You're not paying money to shop; you're paying money for shipping and unlimited access to their video library (and a bunch of other stuff, I'm sure). I'm not sure what the average shipping cost is, but if it were $5 then you should get Prime if you are going to buy more than 16 things from them.

The video portion was only added in 2011 and I really, really don't see the appeal of prepaying for shipping. Especially $80/year worth.

I either upgrade to 2 day if I need it earlier and if I don't I'll use the saver shipping and get it in a week.

The appeal is that the shipping cost is much cheaper the more you buy.

Do you not understand the appeal of any membership service? Costco is the same idea, for example. Or gym memberships, etc.

I think he is specifically talking about the free two day shipping that came with a relatively low minimum purchase, not the free two day on any purchase via prime subscription.

For several years before Prime, Amazon offered free two-day shipping on most $25 orders, no extra fees or membership. Maybe it started out at $50.

Super Saver shipping was never 2-day, it was always 5-7 day, at least since 2002 which was the first time I've ordered from Amazon. Prime also started at $80/year, I looked it up. Paying $80/year to get my items slightly earlier sounds like a terrible deal.

In the context of students, Prime Student is 50% off. It appears to still be that way. This built up a lot of loyalty for early Prime members who were students. That loyalty appears to have continued for close to a decade for many people.

Remember that way back when it was business as usual to pay $10+ for shipping if you bought online. This meant that if you bought online more than 4 times throughout the course of an entire year, you were ahead. It also allowed you to buy at any time without worrying about the minimum purchase total, increasing buying frequency.