I love my Amazon Prime! (And a Makers Faire sneak peek!)

I’m going to give you fair warning: grab your raincoat and umbrella, because I am about to gush like never before! We’re talking splash-zone-at-Great-America gush, end-of-the-football-game-Gatorade-over-the-coach’s-head gush, stand-back-because-they’re-turning-on-the-firehose gush! This is so big I can’t help but get my soapbox out -- although I might have to head to the San Bruno mountains behind my house and shout it from there instead. Here goes: I am incredibly in love with... Amazon Prime.

For those of you scratching your head and looking perplexedly at your computer monitor, let me explain...

Amazon Prime is a paid feature on Amazon.com, and if you happen to do a great deal of internet shopping like I do, it’s the bomb. Basically here’s the way it works: you pay an annual fee of $79. For this fee, you get free 2-day shipping on any item marked with the turquoise and yellow “Prime” logo. If you need it faster, you can do overnight for $3.99 per item. There’s also benefits like free Kindle downloads and movie streaming... but I can’t comment on that aspect since I’ve never had time to explore this option!

Now, I’m not sure if you can comprehend the type of savings this offers for a business like mine. In any given week, I may order up to 10 or more items, and believe me, the savings on the shipping on just two items can make up for the membership fee.

Let me give you a prime (no pun intended) example. Last week we acquired a new, larger, van (I’ll go into that in soon-to-come blog post) and “he” needed a floor mat to keep things from sliding around his monstrous interior. I didn’t even consider schlepping to the local auto store. I popped onto the internet and my good old friend Amazon. There I was able to find exactly what I needed, at a reasonable price, annnnd... you got it... since it was marked with the beloved yellow check mark, I was able to get it two days later with no shipping costs whatsoever! Now, you have to realize that this item weighs about 20 pounds, and came in a box that was taller than me! Before my “AP” (as I like to call it), I would have had to wait 10 to 12 days easily, and I’m sure it would have cost somewhere in the $40 - $60 range for shipping. But not now baby -- now it’s free, free, free and fast, fast, fast! For me, this is a little slice of heaven on a delivery truck.

Sheepishly, I must admit that I buy more stuff now than I used to, which is probably why Amazon does this. It’s like going to Costco: you go in for the toilet paper, but end up coming out with the 12 pack of tape, 24 pack of Sharpie pens, and the 240 count tampon box... all things which you never would have considered had you bought the 4-pack of T.P. at Safeway. Also, when it comes to comparative shopping, I do exactly the opposite of what I’m supposed to do. I’ve gotten to the point, where when I do a search and two of the exact items come up, I’ll go with the one that may be slightly more expensive, just because it offers AP.

The thing is, I’ve spoken to many friends and clients who are members, and they all say exactly the same thing! And yes, I acknowledge that this makes me a lemming running rapidly and happily towards the precipice of mindless overspending, but when I can get a 3 gallon air compressor delivered to my door in two days for free, I’ll jump whole-heartedly. I bet I can find a parachute on Amazon...

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend Sophie's World will be representing at Makers Faire! Me and the rest of the team have been working hard to put together a really great booth and presentation -- and here's a tiny sneak peek!

If you want to come by and say hi, mention the blog and you'll get a button in addition to one of our great prizes!