There is good news and bad news on the Amazom Mom front. The good news is going to be for those of you that are new to the program. The bad news is going to be mostly for those of us that are already members.
So to start with the bad news:
Starting on January 24, 2012, the maximum discount available on diapers and wipes subscriptions will be 20%. This includes a 5% Subscribe & Save discount plus an additional 15% exclusively for Amazon Mom members who are earning free shipping benefits or have an active Amazon Prime membership.
So that means the discount will have dropped from 30% to 25% (that was a few months ago) and now if you have Prime you get 20% off. If you do not have Prime, you get 5% off.
So now the hard choice because if you rely on Amazon Mom for diaper deals, you will need to decide if you want to buy Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime is priced at $79 per year which breaks down to $6.58 per month. Besides the extra diaper savings, you also get these benefits with membership:
- FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items.
- Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of videos with a wide range of content for the whole family, including Sesame Street and Phineas and Ferb.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.
- Membership sharing benefits: invite up to four household members to share your shipping benefits for free.
- One day shipping is $3.99.
I actually treated myself to Prime as a birthday present. I haven’t had it in a long time and the ability to get any order I want shipped free (like $2 Crayons) vs. having to spend $25 each time for free shipping is what made it worthwhile to me. I order a lot from Amazon. I also like the free 2 day shipping upgrade. I order quite a few books to read on my Kindle- so the other deciding factor was getting free books to read. I usually pay $6-13 per book so that sort of offset the cost in my mind.
Now one important thing is that if you happen to be a college student you can get Prime for $39. So that breaks down to $3.25 per month which is a great deal.
Now if you only use Amazon for diapers- especially if you only have one kiddo in diapers- this might not be worth the investment.
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The good news is that many people that have tried to sign up recently have been wait listed. It sounds to me like they will be opening the wait list up for new members.
They will also provide a free 3 month membership to Amazon Prime in addition to the 20% discount. If I am reading this correctly, those of you that are new will only get the 20% savings for that 3 month period. After that the savings will be either 5% or will continue if you do purchase Prime.
You can learn more about Amazon Mom here.
So, while this is a shame to see the discount change I guess many of us can be happy that were were able to get the great deals for so long!
Thanks for the info! I have been trying to decide what to do. I use it primarily for diapers, which has been so nice because I get Amazon money from various surveys and Swagbucks. I also buy the Pampers instead of store brand, which I prefer because the price ends up being equal or less. I occasionally get subscribe and save deals on other things too, like diaper cream and Pop Chips! A case of diapers lasts more than a month, and my youngest *should* potty train by the end of this year (he’s 3 in June!), but then what if we have another baby?
Decision, decisions!
Hi Charlene I don’t think this is accurate unless I am reading wrong….I am an Amazon mom member but ‘lost’ my free shipping benefits a long time ago as they ‘ran out’. But still for diapers/wipes If I use subscribe and save to get diapers I still get 20% off plus free shipping. That is the way that I understood it when I read the update too. I just went to go check it out and ‘order’ some and yes-it gives me 20% off plus free shipping on diapers/wipes and a few other things that qualifies when an amazon mom member. (includes if it is less then 25.00 so if my diaper total is 18.00 before subscribe and save I still get the 20% off and free shipping-just for being an amazon mom member).
So I don’t think being an amazon prime member will get you any more diaper deal benefits. I just wanted to clear that up. any questions-just holler!
(you do not get the ‘prime’ benefits after that trial period so you would not get free shipping on like-crayons-as mentioned-if you don’t sign up for prime after those 3 months, BUT you do still get free shipping+20% on the diapers)
I don’t understand what you are saying Julie. Can you tell me what is incorrect? I said I paid for Prime and I said if you do buy the Prime membership you get free shipping on all orders regardless of the cost. I used crayons for an example. To clarify again, that is if you pay the $76 for the annual service which I personally did that. I said why I decided to pay for it in the post.
The changes won’t take place until 1/24. If you are doing some ordering today it is 1/20 so the changes don’t take place for a few more days.
Also, I don’t think you lost your benefits. When people signed up they offered a trial of the free Prime service. I don’t recall them ever offering that as an indefinite thing. It was always a 3 month trial offer so you did get exactly what they said which was a free trial and then the trial period ended so your free shipping ended with it.
Charlene…. I believe you are correct.
Julie- Amazon Mom will no longer be free. That is what they are changing. You will have to be an Amazon Prime member in order to get the diaper discounts anymore.
I got this e-mail a few days ago and am bummed. I use mostly cloth diapers during the day, however I do use a disposable at night and appreciated getting a case of diapers for cheap delivered right to me when necessary.
