Amazon Prime Video Commercials

[jwlv]

Amazon states, "... starting in early 2024, Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements."

"Ads in Prime Video content will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year."

Limited advertisements? Of course it's limited. What's the alternative? Unlimited advertisements? But they could show 45 minutes of commericials on a 60 minute show. That's still limited. Kind of redundant to even say the advertisements will be limited.

[renegade600]

Starts the end of January in the US.   I dumped prime several years ago.   No real reason to subscribe to prime video since you can basically find the same shows and movies on other free and legal services.   Just won't get the original content. 

As far as shipping, get faster shipping from Target, Walmart and other major retailers with minimum purchase than from amazon with prime.   

All amazon is doing is pushing customers away. 

[jwlv]

I've been a Prime subscriber since it was $79/year. It is now $139/year. I am contemplating to cancel when my year is up in Novemeber. But still several more months to go before I decide.

[scottrods]

I've been a prime subscriber for a long long time as well... However, I am kind of locked in on their "service" as I have everyone in my household "hooked" on Amazon online Shopping. I am 59 years old and the youngest in the crowd, so I'm not thinking it would be a great idea to uproot the 85 and 87 yr old people from what they know in the tech world... Sadly, I'm not able to just up and change without some major backlash.

If it were just me, I'd have already dumped them long ago. But I also would be done with Walmart as well. I had a horrific incident with them over their self check-out only crap... so we don't shop with Walmart any longer. Screw 'em. Target is so WOKE, I hate going there... where else to go? Aldi I guess... actually we have found a Winco to buy groceries. But they don't offer online services and delivery currently... so cash and go is our grocery thing since Winco doesn't take credit cards... But I do Have good experience with Alexa and her group of products I own... Shopping Amazon still has some conveniences I can't beat. But often times I find the same items cheaper elsewhere.

[renegade600]

I've been a prime subscriber for a long long time as well... However, I am kind of locked in on their "service" as I have everyone in my household "hooked" on Amazon online Shopping. I am 59 years old and the youngest in the crowd, so I'm not thinking it would be a great idea to uproot the 85 and 87 yr old people from what they know in the tech world... Sadly, I'm not able to just up and change without some major backlash.

If it were just me, I'd have already dumped them long ago. But I also would be done with Walmart as well. I had a horrific incident with them over their self check-out only crap... so we don't shop with Walmart any longer. Screw 'em. Target is so WOKE, I hate going there... where else to go? Aldi I guess... actually we have found a Winco to buy groceries. But they don't offer online services and delivery currently... so cash and go is our grocery thing since Winco doesn't take credit cards... But I do Have good experience with Alexa and her group of products I own... Shopping Amazon still has some conveniences I can't beat. But often times I find the same items cheaper elsewhere.

so far, been lucky with the self checkout at Walmart, though I came close a couple of times in missing a scan.    It is scan and go that got me.    Got tired of the associate watching the self checkouts locking the terminal on me because I would bag as I shopped and they wanted to see what I got, wanting me to rescan everything.    I actually think they were just harassing me.   No longer a w+ member because of that.   

Like you, I still find Amazon convenient for some things, expecially alexa devices, just got tired of paying prime for nothing since for me, it was never two day shipping, even though I lived within a couple of hours of several distribution centers.   

[scottrods]

My FB post about my Walmart experience...

Well... Walmart finally pushed my last little bit of patience over the edge this morning... Took an hour out of my morning to shop and find all the things we needed saving all the cold stuff for last, since we take so long...
Got to the Checkout area and there was ONE cashier (The slowest one they employ on Saturdays, lately), but No big deal... I'll get in line (third in line, she was half done with the front person, and the next person had a small load of groceries to check).
The Cashier was doing her job and the area lead lady comes over and turns off her light and tells her to take her break. And tells us her line is closed. I asked her who would be checking us out, and she told me "I'm sorry, we don't have anyone to cover for her while she's on break." Then proceeds to wander aimlessly around straightening the grocery bags in the self checkout stations and telling people where there's an open self checkout... All the while, there's a guy behind us at one of the self checkout machines, which we have seen as a cashier for the last year or so... over and over. He's helping people self check their groceries... which in my estimation is a waste of time, since it's self checkout. Maybe I just don;t understand the process of self checkout, but we had over 200 dollars worth of groceries, quite a bit of it cold/frozen and produce.
Seeing as no one wanted to do anything but ignore us, I Parked the cart and loudly stated that I was leaving this shit to melt and  they are f#@ked if they think I'm self checking a piled basket of groceries myself... and I left. Went to Tom Thumb and bought the bare necessities for today, since we have a houseful coming to celebrate a late Christmas... I hope the steaks and ice cream go bad sitting there. I hope no one gets sick from the stuff they will probably restock out of the cold stuff.
I swear to God these Corporate behemoths have just ruined the whole system of service for the customer... customers mean nothing, and if I had a local grocer that had everything I needed or have conditioned myself to need, I'd pay 2 times the price for it to avoid that Shi#@hole of a store they call Walmart.
The craziest part of all of this is the fact there were easily two Walmart employees "shopping" to every regular shopper without a 20 stack of orders to fill... In the Produce section of the store, I counted 12 blue coats and a couple of black coat wally employees to me and my wife and 4 others in the whole area... that's 14:5 in employees to non-employees. INSANE

[renegade600]

they were wrong in what they did to you.    The cashier was supposed to finish the line before going on break.    Did you know Walmart is not supposed to put anything that requires refrigeration back if left in the shopping cart?  They are supposed to throw it all away.   

I hope you went to their website and do the feedback thing about them closing the line on you.   

[jwlv]

If they intend to close a line, they should finish every single person in the line before they close. Any additional people that get in line afterwards would be told that it is closed. I've never heard of someone being told the line is closed while they were already there.

I've also done what you did. It wasn't Walmart. It was a regional supermarket that has only about a dozen stores. Something got on my nerve and I left an entire cart full of groceries there and made it known that I'm walking out.

[jwlv]

According to Reuters: "Amazon.com will lay off several hundred employees in its streaming and studio operations, it said in an internal note on Wednesday as companies extend their massive job cuts over the past two years into 2024."
Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-lay-off-employees-prime-video-studios-divisions-information-2024-01-10/

In my opinion many of these streaming providers are spending way too much on creating their own content. Think how much cash Amazon burned in creating the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series? They only got one season completed. I watched the entire first season when it came out. I thought it was rather boring and very long and drawn out. Am I dying to see season 2? Nah, I can take it or leave it. But what's the point of making their own content? Is it to get more subscribers? Is it to keep current subscribers from cancelling? To me, it had zero effect on my decision to subscribe or not subscribe to Prime. Yet they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it. According to Entrepreneur magazine, they spent nearly $1 Billion dollars on it.

There would be far less risk for Amazon to just license content from other studios that are known hit shows & movies.

[scottrods]

Maybe the whole idea is to make tons of cash from future licensing? I can't see any benefit in this crap either... I'm sure there's a reason. Just not quite straight forward.

[Joachim47]

The money is in returned sales to prime users who believe they are saving money while prime rate continues to go up. The little side benefits are all only to keep he and she buying staff on their site. Starting to become more selective of what I buy where since the price differences are not always in amazons favor and urgency is sometimes an excuse rather than a reality of need.