A $10 increase which hasn't been mentioned by anyone else, as far as I know. Thoughts?
It looks like Amazon is starting a bigger push for people to buy into Prime, which makes a lot of sense for their business. Historically, Amazon has not been making profit for their operations (According to Wikipedia they lost $39 million in 2012), so this new policy should push them closer toward the black. New Prime users will also grow the userbase that comes back to Amazon for purchases. Personally, the new policy doesn't really effect me since I have Prime (it's even better if you're a student!).
I'm okay with this. Prime is worth every penny, in my opinion, and if this gets more people to sign up for it (thereby giving the entertainment industry more reason to license content to stream free on Prime), then that's a definite plus. Now, if they did this and didn't have Prime? That'd be different. However, my experiences as an Amazon customer leave me with no reason to complain. Their tendency to go above and beyond to ensure customer satisfaction would balance it all out even if there was no Prime service.
Honestly, I don't see this happening at all. If you have even the most minor issue after receiving a purchase, Amazon will spare no expense to ensure your satisfaction. I've never had an experience with Walmart that even begins to compare to those I've had with Amazon. For example: I bought a Kindle from Amazon 4 years ago, and a few months back I accidentally cracked its casing. After calling up to see if they would offer a discount for a replacement, I was delighted when the rep told me that they would replace it -- sans return -- at no cost to me. Just imagine trying to return a 4 year old purchase to Walmart. You'd be laughed all the way home.
Yes, but customer satisfaction didn't get Walmart where they are today. It's all about those low, low prices. I'm glad customer service treated you so well. Luckily, the Kindle is a product manufactured by Amazon, one designed to help you buy more things from Amazon. I doubt you'd have gotten the same treatment trying to replace a broken Xbox 360 or iPad.
Funny thing about that, I've scratched plenty of PS3 game discs bought there, and have never had an issue getting them replaced at no cost. All I had to do was send the discs back within a month of receiving the replacements. Additionally, Amazon is steadily climbing up to Walmart's level (some might argue it's there already) and it IS taking customer satisfaction seriously. And if you're old enough to remember Walmart before Sam Walton died and his bastard kids took over, then it should be pretty clear that Walmart got big because it was so consumer-centric, much like Amazon is today. It didn't start down the path of the evil leviathan corporation until Walton was six feet under and his offspring grabbed hold of the reigns.
Doesn't really hurt me because I have Prime. I think they are doing this to push more people into a Prime membership. Also, if you need a few more items that have good ratings to top you off to $35, check out http://www.reddit.com/r/AmazonUnder15/