Amazon Discounts For Low-Income Individuals Explained

Amazon, the American giant of e-commerce, has just made its Prime membership available to more individuals that are in a low-income bracket. 

Also known as the “Everything store” Amazon has grown to be the biggest e-commerce shopping platform across the world. 

Initially starting with physical products that were widely available to be purchased with the use of a credit card and delivered with the convenience of straight to your door within a few days, this shopping platform has grown into a one stop shop. 

From toothpaste to household objects, clothing, furniture, gadgets, books, cosmetics, novelties you name it and Amazon most likely has it. But over the years Amazon has also branched out into the “virtual” world of purchases where you can rent movies, purchase virtual copies of a plethora of book titles, and even subscribe to their streaming TV service. 

These latter developments in their shopping catalogues have since evolved the shopper from having a normal membership to having a Prime membership where you would receive benefits from Amazon at a monthly cost. 

Let’s explore the realm of Amazon Prime…What is it?

When you join Amazon as a shopper you could opt to join as a normal, non-frequent shopper, or you could choose to pay a subscription fee every month to receive the Prime membership. 

Amazon Prime allows shoppers access to the following benefits at no extra cost;

• Prime Video(TV) – an Amazon created streaming service that holds a library of great TV shows, movies, documentaries, with a number of originals created by the company themselves. 
• One-Day delivery for FREE – One day delivery of items for free regardless of the subtotal of the purchase anywhere in the states, on over 10 million products for sale.
• Delivery of Groceries – If you enjoy Amazon fresh this benefit is for you. As a prime member you can receive your groceries ordered within 1-2 hours depending on where you live. Items included in this are; seafood, meat, snacks, produce and even household essentials.
• Amazon music – A music streaming site, where you can listen to over two million songs, playlists and even music stations all ad-free and included in your membership. 
• Reading the Prime way – As a prime member you will have access to a library of over 1000 books, magazines, children’s books, audiobooks, and comics. 
• Exclusive and Early access to deals – Have early access to lightning deals as well as the option to shop from the prime deals of the day. 
• Subscribe and Save – If you enjoy buying the same items off of Amazon on a regular basis, Subscribe and Save could save you up to 20% when you schedule a subscription to an item. 
• Amazon Photos – With the digital age of photography you might need a place to store all your new and old pics. As a prime member you can store all your photos in a virtual space where they will be safe and organised. 

All of these benefits can be widely useful and beneficial to you as a shopper. A normal Prime membership costs $12.99, but has recently been announced that if you are a low-income individual you could get all these benefits for only $5.99. 

Thats a a 54% decrease in price. 

There is also the option of purchasing the yearly subscription at a discount too, which would work out to $8.25 a month, in the end saving you a total of $27, opposed to the $99 yearly fee. 

So how do you qualify?

It’s as simple as having been enrolled in a government assistance programme. The discounted Prime membership was introduced to any customer who were currently enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Woman, Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC), Children’s Health Insurance Program or are enrolled in MEDICAID. 

All one would need to do is provide proof of their Medicaid card or their Electronic Benefits Transfer, EBT, card. 

You will need to access the amazon website to apply and qualify. All you have to do is upload a scan or photo of your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card or your Medicaid card with your application. 

This process will also require you to prove that you are still enrolled in one of these government assistance programmes every 12 months. This discounted option is only available for the initial four years of your membership and unlike a normal membership unfortunately you can’t share it, or the benefits with a second person. 

If you are a student you are also eligible for a discounted Amazon Student Prime membership. With this discount you’ll only have to pay a monthly fee of $6.49. 

This is made possible to any student with a valid “.edu” college email address. However if you are enrolled in a government assistance program you could be eligible for a cheaper membership. 

This discounted membership has come as a tactical move for the e-commerce giant as a way to bring in and attract more customers, much like any coupons, or low-income schemes from other giants like Walmart or Target. 

It turns out that Prime memberships are where Amazon makes most their revenue, in that studies found that Prime members tended to use Amazon as their one stop shop which was made more convenient for them with the membership. 

Of course as a low-income individual one would want to try be as smart as possible with their funds. With an Amazon prime discount such as this individuals will be enabled to use the resources and benefits made possible to them at only $5.99 to help further their money. 

Looking at a simple saving of $7 a month, that can go towards further purchasing with groceries, or essentials. 

A study taken at the end of 2017 showed that over 74 million Americans are currently enrolled in these above mentioned government assistance programs, which ends up being (20%) of the population that could use the $7 savings for better use.