How to Make the Most of a 1-Month Amazon Prime Subscription

Did you get an Amazon Prime membership, maybe for Prime Day or another exclusive event that you want to cancel? Or maybe you’re switching streaming services and this month it’s Prime’s turn. Anyway, before you hit the unsubscribe button, here’s how to take full advantage of it.

Get Free Fast Shipping

What Prime is possibly best known for but still worth highlighting is that free shipping is a great thing to take advantage of with your membership. Of course, without Prime, you can get it for free default Dispatch on specific Amazon products when they reach a certain dollar threshold. But with Prime, even a budget phone case often qualifies for free two-day shipping (or faster in some cities). There is no limit to how often or how many times you use this benefit and you can ship to any address making it ideal for last minute gifts that you need to send to friends and family.

Watch TV and movies for hours

Sign up for the Amazon Prime Video app (for Android, iPhone, or your favorite streaming device) and you’ll find tons of movies and TV shows. As with any other streaming service, there is a rotating selection of content that varies dramatically in quality. But there are always popular Prime-exclusive movies and series like The wonderful Mrs. Maisel and The youngand live football matches on Thursday nights have also been added in September 2022.

To help you sort through your options, How-To Geek curates recommendations specifically for what’s available on Amazon Prime. Take a look and put together a month-long marathon watch list.

Score free PC games and DLC

Every month Amazon updates a small collection of games that you can claim and keep even after you cancel your Prime membership. You can find them along with various DLC items for popular games on the Prime Gaming hub.

Some games require the Amazon Games app for Windows, but others are offered through storefronts you may already be using, such as Amazon Games. B. the Epic Games Store, so that the game is available there in your library. You won’t find any brand new major releases, but you might find some to round out your collection. As the offers change each month, be sure to check back so you can make your choice in both months that your subscription overlaps.

If you’re in the mood to try cloud gaming, there are also some games you can stream for free on Amazon Luna.

Stream ad-free music

Amazon Music allows Prime members to stream music ad-free and download it for offline listening, making it handy for road trips and other times when you want to save on cellular data. You won’t have quite the same experience as Spotify or Apple Music, as the library is limited to a relatively meager 2 million songs. That means you probably won’t be able to find this underrated EP from your favorite obscure indie band, but you sure can find something enjoyable to listen to.

If you need more, Amazon Music Unlimited costs an additional $8.99/month and gives you access to a much larger music collection.

Grab a free ebook

Prime Reading is something like Prime Video but for e-books. They have several free options that rotate monthly and another small collection of pre-releases to choose from as a monthly freebie. It’s not limited to regular old text-centric books either; There are also magazines, comics and audio books for you to check out.

You can view your e-books on a Kindle device, on the Prime Reading website, or use the Kindle app on your iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows device or Mac.

TIED TOGETHER: How to download free eBooks with Amazon Prime

Get discounts at Whole Foods

If there’s a Whole Foods store near you, stop by during your membership to take advantage of Prime-exclusive sales, plus an additional 10% off all regular (non-alcoholic) sales.

You will need the Amazon mobile app (iPhone or Android) or the Whole Foods Market app (iPhone or Android) for your Prime QR code to be scanned at checkout. If you don’t want to shop in person, you can also shop at the Whole Foods online store and arrange for either paid delivery (if you live in certain zip codes) or free pickup.

Another tip for doubling your efficiency at Whole Foods: If your Prime order spree resulted in some returns you need to make, you can bring those items with you and the staff will pack and ship them for you. This is a big help if you threw away the original packaging and don’t have your own. Just make sure you initiate the return through your Amazon account first and specify how you would like it shipped.

Cancel your membership now with confidence

Once you’ve taken full advantage of your Amazon Prime benefits, you can cancel your subscription knowing you’re worth every dollar.

If you didn’t like any of the Prime benefits, you should know that Amazon may offer you at least a partial refund if you cancel. Even if the cancellation website doesn’t offer this, there is a phone number you can call that may still result in a refund.

TIED TOGETHER: How to cancel Amazon Prime and get a refund