Amazon Prime – A Great Deal for Military Members

I love Amazon Prime. In my personal opinion, it’s one of the best deals going in the tech sector. And it has added many new features since I first became a member several years ago.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Amazon Prime is famous for its Free 2-day shipping on most items. Many members find this benefit alone to be worth the annual $119 annual membership fee (or $12.99 per month if you pay as you go).

But Amazon Prime also offers:

• Prime Video – streaming video with an extensive library of movies, TV shows, and documentaries.
• Prime Radio – streaming radio, featuring the ability to stream entire albums, customize radio stations, multiple genres of music, etc.
• Prime Photos – free storage for all of your photos in Amazon Cloud Drive, as well as an additional 5GB of free storage space for personal video and document storage.
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – the ability to borrow one book per month for free from a select library of thousands of books,
• Kindle First – allows members to get one free book each month before it is released to the public.
• Other benefits – ability to share free 2-day shipping with members of household, exclusive Prime coupons and discounts, seasonal promotions.

As you can see, there is a lot of value for $119 a year. You can also get Amazon Prime Student for roughly half the cost.

My family and I no longer subscribe to cable TV. We cut the cord several years ago, and watch TV through a combination of over the air TV with a digital antenna, and a combination of Amazon Prime and Netflix to stream video.

I also use the Amazon streaming music to avoid listening to annoying commercials from commercial radio, and to listen to entire albums on demand. It’s a great service that is included with your Amazon Prime subscription.

Amazon Prime is a Great Deal for Military Members

One of my favorite benefits is the free 2-day shipping. I am geographically separated from most of my family. So Christmas shopping is easy with Amazon. I can order gifts, have them wrapped, and shipped for less than the cost of buying something locally, adding the time and expense to wrap it myself, then the time and expense of shipping the item via the post office, UPS, or FedEX.

The 2-day shipping is even more important when the clock is ticking closer to the Christmas shipping deadlines.

I also frequently use the free 2-day shipping for personal purchases that aren’t time-sensitive. It’s often easier to purchase something from Amazon and have it shipped to my door rather than drive to and from the store, search for the item, wait in line, etc.

Many military members find themselves in the same situation. Living away from family members makes a service like Amazon Prime ideal for sending gifts. Amazon can also be a great way to order items when you live overseas, as many items on Amazon can’t be found at the Exchanges or on the local economy. Note that Free 2-day shipping may not apply to all overseas locations as transit times can take longer, and most 2-day shipping is sent via UPS. That said, most items can be shipped to APO addresses, even if it may take longer than 2 days.

Amazon Prime Video Now Available to Some Overseas Military Members

Amazon Prime Video and Radio may be different for many overseas military members due to licensing agreements. Amazon Prime Video and Radio are generally only available in the US, due to how the licensing and royalties work. However, Amazon recently announced they are offering Amazon Prime Video to military members on certain military installations.

Here is a list of the bases where Amazon Prime Video is currently available (as of January 7, 2016):

Amazon Prime Originals now available on AFN: Amazon also just announced they are broadcasting some Amazon Original series on Armed Forces Network, bringing access to these shows to overseas military members and their families. Here is a sampling of the shows that will be available:

• Transparent: Mondays 11:00 PM local time starting on January 11
• Bosch: Tuesdays 11:00 PM local time starting on January 12
• Alpha House: Wednesdays 11:00 PM local time starting on January 13
• The Man in the High Castle: Sundays 12:00 AM local time starting on January 17

How to Sign Up for Amazon Prime

As mentioned early, I think Amazon Prime is one of the best deals going in Tech. You can sign up for a free Amazon Prime trial by clicking this free Amazon Prime Trial link.

You can also get a discount with Amazon Student if you are a current student with a .edu email address.