doit, doit now!

I joined Amazon Prime a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that it’s about the coolest thing in the universe. It costs US$79/year and gives you free two-day shipping on any item that Amazon carries, as well as US$3.99-per-item overnight shipping under the same terms. The only caveat is that the items must be sold directly by Amazon and not by any of the thousands of stores that feed into Amazon (such as Target, Office Depot, etc). You can even extend the privilege to other people in your family, and Amazon is the kind of company that recognizes that families come in all shapes and sizes, so your domestic partner and foster child and psuedo-little-brother count.

It’s already paid for itself in shipping fees. I’ve ordered books, CD’s, appliances, computer equipment, clothes, and gifts for others thus far. It’s incredibly easy to find your item (usually at the substantial Amazon discount), set up your One-Click Shopping™®© settings, and then magically find the item on your doorstep two days later. It’s also had the remarkable effect, which I’m sure is the whole point, of making me rather exclude the non-Amazon merchants from my options. I seriously now go to Amazon first for everything I try to buy, because it’s so easy to just One-Click™®© my way to product-on-my-doorstep bliss.

I highly recommend Amazon Prime for anyone who does any amount of online shopping at all — it will seriously change the way shop!