Amazon Day lets you schedule all of your deliveries to arrive on a certain day of the week. Rather than dealing with a box or two at a time on multiple days, you can get one package with all of your orders on whichever day you prefer. If you use Amazon Day, you aren’t locked in. That means if you’re ordering something you need quickly, you can still opt for the fastest shipping method. Amazon Day is a good way to cut back on the cardboard (and the carbon footprint).
Prime Now
This benefit isn’t available everywhere, but it’s convenient if you have access. Prime Now is a separate website or app that lets you shop for local delivery in as little as an hour. I’ve used it when I was traveling without a hoodie and it got unexpectedly cold outside. Two hours and $20 later, I had a new sweatshirt, all without leaving the couch. Depending on where you live, Prime Now might be more of a Whole Foods delivery service, but either way you’ll get your order quickly.
Exclusive Deals
Prime members are eligible for special members-only discounts. This might mean a few bucks off your portable charger purchase, or a 20 percent off coupon to use on whatever pet food you want. Individual price drops vary, but we see these sorts of deals pretty often.
Early-Access Lightning Deals
Both during and outside of special events like Prime Day and Black Friday, Prime members get early access to select Lightning Deals. You will be able to shop 30 minutes before other customers. Whether Lightning Deals are worth your money is another discussion entirely, but it’s a perk that may be worth checking out.
No-Rush Rewards
If you don’t need your order to arrive right away, sometimes at checkout you’ll see the option for free No-Rush Shipping. Usually, choosing No-Rush Shipping gets you a free $1 digital credit to use on things like ebooks, digital games, movies, and the like. Sometimes the rewards expire after a certain duration.
I’ve used No-Rush credits to get as much as $10 off digital games on release day. Since videogame discounts are rare, especially right after they’re released, this can be lucrative if you time it correctly.
Amazon Fresh and Prime Pantry
Amazon Fresh lets you order groceries via Amazon and get them delivered to your door. It’s not available in all areas, but it is a different way to shop if you’re trying to avoid trips to the store. You also get a selection of products from Whole Foods available through Amazon Fresh. My mom uses Amazon Fresh to ship groceries to my student brother, in the hope that he eats at least one vegetable that’s not a part of a pizza.
If you’d rather not shop at Amazon for fresh ingredients, Prime Pantry focuses on shelf-stable staples in sizes that you’d find at the store. Simply fill up your box and it’ll ship for free if it’s worth $35 or more. There are almost always coupons available for Prime Pantry items, too, so you may find that using this method is cheaper than shopping in-person.
Since Amazon bought Whole Foods a few years back, you can usually find picks from Whole Foods store brands within Amazon’s grocery services. It’s a good way to try something new or stock up on things you already like.
Amazon First Reads
Each month, Prime members can check out Amazon First Reads. They can get two Kindle books from the selection for free. Non-Prime members can get their two books for $2 apiece.
