Amazon Offers Prime Discount to Those on Government Benefits

Megalith

Megalith

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In an effort to make Prime more accessible, Amazon is giving a discount to people who receive food stamps and similar government benefits: $5.99 per month will be all they have to pay for the membership. The regular price for Prime is $99 per year, or $10.99 a month for those who don’t want to pay up front. I was not aware that free shipping and unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows were required to survive. Thanks to cageymaru for this one.

Online leader Amazon is offering a discount on its Prime membership for people who receive government assistance. Amazon says customers who get benefits such as through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, can pay $5.99 per month for membership, which would include free shipping and unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Video. The regular annual membership is $99 per year. But those who cannot afford to pay up front have to pay $10.99 a month for the same benefits.
 
What do you expect from, Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post?

It's very interesting to see how the interests of oligarchs like Bezos, Soros, Zuckerberg, a large proportion of global corporations, the overwhelming majority of the corporate media and a significant portion of the Wall Street elite align perfectly with the p***yhat left. Of particular note is the push to encourage people to become dependent on the government, and expand welfare at all levels, along with open borders.

I'm sure they only want the best for us. I wish I was smart enough to understand the selflessness, goodness and light lying at the heart of these aligned interests.
 
So does this mean Amazon makes greater than $40 profit per Standard Prime user? Or, do they gain some type of tax benefits by providing this.
 
Seventyfive said:
Tough luck for people in Alabama trying to get cheap amazon prime: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/13_alabama_counties_had_85_per.html
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See this is what needs to happen. SNAP is a great program and I spent a couple years in my teens from a SNAP household. But that was just it, it was temporary. My parents split and my mom had to figure out how to do the single mom thing. She found a decent job and has been paying her way since. I'm just fortunate that my years in the Army provides a comfortable living while I finish my Bachelors.
 
Some people have a hard time going to stores because of their disabilities and such people. Is it so hard to understand it's much better for them to stay home and have the things they need delivered to them than walking on a gimp leg, or no leg at all. I swear most people here need to be seriously disabled once in their life. I have Congestive Heart failure and while I'm recovering slowly and able to do a lot of things, that wasn't always the case. Thankfully I had family and thus already had this service and others like it to help me along, but not everyone does, ffs people.
 
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Vercinaigh said:
Some people have a hard time going to stores because of their disabilities and such people. Is it so hard to understand it's much better for them to stay home and have the things they need delivered to them than walking on a gimp leg, or no leg at all. I swear most people here need to be seriously disabled once in their life. I have Congestive Heart failure and while I'm not recovering slowly and able to do a lot of things, that wasn't always the case. Thankfully I had family and thus already had this service and others like it to help me along, but not everyone does, ffs people.
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There is nothing wrong with having things delivered, but does free two day shipping necessitate a need? Does unlimited movies and music? If they stripped some of the things that are accessibility, I'd be all for it.
 
Vercinaigh said:
Some people have a hard time going to stores because of their disabilities and such people. Is it so hard to understand it's much better for them to stay home and have the things they need delivered to them than walking on a gimp leg, or no leg at all. I swear most people here need to be seriously disabled once in their life. I have Congestive Heart failure and while I'm not recovering slowly and able to do a lot of things, that wasn't always the case. Thankfully I had family and thus already had this service and others like it to help me along, but not everyone does, ffs people.
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Then it should be made available to those with disabilities, not simply those on welfare. FFS, use some critical thinking skills (unless that's your disability, in which case forgive me, step away from the keyboard and return to your cognitive therapy session)

Not everyone who is receiving government benefits are disabled, and not all those who are housebound are receiving government benefits.
 
Vercinaigh said:
Some people have a hard time going to stores because of their disabilities and such people. Is it so hard to understand it's much better for them to stay home and have the things they need delivered to them than walking on a gimp leg, or no leg at all. I swear most people here need to be seriously disabled once in their life. I have Congestive Heart failure and while I'm not recovering slowly and able to do a lot of things, that wasn't always the case. Thankfully I had family and thus already had this service and others like it to help me along, but not everyone does, ffs people.
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Yeah but no, the largest users of these services are NOT the disabled. Welfare is largely abused in this country by able bodied and working people who just make up excuses to not have to work. People like this should've decided to stop having children 6 kids ago.
 
At $72/year vs $99/year, it's not what I'd call a huge discount. Amazon already gives students (anyone with a .edu email address actually) a much bigger break at $49/year (and they get the first six months free).

