What’s cool about this isn’t the savings on shipping; I was frequently opting for the free super-saver shipping, and waiting a week or more for stuff to show up, to save a few bucks. And it’s not the faster shipping; if I was willing to wait for free shipping, speed wasn’t an issue.

It’s really that it takes the thought out of ordering. I don’t have to batch up a couple of items to get over the minimum order for free shipping, or to optimize my shipping costs, if I want it sooner. And it’s rare that 2nd day isn’t fast enough, even for “urgent” needs. So, I can basically order whatever, whenever, from Amazon.com. And since I’ve pre-spent on the Prime membership, I’m actually incented to stick with Amazon.com, to get the “best value” from the service.

Interesting note: there’s ads inserted in the box. I got inserts for PeoplePC Online, Gevalia coffee, and Citibank. I wonder if Amazon.com is offsetting the cost of Prime service by offering these self-selected heavy mail order customers to “selected vendors.” Don’t really care, as long as it’s Amazon.com that’s doing the inserting, and they’re not sharing my contact info with anyone else.