• As any satisfied Prime member will tell you, trying to reach an order minimum or paying extra for shipping seems like a lot of extra work when you can simply receive your order within one or two days for free.
  • Without a Prime membership, you must reach an order minimum of $25 to get free shipping. For same-day delivery, you could pay up to an extra $9.98 per item.
  • While free shipping isn’t the only perk of a Prime membership, it’s certainly one of the best.
  • You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Prime to start saving on shipping costs and enjoying other benefits now.
  • In addition to free shipping year-round, a Prime membership will give you access to exclusive deals on Prime Day. The shopping event happens in mid-July, but get a head start with our current coverage.

The convenience of shopping for anything you want online and having your order delivered right to your door means it's very likely you haven't stepped foot in a retail store in a long time.

Fast shipping is the not-so-secret secret to Amazon's success, and for Prime members, they love the site even more because the fast shipping is also free. Prime members have their pick of a variety of free shipping options when they shop on Amazon:

  • Free Two-Day Shipping: on eligible items to addresses in the contiguous U.S.
  • Free Same-Day Delivery: in eligible zip codes.
  • Prime Now: free two-hour delivery on thousands of items.
  • Free Release-Date Delivery: on eligible pre-order items delivered on their release date to zip codes within the continental U.S.
  • Free No-Rush Shipping: can take up to six business days, but gives instant discounts or rewards for future purchases.

I personally never understood how helpful these options were until I finally got a Prime membership and experienced them for myself. I've been able to get cheap textbooks for class so I didn't immediately fall behind on the syllabus, send gifts to friends and family on important dates and holidays, and re-stock on home essentials upon realizing I just used the last roll of toilet paper - all in an impressively short period of time.

Free, fast shipping is just one reason why I've kept my Prime membership. I've admittedly forgotten that it can be less-than-fun to spend more than I'd like in order to reach an order minimum or to add an extra $5 to $10 to my bill.

Non-Prime members have to order at least $25 of eligible items to get free shipping, and they're not guaranteed to receive their order within two days. Order less than $25 and an additional fee, which depends on the shipment weight and selected shipping speed, will be tacked on.

If you want same-day delivery, you could pay up to $9.98 per item, whereas for Prime members same-day delivery is free for orders over $35 and up to $5.99 per item for orders under $35.

It's not the end of the world to wait a few extra days for your order or to pay the occasional additional fee, but life is also that much easier when you don't have to do either. And since a Prime membership is much more than free, fast shipping, you'd get to enjoy many other benefits that make the membership more than worth its price.

To try out Prime commitment-free, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial here and take advantage of free two-day and same-day shipping.

Check out all of our Amazon Prime Day 2020 coverage: