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With summer's arrival, shoppers are starting to wonder: When is Amazon Prime Day 2024? The highly anticipated sales extravaganza, set for July 16 and July 17, promises some of the best prices of the year. We've got all the information you need to get ready for the major shopping event below, including how to get a 50% discount on Prime membership.
When is Amazon Prime Day 2024?
Amazon just released the official dates for Prime Day 2024. This year, Prime Day is slated to take place Tuesday, July 16 and Wednesday, July 17, 2024, and anticipation is building for yet another spectacular shopping event. This aligns with past years, as Amazon Prime Day has historically taken place during the second week of July.
If you're looking to stay abreast of the ins and outs of Prime Day, be sure to stay tuned to CBS Essentials for all major news and deals. You can also learn more via our explainer: What Is Amazon Prime Day?
Is Amazon Prime still worth paying for?
Yes -- in most cases, the net benefits outweigh the cost, especially if you catch a deal on a Prime membership. Currently, Amazon is offering 50% off for three months of Prime at just $7.50 per month, which typically costs $15 monthly. (Note that some shoppers are seeing a different introductory offer.)
If you're still not sure, we've broken down the biggest benefits below, and how often you'll need to use them to make the monthly cost worth your while.
Free shipping and fast delivery
If you order products from Amazon multiple times per month, that alone is worth keeping your Prime membership. The only other way you can get free shipping on Amazon is if your orders total more than $35. Otherwise, you have to pay $6.99 for standard shipping (prices by zip code may vary).
Conversely, if you place three orders per month at less than $35 per order, the cost of shipping without Prime ($7 base) amounts to more than the monthly cost of Prime with ad-free Prime Video ($18).
Even if your monthly orders equate to more than $35 (qualifying for free shipping without Prime), the one-, two-, and even same-day delivery you get with Prime is worth it. You won't find faster shipping times with most other retailers.
The upshot: If you rely on Amazon often for everyday buys or bargains, such as discounted household essentials, or if you just love the convenience of getting your orders fast, keep Prime.
Grocery delivery with Whole Foods
Amazon owns Whole Foods, so your Prime membership includes perks that can be used at the grocery chain. Prime offers you some discounts at the store, but the main draw is grocery delivery. You can only do Whole Foods grocery delivery if you have a Prime account. If Whole Foods is your go-to grocery store, and you do grocery delivery often, especially weekly, your Amazon Prime account is worth it.
Prescription benefits
Amazon's Rx Pass allows you to get select medications for a flat fee of $5 per month. With Prime, you also can get two-day free shipping for prescriptions bought through Amazon Pharmacy, which beats having to wait in line at the IRL pharmacy for 20 minutes. Plus, with Prime, you can compare prescription prices between more than 60,000 pharmacies, which may save you up to 80% off on your medication. If you rely on these kinds of discounts to save on pricier prescriptions, it is worth it to keep Amazon Prime.
Prime Day deals
If you shop Amazon's Prime Days every year, keep your membership. Prime Day's discounts are exclusive to Prime members. This is Amazon's biggest sales event, ensuring some of the best discounts the site advertises all year. Not only that, but Prime members get exclusive discounts daily on the site, as well as 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals (these deals can last between 30 minutes to an entire day). The amount of money you save on these deals could easily equal to (or exceed) the cost of your monthly Amazon Prime membership.
If you don't have a Prime membership, Amazon is currently offering a limited deal. Right now, you can get 3 months of Prime for just $7.50 per month. After 3 months, it will renew at the regular monthly price of $15 unless you cancel. (Note that some shoppers are seeing a different introductory offer.)
Is Prime Video still worth it?
We think yes. If you didn't know, Prime Video now includes ads, and the only way to opt out of (most) commercials is by paying an additional $2.99 fee per month. Opting to pay the extra fee would bring Amazon Prime to nearly $18 per month. Although any price increase is inconvenient, we think paying the extra fee may be worth it for some users.
Prime Video members get access to tens of thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular Amazon Originals TV shows, such as "The Summer I Turned Pretty" as well as the Emmy-winning "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and "Fleabag". You can also stream Oscar-nominated movies, including "Manchester By The Sea" and "Sound Of Metal".
Plus, compared to other popular streaming services with ad-free options, including Netflix (from $15.49 to $22.99 per month) and Hulu ($17.99 per month), Prime Video without ads ($17.98) offers comparable.
If you want to go ad-free, you can make that change within the account settings of your Prime Account or the Prime Video app found on Fire TVs, smart TVs, game consoles and set-top boxes. Ad-free, however, doesn't include trailers that run before a movie or TV show (you can skip them), nor does it exclude ads from live events, including sports, whatever you're watching on Amazon Freevee or a third-party streaming service that you add to your Amazon account (that isn't an ad-free subscription).
Amazon hasn't outlined on their site exactly how many ads you can expect if you opt out of ad-free, but they said you can expect them before and during playback. The Wall Street Journal reports the average ad load per hour is expected to be between two and three-and-half minutes.
If you're vehemently against ads and someone who uses their Prime Video weekly to find movies and TV shows to watch, it's worth it to keep the streaming service and upgrade to ad-free. But if the extra $2.99 for Prime Video Ad Free will set you back -- which is understandable if you subscribe to multiple streaming services that can cost upwards of $45 or more monthly -- consider keeping the streaming services with ads and see how you adjust.
People who only access Prime Video one or two times per month may find that they can live without it. If there's a specific series or some movies you want to watch on Prime, you can always get the streaming service to watch it and then cancel afterward.
Thinking about becoming a Prime member? We've got all your Prime Day 2024 answers covered — plus early Amazon deals you can snag right now on home, fitness gear, tech and more.
Rachel Center is a writer with more than eight years of experience creating lifestyle content for brands such as Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple and Apartment Therapy.