bigjim25

Amazon is offering Amazon Prime at a reduced rate of $5.99/month with proof of an EBT card.

Abob Teff

I saw a headline earlier today about a cheaper Amazon Prime plan, but I didn't read the article for details.

Interesting ... let the debate begin ... if you are on welfare (EBT = Electronic Benefit Transfer) should you be spending $6/month on Amazon Prime? Is it possible Amazon is looking to start taking welfare benefits for food?

Looks like the link above promotes Primes features, including saving money with subscriptions and free 2 hour delivery on "household items and essentials." Of course, those are the last two benefits listed behind free two-day delivery, streaming video, and streaming music.

Josh-da-man

If you're poor enough to be on food stamps, then why are you going to pay $6 a month for Amazon Prime, to get free shipping on a bunch of shit you can't afford?

malazar

If one replaces a Netflix subscription with $5.99 Prime they can use for both cheap streaming entertainment and the occasional deal for household items, it could make financial sense. You could argue that poor people shouldn't waste money on non-essentials, but realistically speaking that will still always happen.

The Cow

I suppose it could be cheaper than gas to the store for some items as well. And if you can't afford a car...

mike7162

The poor are not entitled to entertainment.

Josh-da-man

Good points. I didn't think about it in those terms. I rarely use Amazon to buy small/cheap household items that I could pick up in a store, so I wasn't thinking in those terms. Especially if you don't have a car.

story

Two words: Amazon Pantry.

Low-income families are also low on two other important resources: time and transportation. Meanwhile, there are a lot of hungry kids.

I see whole families out at the grocery store late in the night grocery shopping because that's when the parents get off shift. I see moms walk their kids to the school bus then walk to the bus for work, then see those same latch-key kids get off the bus at dinner time to fend for themselves until mom gets home from work in the evening. I work community meals in churches and speak with families who come through for the giveaway shelf to get canned goods and baby wipes, who have to pick between an economy-size bottle of laundry detergent or an economy-size bottle of dish soap. That is, unless they bring their kids, in which case the parent can ask for the laundry detergent and the kid can ask for the bottle of dish soap. You know that friend you have who only realizes as an adult how poor her or his family was? These kids are very, very aware because they're helping get food on their own table.

If $72/year this helps get food to a low-income family's door and into a kid's stomach because it's more affordable to do some of that shopping online because it's 1. less time at the store, 2. less money than the store, and 3. less transportation to the store, I'm all for it.

I see what you did there, Mike.

I am consistently amazed at how little some people feel that poor people are entitled to, as if poor people don't want fun experiences (or they might even have a fun experience equal or even more fun that what someone with some disposable income could have!).

Of course, I just spent the day with leading a workshop for a group of homeless and formerly homeless people who had the opportunity to go a retreat center as a reward for the work in a program to lift themselves out of poverty one long, trudging step at a time. They had amazing free food, played some games, and they're going fishing, many of them for the first time. Their fishing licenses were paid for and whatever they catch, the kitchen will cook. One guy at one of these retreats once told me it was the most amazing feeling, knowing he could walk in the woods while his duffel bag was in his room and he could leave the room unlocked and know his stuff would be safe and he could walk in the woods and not get jacked. But of course, there will always be people wondering if he's "entitled" to such an experience.

But what do I know? Maybe fun is just a luxury for those who can "afford" it.

movieguru

One good thing if Amazon were to accept food stamps would be that when they placed food items in their electronic cart it would give them a running total of how much all the food would cost. I remember well from my days working at a supermarket how poorly these people can count. If I only had a nickle for everytime I had a food stamp shopper would come to my line with three full shopping carts full of lobster, steak, and an insane amount of junk food expecting to be able to purchase it all with the $100 they had on their food stamp card. They would always say something like "I didn't realize this stuff would cost that much!!" Then they would have you void out a bunch of stuff only to later to ask you to add some of it back i and take some other stuff off. This would always go on for at least an hour. So yeah, If Amazon could relieve the furstration from the cashiers and the people behind them in line, then I am all for it.

Abob Teff

I can certainly see the advantages (delivery, time saving, etc.). And I have been in that boat (not at the worst end, but I've been close enough). I'm not a fan of the unrestricted nature of "food stamps" but a huge supporter of programs like WIC. Because of my philosophies on this, I'm not a fan of the unrestricted nature of this version of Prime. The plus is it gives easier access to necessities. The negative is it gives easier access to temptations.

I don't care about the streaming stuff. Prime has long proven it has different primary uses depending on the user, with everything else being a "free" perk. I do have an issue with the way they promoting it -- keying in on the entertainment aspects.

I agree that Amazon Pantry is probably a driver for them offering this. I would say they are trying to develop brand recognition/loyalty to drive future Amazon Pantry locations and a future play at accepting EBT.

In a former life I worked for Schwans. There were guys there who made a good living on the 1st and 15th of the month based solely on EBT customers.