Because I have not joined Prime, my e-mail stated “Since your free shipping benefits have ended and you have not yet joined Amazon Prime, the additional 15% Amazon Mom discount on diapers and wipes subscriptions will expire on January 24, 2012 .” So maxed out my kids budget for the next 3 months and ordered one more case in sizes Newborn-4 just to have on hand for future use. After those are gone, I guess I’ll have to trudge to a store with coupons in hand to find a good deal *gasp* 🙂
While I am “ok” with their decision to change their program since ultimately its my decision on whether to continue giving them business. I am very upset that they have basically already made the changes despite the start date not being until the 24th. I got this email several days ago and immediately tried to send an extra delivery to buy me time to make a decision. They have disabled the “Extra Delivery” function. I was actually still receiving the 30% discount because I hadn’t cancelled my subscription before they dropped from 30% to 20% several months ago. This early move on their part makes my emotions say “no way to Amazon and Prime”, but I have to force myself to look at it logically.
Jessica, can you order another brand of diaper?
My free prime from buying diapers and wipes ended in december. I always buy on amazon because i also save the 8% tax. My hubby wanted to get me prime for my bday(last week) so he got me a $100 gift card. After applying it to my account, I went to order it and it automatically charged the $79 to my debit card. It didn’t even give me a confirmation page! And i don’t have the one click setting on.
I started a customer service chat and he said they don’t accept GCs for payment. I explained that that was my only way to pay and that i didnt have the money on my debit card. He said “thats ok, it got declined.” Then he told me it is showing I have a year of prime. Well, I said if it is showing that then it will try to charge my account till the $79 goes through and he said ” oh, no! that wont happen!!”
One week later, amazon is still showing me as a prime member and today they deducted $79 out of my account! I am so annoyed because I knew this exact thing would happen!
So my birthday present ended up costing $179. Will it get used? Of course- but sad to say we did not have the extra money to spend.
This is very disappointing about Amazon Mom, but I have found great deals at totalhomecaresupplies.com Their top brand is called Cuties diapers and I buy the case for economy’s sake and a better deal. Cuties diapers contain aloe and chamomile built right in to the material and they are super absorbent! There’s a monthly coupon when you sign up for the email newsletter that helps me save even more and I LOVE IT!
http://www.totalhomecaresupplies.com/ProductList.aspx?CategoryName=INCONTINENCE_BRIEFS_YOUTH
Charlene, Would there be an advantage to ordering another brand of diapers? I’m not sure why you’re asking, and I don’t mean that in a rude way at all, I’m just completely drawing a blank at what you might be getting at. I managed to play with my subscription enough that it now says my next shipment will be delivered on or before Feb 1st, which because I don’t have free 2-day shipping means they should ship by the 24th, which would be before the discount changes. But I have no idea how to know when they will ship.
Well you can’t get an extra pack because you are set up with subscribe and save right? So cancel the subscribe and save and start a new order? You should still get the discount right?
well, yes, I could just cancel and reorder but I wouldn’t get the 30% that I have continued getting because I had a continuing subscribe and save when they lowered to 20%. however, it would give me one last 20% discount as opposed to only 5%. I think I am going to wait until Monday, the 23rd, see if they ship my subscribe and save, if they don’t I will cancel it and just reorder at 20% discount. If they do ship, I will cancel after it arrives and that gives me a month to make a decision. Right now I am leaning towards a Costco membership, which we had been debating anyway for several items that we seem to go thru non-stop and never have sales. We can’t afford both memberships and I really don’t buy that much on Amazon aside from diapers and kindle books. I know they do the free book a month, but I can do that from my local library too.
I kept my Prime Member ship when they asked me which I preferred a long time ago. We order lots of things from Amazon and it more than pays for itself. Also, you can share a prime membership with other family members (or friends) too. It makes it more than worth it for us!
I order diapers for my sort of grands occasionally and still get the great subscribe & save deals as anyone else. Works for us!
I signed up for amazon prime a few weeks ago after my free trial membership had ended. We have a large family, use a lot of diapers, and buy a lot of things on amazon. Not everything is a deal, you really need to know your prices… but running around town looking for deals on everything is not an option for me. I’ve had more than one experience where I went to Walmart and could not find make-up, or thought the price was too high, but found a deal on Amazon. 🙂 This is a very individual decision, but for larger families it can be a deal…The icing on the cake for me is that I have an amazon credit card ( which gets paid off monthly) and get coupons from them because they give me 3% back on my purchases. If my family were smaller or I had more time to shop around, this might not be such a good deal. I would highly suggest that the readers here take a moment to really add up what you think you are saving by shopping amazon. Mulitiply a month’s worth of savings by 12 and see if it exceeds the $79 fee. 🙂
Blessings,
Lisa
sign the petition so they go back to the way it was
http://www.change.org/petitions/amazoncom-ceo-remove-the-79year-charge-for-amazon-mom-and-restore-the-original-program#share