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 years ago. There is only one membership level of Amazon Prime.
Amazon doesn’t offer a year-round military or veteran discount, but Amazon Prime can still benefit military members, particularly those stationed overseas.
Amazon Prime Veterans Day Discounts
Amazon has offered a $40 Veterans Day discount on Prime memberships to military members and veterans in the past.
Amazon offered a $40 discount for Amazon Prime members in the past, but availability varies from year to year. Amazon’s Prime Insider newsletter is the best place to learn about these offers. Last year’s announcement went up on Prime Insider on Nov. 8.
We will update this page if Amazon announces a 2022 discount.
You can also get Amazon Prime Student for roughly half the cost. Current students just need a .edu email address.
Amazon Prime Membership Cost
Beginning Feb. 18, 2022, Amazon’s annual Prime membership price increased by $20 to $139 from $119.
Monthly fees also increased by $2 to $14.99 from $12.99 per month. If you can afford the up-front cost of an annual membership, it comes out to about $40 less than the month-to-month plan.
Amazon Prime Benefits for Military Members
For those who aren’t familiar with it, Amazon Prime provides free two-day shipping on most orders. In some cases, you can get free delivery in as little as two hours, depending on the item and where you live (this option is much more common near large metropolitan areas).
Fast shipping is one of my favorite benefits. I’m geographically separated from most of my family, so it makes Christmas shopping easy. 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.
If you’re working with overseas APO or FPO shipping deadlines, it’s a huge help.
Many military members who live away from family use Amazon Prime to order necessities that aren’t available at military exchanges or in the local economy.
Note: Amazon can ship most items to APO and FPO addresses. However, free two-day shipping may not apply to all overseas locations due to varying international transit times.
Amazon Prime Delivery Options:
Amazon offers the following delivery options within the Continental United States (delivery times will vary with APO/FPO delivery addresses).
- Free two-day shipping on eligible items
- Free same-day delivery in eligible zip codes.
- Free two-hour delivery in eligible zip codes with Prime Now.
- Free release-date delivery for pre-ordered items.
- Free no-rush shipping. Earn rewards for having your delivery scheduled for a later date.
Amazon Prime Streaming Benefits
Amazon offers a streaming service for video, music, and gaming that can help keep military members entertained while away from home.
Streaming services included with prime memberships include:
- Prime Video – streaming video with an extensive library of movies, TV shows, and documentaries.
- Prime Music – streaming radio, featuring the ability to stream entire albums, customize radio stations, multiple genres of music, etc.
- Amazon Music Unlimited – For an additional annual or monthly fee you can subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimted, which has millions of songs to choose from.
- Prime Gaming – Access to free games, in-game content, and more. Prime Gaming also includes a monthly free Twitch channel subscription, and with 5+ new free games added to the library every month, there is always something great to play.
My family and I no longer subscribe to cable TV; we cut the cord several years ago. Now we watch TV through a combination of over-the-air TV with a digital antenna, Amazon Prime and Netflix streaming.
I also use Amazon streaming music to avoid listening to annoying commercials from commercial radio and to listen to entire albums on demand.
Amazon Prime Video Available to Some Overseas Military Members
Amazon Prime Video and Radio availability may vary on overseas military bases due to licensing agreements.
Here is a list of the bases where Amazon Prime Video is available as of Jan. 7, 2016. As of Nov. 2020. We’ll update this list as more information becomes available.
| U.S. Military Base/Camp | Country | Internet Service Provider |
|---|---|---|
| Fenty | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Kandahar | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Kandahar | Afghanistan | Ifone-Neda |
| Marmal | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Bagram | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Phoenix | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Walton | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Lightning | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Leatherneck | Afghanistan | SniperHill |
| Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base | Romania | SniperHill |
| Incirlik Air Base | Turkey | Turk Telecom |
| Camp Lemonnier (US Navy) | Djibouti | |
| Yokosuka | Japan | Americable |
| Atsugi | Japan | Americable |
| Iwakuni | Japan | Americable |
| Sasebo | Japan | Americable |
| Kadena AB, Okinawa | Japan | Mediatti Broadband |
| Camp Foster, Okinawa | Japan | Mediatti Broadband |
| Camp Schwab, Okinawa | Japan | Mediatti Broadband |
| Fort Buckner, Okinawa | Japan | Mediatti Broadband |
| Yokota Air Base | Japan | Allied Telesis |
| Misawa Air Base | Japan | Allied Telesis |
| Camp Arifjan | Kuwait | QualityNet |
| Camp Buehring | Kuwait | QualityNet |
Additional Amazon Prime Benefits
- Whole Foods Market: 5% savings for eligible Prime members who also have the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card; two-hour delivery in eligible cities.
- Prime Photos – free storage for all of your photos in Amazon Cloud Drive and additional 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 two-day shipping with members of household, exclusive Prime coupons and discounts, seasonal promotions.
How to Sign Up for Amazon Prime
As you can see, there is a lot of value for $139 a year. You can sign up for a free Amazon Prime trial by clicking this free Amazon Prime trial link.
How Amazon Supports Military Members and Veterans
In 2021, Amazon pledged to hire more than 100,000 military veterans and spouses by 2024. Its Skillbridge program provides fellowship and apprenticeship opportunities to separating military members and veterans who are within 180 days of their separation date.
To date, Amazon employs more than 40,000 military spouses and veterans, including members of the National Guard and reserves. During the pandemic, Amazon continued to provide job protection, healthcare coverage and differential pay to over 8,000 employees who were called to active duty to assist in emergency relief efforts.
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Lainie says
I checked with Amazon as of April 2022 and they are currently not offering an Amazon Prime Membership discount for military/veterans. Just an FYI.
Tod Hazlett says
How will we be notified if Amazon provides the Amazon Prime Veterans Day Discount – Pending Verification for 2022?
Brittany Crocker says
Hey Tod! Check back with us closer to Veterans Day for updates! Or, we put out several Veterans Day discount editions of our newsletter leading up to the holiday each year. You can subscribe to receive those here: https://themilitarywallet.com/subscribe/
Henry Dart says
I’m a disabled vet from the Korean War.
I’m 90+ years old. How do I sign up for that privilege when already a prime member?
Ryan Guina says
Hello Henry, The Amazon Prime military discount was a limited-time offer that was available only on Veterans Day. We will update this article if Amazon brings this offer back in the future. Thank you for your service!