Amazon Prime for Cat Owners: Is It Worth It?
As many of you know, I like to hunt for good deals. I also shop regularly on Amazon because of the free Amazon gift cards I get online.
Benefits of Amazon Prime:
Are you familiar with Amazon.com’s program, Amazon Prime? It is a “membership” type of program where you pay a fee once a year for these and many more benefits:
- FREE Two-Day Delivery on millions of items, sometimes it’s FREE One-Day Delivery or even FREE Same-Day Delivery in select areas
- Fast Grocery Delivery – You can get grocery delivery in 2 hours
- Prescription Delivery and Savings
- Instant access to video streaming (many popular shows and movies are included with prime)
- Unlimited Music streaming
- Unlimited photo storage
- Flat-fee grocery deliveries from their Prime Pantry program
- Get early access to deals, before other customers access them
Amazon Prime is a once a year fee.
If you’re a pet owner there are a lot of benefits to Amazon Prime – like free 2-day shipping on the majority of the items Amazon sells without having to meet any dollar amount requirement in your cart (i.e., you don’t have to spend $49, for example, to snag free shipping).
Ordering cat litter, for example, keeps you from having to go to the store, load it in your cart, load it in your car, unload it from your car, etc. Rather, it’s delivered to your front door and it’s usually at a lower price point (and sometimes with no tax (depending on the state you live in)). So it can save you time and money.
“Prime Day” has deals that rival Black Friday.
Try Amazon Prime for Free for 30 Days
Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial:
I did do a free trial last year, so I could watch some of the shows that Amazon had. I also took advantage of the free 2-day shipping without a spending threshold. It was weird as I had always been used to ordering a certain amount on Amazon to get their free Super Saver shipping. You are charged the full price after the 30-day free trial is over.
Many people on the couponing boards that I follow love having Prime and have found that it pays for itself. For example, Amazon will give you a music credit if you want to forego your free 2-day shipping, for example. Those music credits, which can be used for free downloads, can add up.
My younger brother and his wife have it, and they love it for their cat product needs as well as baby needs. They order their diapers from Amazon, cat litter, cat food and more. My cousins have it and swear by it.
Do you have Amazon Prime? Why or why not? If you do, do you use it for pet supplies? How has it been worth it for you?
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,
I’ve been an Amazon Prime member for many years, but I am not renewing when my current membership expires later this month. Lately I haven’t been ordering as much, and nothing seems to come within 2 days. I do use subscribe and save for cat food and other things – if you have 5 items, you get 15% off and free shipping (don’t have to be a Prime member).
I don’t watch Amazon Prime Video (I prefer iTunes/Apple TV/Netflix), and don’t read Kindle books.
I decided to save the $99 and just make sure to combine my purchases to qualify for the free regular shipping. When it was cheaper, it was a better deal. Now, not so much!
How much did it cost when you first signed up for it? I would prefer it to be a monthly fee – then I would be more interested.
When I first signed up, I was in school (2010) and Amazon Student was free for 4 years. After that was up, it was $39 for one year, then went up to $69 and last year is when it jumped up to $99.
Like you, I live in a state that gets charged sales tax, so I order my food/litter from Chewy where I don’t have to pay sales tax.
They do have a monthly Prime option now, it’s $10.99 a month.
I think if I actually got my shipments in 2 days (it’s gotten worse lately) and I didn’t have to pay sales tax, and I watched more video, I’d probably think it was worth it. 🙂
Got it – thanks for sharing!
Jenny! I can’t find where I can start a new comment! I scrolled to the top to the bottom-just in case you don’t get comments-maybe a glitch? MAYBE cause I’m on my phone? First! I want to say I didn’t even try other brushes when we got our London (seal bi color) 2 years ago. I went STRAIGHT to your FAVORITES list and got her the Furminator and the Equine bar thing-can’t remember the name right now. Want to let you know they are awesome!!! The Furminator is the BEST!
(Sad face): She DOES NOT like the Banana catnip toy! She’s weird! LoL! I see she’s not a catnip cat! Dang! Anyway-I got all of that on Amazon! Through my Prime account. I wanted to tell your readers…with these hard times right now…I have seen on their site before, if you carry a State EBT card-like grocery assistance? You get a discounted Prime membership. I haven’t looked it up in awhile. But I would think it would still be there. It’s worth a shot! : )
Oh good, I am so glad you like the brushes – I don’t think you saw the Furminator on my site? I am usually not a fan of the Furminator as it will cut guard hairs and not leave the coat looking very good. However, it will definitely remove fur!!
Can you return or donate the banana? I am really sorry to hear that she didn’t like it! But I am sure a rescue cat would love it, if you can donate it to a shelter.
Best deal around! Love the no hassle free shipping, and access to the videos. It’s my go-to shopping site and NOT been disappointed. It’s convenient, easy, and an amazing bargain.
glad to hear that you are enjoying it. do you watch any of the amazon shows?
Amazon Prime is wonderful. I don’t have to go out and love the 2-day shipping. Get cat food and other products. That said, I do shop around and once in a while, there are better prices somewhere else but usually Amazon Prime is very competitive especially if I need something fast.♥♥♥♥♥
i buy a lot of products on amazon, but don’t usually mess with the amazon pantry stuff. do you use it much for that?
I, too, am very pleased with Prime! Although I haven’t purchased cat food or litter online, I do buy many other items from Amazon, most recently cat fountain filters. Free two-day shipping is a great benefit, and I even get a free e-book for my Kindle every month.
Having heavy items like cat litter delivered is wonderful for many pet owners. I highly recommend Amazon Prime!
Thanks for your feedback, Beth – is there a reason you don’t buy litter or cat food online? As a KS resident, I am taxed by Amazon for my purchases (because Amazon has a warehouse in KS, so we are taxed), but my sister in MO doesn’t pay tax for her Amazon shipments. So I would definitely buy my litter on Amazon if that was the case, so I don’t have to haul it to my house and pay tax on it.
I”m a happy Prime member. I use it for lots of household items. With the cost of gas and traffic in the SF Bay Area I think it saves me money over the year! I use their Subscription service to have staples like batteries, refills for my electric toothbrush, and Whole Life Treats (most important) shipped on a regular basis, so I don’t run out. Click and forget is my motto. I’m sure the UPS guy and mail person think I never leave the house since they’re constantly delivering. But, I do get out- just for more fun things than buying batteries!
Forgot to mention- I also support a local Animal Rescue by using the Amazon Smile program they offer. Portion of all orders go to the rescue. Win/Win.
ACK! Yes, I should have included that part – thanks, Lynn! Here’s my post on that –
I have often thought about that – if I lived in a bigger city, I would buy nearly everything I could online to avoid heavy traffic.
Great post, Jenny! My hubby and I are Amazon Prime Members and lurve it. We’ve been doing Prime for the past few years. We do a lot of online shopping for grocery pantry items, pet supplies and lots of other schtuff. We shop around, too, but we have found in our experience that taking advantage of our Prime membership is easy and the prices are very competitive considering the benefits. The 2-day shipping is a bonus along with all the other benefits. And, the customer service is great. If there’s a mix-up (and occasionally IT does happen), the customer service resolution is always very satisfactory. But, I’ll be honest, lately I’ve been using Chewy.com for our pet supplies (food, treats, litter, toys) as they have been able to beat Amazon’s price and my order is always over $49 so I get free shipping there, too.
All in all, we are very happy Amazon Prime people!
Big hugs!
Patti & Miss Pink Sugarbelle 🙂 <3