Don't forget, this is part and parcel with Amazon beginning to accept EBT SNAP payments for eligible food items. There's an Amazon/Walmart war going on, and having captive SNAP customers has been a huge boon for Walmart.

On a more practical note, do the math for some people in some areas, and $6/month is probably less than they'd spend for fuel on trips to Walmart or other grocery stores.
 
TheSoldier said:
There is nothing wrong with having things delivered, but does free two day shipping necessitate a need? Does unlimited movies and music? If they stripped some of the things that are accessibility, I'd be all for it.
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You'd be surprised at how many people live in areas with no easy access to grocery stores or shops. Prime gives you an easy way to obtain cheap food and cleaning supplies.

Not saying it's for everyone, and there are legitimate concerns with the state of welfare in this country, but Prime does have a lot of usefulness.
 
Croak said:
At $72/year vs $99/year, it's not what I'd call a huge discount. Amazon already gives students (anyone with a .edu email address actually) a much bigger break at $49/year (and they get the first six months free).

Don't forget, this is part and parcel with Amazon beginning to accept SNAP payments for eligible food items. There's an Amazon/Walmart war going on, and having captive SNAP customers has been a huge boon for Walmart.

On a more practical note, do the math for some people in some areas, and $6/month is probably less than they'd spend for fuel on trips to Walmart or other grocery stores.
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What do you mean "captive" food stamp customers? As far as I can see, every food retailer, gas station, warehouse club, and convenience store takes SNAP now. I love the neon 'We take SNAP!" signs everywhere. The perfect government benefit to corporate bottom line pipeline. Genius, really, if your goal is to "collapse the system by using it against itself".
 
Croak said:
At $72/year vs $99/year, it's not what I'd call a huge discount. Amazon already gives students (anyone with a .edu email address actually) a much bigger break at $49/year (and they get the first six months free).

Don't forget, this is part and parcel with Amazon beginning to accept EBT SNAP payments for eligible food items. There's an Amazon/Walmart war going on, and having captive SNAP customers has been a huge boon for Walmart.

On a more practical note, do the math for some people in some areas, and $6/month is probably less than they'd spend for fuel on trips to Walmart or other grocery stores.
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Yes. And even those on welfare need recreation. This is something that people don't often bring up - to not be miserable, everyone needs access to some way of relaxing at the end of a day. In this case, Prime video makes more sense than having a cable subscription or Netflix, since it's essentially a free feature on top of the fast shipping.
 
It's more people than you'd probably think
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Kinda f'ed up to be targeting the poorer part of the population but i suppose that's what you do when a middle class barely exists, cater products to the poor or to the rich.
 
GlowingGhoul said:
What do you mean "captive" food stamp customers? As far as I can see, every food retailer, gas station, warehouse club, and convenience store takes SNAP now. I love the neon 'We take SNAP!" signs everywhere. The perfect government benefit to corporate bottom line pipeline. Genius, really, if your goal is to "collapse the system by using it against itself".
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People live in areas without major food retailers or even convenience stores. Gas stations aren't exactly where people shop for what to cook for dinner.

For those folks, it's down to either gas money for long-ish drives, or prime. $6 a month for gas doesn't get you a lot of trips to a walmart 10 miles away.
 
TheSoldier said:
There is nothing wrong with having things delivered, but does free two day shipping necessitate a need? Does unlimited movies and music? If they stripped some of the things that are accessibility, I'd be all for it.
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It's not the government giving it away, it's a private corporation. This isn't your tax dollars being abused.

Why the hate on this? A private corporation is trying to help out the people at the bottom of the ladder, and everyone in here seems to hate the idea. 2 day shipping is great if you're stuck at home due to injury or have no money for a car or similar. Some streaming services at a reduced cost might be nice since all the good content has moved off public broadcast. You might as well crap on your local grocery store or other business for feeding the homeless on the weekends.
 
yyv_146 said:
People live in areas without major food retailers or even convenience stores. Gas stations aren't exactly where people shop for what to cook for dinner.

For those folks, it's down to either gas money for long-ish drives, or prime. $6 a month for gas doesn't get you a lot of trips to a walmart 10 miles away.
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I do about 90% of my grocery and staple item shopping at Walmart. Which is 15 miles away, next to a Winn Dixie shopping center where I do the rest of my shopping. 30 miles round-trip. Between there and my house are three convenience stores, and the only shit I buy there is fuel and the occasional drink or snack or emergency six-pack, because it's robbery otherwise.

