Amazon Prime Is Raising Prices in the U.S.

What used to cost you just $99 for an Amazon Prime Annual subscription previously went up to $119 four years ago and is about to go up even more. The online retailer confirmed they're raising the price of membership once again with a 17% hike going into effect later this month. The annual price for an Amazon Prime subscription will not cost $139 annually while the monthly version will jump from $12.99 a month to $14.99 a month. This marks the first price increase for Prime since 2018 and will effective for new Prime members on February 18, 2022 and for existing Prime members on March 25, 2022.

"Amazon continues to invest heavily in Prime," an official press release reads. "Since 2018 in the U.S., availability of Free Same-Day Delivery has expanded from 48 metropolitan areas to more than 90, items available for Prime free shipping have increased over 50%, and members have saved billions of dollars shopping Prime Day. This is all on top of new program benefits like prescription savings and fast, free delivery from Amazon Pharmacy and the continually growing Amazon Music for Prime members, Prime Reading, and Prime Gaming. With the continued expansion of Prime member benefits as well as the rise in wages and transportation costs, Amazon will increase the price of a Prime membership in the U.S..."

The price increase partially comes from the addition of new services to the subscription, in particular the "Thursday Night Football" NFL games that will be streamed on the platform in the next season and is effective for at least 11 years.  

According to the retailer, Amazon Prime subscribers "received more than 6 billion free deliveries" and over 200 million Prime members worldwide watched TV shows and movies on their streaming platform.

Since launching the streamer has rolled out fan-favorite hit shows like The Wheel of Time, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Boys, and have big plans to release their new Lord of the Rings TV series, The Rings of Power, later this year. Prime has also begun chasing Oscar gold with their original films as well with Amazon Studios original films like Manchester by the Sea and Sound of Metal winning Academy Awards in recent years. Last year the studio released some of their biggest movies though, the blockbuster The Tomorrow War and comedy-sequel Coming 2 America.

Will you keep your Amazon Prime subscription even with the increased rate? Sound off in the comments below and let us know.