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If you’re a senior on a fixed budget, every dollar counts. You might be curious about the cost of Amazon Prime and whether there are special discounts that could make it more affordable for you. The good news is that there are ways to potentially cut down the monthly or annual fee. Here’s what you need to know about the pricing, discounts and eligibility criteria if you are a senior interested in shopping with an Amazon Prime membership.
See: How To Get Cash Back on Your Everyday Purchases
What Does Amazon Prime Cost?
Amazon Prime typically costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month. This fee gives you access to a range of benefits like free two-day shipping, unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows, Prime Try Before You Buy, Prime Photos, Prime Reading and more. But what if you’re a senior looking for a discount for an Amazon Prime membership?
Amazon Prime Senior Discounts
Unfortunately, according to Amazon, there is no official Amazon Prime senior discount. However, some seniors may be eligible for price reductions based on their situation. To find out, you’ll need to look into a less commonly known program by Amazon called Prime Access.
What Is Prime Access?
Prime Access allows you to pay just $6.99 per month, which is more than a 50% discount off of the regular monthly Prime membership charge of $14.99. You can sign up for Prime Access if you’re receiving Medicaid, SNAP benefits or are a part of other government assistance programs. The following is a list of the qualifying programs for Prime Access:
- Medicaid
- SNAP, which is the EBT program
- SSI, a supplemental Social Security program that’s different from Social Security benefits
- Direct Express Prepaid Debit Card
- NAP is Puerto Rico’s Nutrition Assistance Program
- TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- TTANF stands for Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- NSLP stands for National School Lunch Program
- LIHEAP stands for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
- WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children program
How Do You Apply for Prime Access?
To apply, you can visit Amazon’s Prime Access application page and follow the steps provided. You’ll need to upload a photo of your EBT card or your eligibility letter for the qualifying program you belong to.
Do Seniors Get Discounts on Amazon Prime with Medicare?
Unfortunately, if you’re on Medicare, you do not qualify for Prime Access. You’ll have to pay the full price for an Amazon Prime membership unless you qualify through another program, such as if you are also on Medicaid.
How Much Is Amazon Prime If You’re on Social Security?
Unfortunately, there is no discount for Social Security recipients; Amazon Prime is the standard cost of $139 per year or $14.99 per month. However, you may qualify for Prime Access if you’re receiving SSI benefits, which would lower your monthly cost to $6.99.
How Much Is the Cheapest Amazon Prime Membership?
The cheapest Amazon Prime membership is through the Prime Access program, which will cost you only $6.99 per month if you meet certain eligibility criteria. The next cheapest Amazon Prime membership is the Amazon Prime Student membership, which is $7.49 a month or $69 per year.
If you’re not a student and you don’t qualify for Prime Access, it’s significantly cheaper to pay annually than monthly for the standard Prime membership. If you pay monthly, your total cost for the year is $179.88, whereas if you pay annually, your total cost is $139.Paying annually will save you $40.88.
Can You Get Amazon Prime for Free?
Although there isn’t a way to get Amazon Prime for free on a permanent basis, anyone, including senior citizens, can sign up for a free 30-day trial. The only catch is that you cannot have been a member of Amazon Prime in the last 12 months. Here’s how to get Amazon Prime for free:
- Navigate to the Prime page on Amazon.com and select “Start your free 30-day trial.”
- Follow the prompts to complete your enrollment.
With the free trial, you can try out all of the benefits of Amazon Prime for 30 days. Note that after the 30-day trial ends, you’ll be upgraded to a paid membership plan. If you decide that you don’t want to continue, you’ll need to cancel your membership before the trial ends.
Sharing an Amazon Membership
If you’re not eligible for Prime Access, there’s another way you might be able to save on a Prime membership by sharing a membership with someone, like a family member through Amazon Household. Amazon Prime allows you to share memberships with up to one other adult, four teens and four children. You just have to be invited to be added to someone’s Amazon Household.
Gifting Amazon Prime
Amazon used to have something called Gift of Prime, which allowed you to directly gift an Amazon Prime membership to someone else for a discounted rate, but it has since discontinued it. If you’re thinking about gifting Amazon Prime to a senior family member or friend, you can do that by purchasing an Amazon gift card in the amount of $139, which the senior can use to sign up and pay for a membership.
However, because this is a gift card that can be used for anything on Amazon.com, not just to purchase the Amazon Prime membership, you’ll need to explain to the recipient that the gift card is intended to purchase a year of Amazon Prime.
Takeaway
The standard cost of Amazon Prime is $139 annually or $14.99 per month — even for seniors. However, if you receive benefits from a qualifying government program, such as SSI or Medicaid, you are eligible for Amazon Prime Access, which has a monthly subscription fee of just $6.99. Additionally, if you haven’t been a member of Amazon Prime in the previous 12 months, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial, which will give you access to the full benefits of the Amazon Prime membership.Finally, you might be able to share an Amazon account with someone else, which would significantly reduce your membership cost depending on the amount you’re asked to contribute.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
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