Now, I'm not on SNAP, but I am a Prime member, and I'd do a LOT more non-food shopping at Walmart if it wasn't for Prime.
 
TheSoldier said:
I'm just fortunate that my years in the Army provides a comfortable living while I finish my Bachelors.
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for·tu·nate
[ˈfôrCH(ə)nət]
ADJECTIVE
  1. favored by or involving good luck or fortune; lucky:

Since you took the initiative to volunteer to serve in the military, along with all the sacrifices and hardships that entails, don't devalue your service by characterizing it as "luck".
 
In my experience, groceries are far more expensive, in general, at Amazon, free shipping or not, than it is at Walmart, K-mart, or Target.
 
Well.......Amazon ain't discounting the product now are they?
 
Taking the "we're subsidizing them" argument out of it, it looks like simply Amazon wants their money, too. I'd do the same. Prime probably costs them little or nothing, despite the added perks, as long as people order stuff. Capitalism.
 
3. materially well-off; prosperous


GlowingGhoul said:
for·tu·nate
[ˈfôrCH(ə)nət]
ADJECTIVE
  1. favored by or involving good luck or fortune; lucky:

Since you took the initiative to volunteer to serve in the military, along with all the sacrifices and hardships that entails, don't devalue your service by characterizing it as "luck".
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Gonna repeat this, the Amazon Prime discount for SNAP members is only $27 annually, or $2.25 per month. Amazon's college student discount is $50/year, or $4.20 (heh!) per month.
 
TripleAgent77 said:
Taking the "we're subsidizing them" argument out of it, it looks like simply Amazon wants their money, too. I'd do the same. Prime probably costs them little or nothing, despite the added perks, as long as people order stuff. Capitalism.
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You're right in that they're merely taking advantage of what's been put before them.

The problem is this is also the outfit that controls one of the most influential media outlets in the country, working in conjunction with a political party, who have all taken the coincidental stance that SNAP should be endlessly expanded. That's where the danger lies.

Amazon $ ----> Washington Post influence ----> Democrats ----> expanded SNAP ----> Amazon$ ----> repeat.
 
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subspeed6 said:
3. materially well-off; prosperous
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The context was that he is 'fortunate to be' prosperous. Not "he's prosperous to be prosperous". Therefore the primary definition of 'luck' was how the word was used. I know the guy is merely being humble, but there's no need. If he hadn't gotten off his ass it would have never happened. (or her, not dismissing the women who serve).
 
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Now ( leaving the flames out of this) I get that amazon is doing it "charity" work here but the problem I see with this is that its incentivizing staying on welfare.
Before everyone flips out look at from this angle....if i'm getting welfare and food stamps whats my motivation to leave welfare at this point? Everyone is just going to start giving handouts to these programs. I don't fault these guys for giving others the opportunity to get the same benefits others do but, when people work hard and pay for the regular rate but someone sitting home gets it for cheaper because they aren't working doesn't that tell you that there is no point to hard work if someone else gets the same benefit without the work? People no longer dream to better themselves they just wait for a handout.
I think that's what some of the other posters who are negative on this are talking about. It just sucks that they get the $60 (or whatever it is) amount versus me paying 100$ because I actually make enough money.
 
You would be surprised what people on the dole spend their money on:

Expensive android/iphones + data plans
Online social networking and video games that can cost a lot of money
Upper tier bandwidth cable packages
Cable TV subscriptions
Netflix/Hulu
Upgraded video cards
Cigarettes/Booze

If I was on gov't assistance, I couldn't justify any of the above. Basic food, utilities, rent, insurance would be what I was focused on. Everything else goes towards a rainy day fund.

I see why they do it though. All the above "Extras" are a form of escapement from their life.
 
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SomeoneElse said:
Now ( leaving the flames out of this) I get that amazon is doing it "charity" work here but the problem I see with this is that its incentivizing staying on welfare.
Before everyone flips out look at from this angle....if i'm getting welfare and food stamps whats my motivation to leave welfare at this point?.
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You're seriously stating that a $27 per year savings will prevent people from looking for productive work?
 
Croak said:
You're seriously stating that a $27 per year savings will prevent people from looking for productive work?
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All the little pieces added together add up to a lot.

Section 8, WIC, CHIP, Food Stamps, welfare, tax breaks, Medicaid, specialty payments to single mothers, Pell grants to single parents who want to reeducate, etc, etc

I wouldn't call for an end to welfare. But it's painfully obvious some people game the system to their own benefit. And some people don't know any better because they were raised in poverty and expect the same for themselves.
 
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