 per month. While any price increase is inconvenient, we think paying the extra cost could be worth it for some users.
Prime Video members get access to tens of thousands of movies and TV shows, including hit TV shows from Amazon Originals like “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and the Emmy-winning “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ and ‘Fleabag’. You can also stream Oscar-nominated films including “Manchester By The Sea” and “Sound Of Metal”.
Additionally, Prime Video offers ad-free ($17.98) comparable to other popular streaming services with ad-free options, including Netflix (from $15.49 to $22.99 per month) and Hulu ($17.99 per month).
If you want to go ad-free, you can make that change in your Prime Account account settings or the Prime Video app on Fire TVs, smart TVs, gaming consoles, and set-top boxes. Ad-free, however, does not include trailers shown before a movie or TV show (you can skip these), nor does it exclude ads from live events, including sports, whatever you watch on Amazon Freevee, or any third-party streaming service you to your Amazon account (which is not an ad-free subscription).
Amazon didn’t specify on their site exactly how many ads you can expect if you opt out of ad-free, but they said you can expect them before and during playback. The Wall Street Journal reports that the average ad load per hour is expected to be between two and three and a half minutes.
If you’re strongly against ads and someone who uses their Prime Video every week to find movies and TV shows to watch, it’s worth keeping the streaming service and upgrading to ad-free. But if the extra $2.99 for Prime Video Ad Free turns you off — which is understandable if you subscribe to multiple streaming services that can cost upwards of $45 or more monthly — consider sticking with the streaming services with ads and see how you you adapt.
People who use Prime Video only once or twice a month may find that they can live without it. If you want to watch a specific series or some movies on Prime, you can always let the streaming service watch it and then cancel it.
