The Newest Amazon Prime Perk? Cheaper Gas
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Amazon announced this week that Prime members can get a discount of 10 cents a gallon on gas at roughly 7,000 bp, Amoco and ampm gas stations. By the company’s estimate, this could add up to an annual fuel savings of $70 or so, provided that every fill-up is at a participating gas station.
While Prime is best-known for offering free two-day shipping, the e-commerce behemoth has been adding more bells and whistles to the program in recent years that have nothing to do with shipping — like the new gas perk.
Amazon is partnering with an app called earnify to offer the discount. To take advantage, Prime members need to create an earnify account and link it to their Amazon Prime account. The earnify app displays nearby participating gas stations. Prime members earn the discount by entering their phone number or Amazon-linked payment method, or by entering the gas station and pump number into the app.
Electric vehicle drivers will need to be a little more patient. Amazon says it’s working out a discount charging program with bp’s electric charging network that it plans to launch next year.
When Amazon launched Prime in 2005, the program cost $79 a year and introduced America to the idea of “free” two-day shipping.
In 2014, Amazon raised the price of Prime for the first time, increasing the annual subscription to $99. Its most recent hike, bringing it to its current price of $139, took place in 2022. (Amazon also offers month-to-month Prime subscriptions for $14.99.)
To keep customers from grumbling — or canceling — Amazon has built out Prime into more of a full-fledged discount program, adding Prime Video and Amazon Music streaming, pharmacy and health care services, among other perks. Last year, it bundled free DoorDash DashPass subscriptions; this year, it expanded its food-delivery network, offering free Grubhub+ subscriptions to Prime members.
Amazon also has upped the ante on speedy shipping since it first revolutionized e-commerce with its two-day shipping promise. Now, Amazon offers one-day or same-day shipping on millions of items.
While gasoline is a new frontier for Amazon, its archrival Walmart has been offering members of its Walmart+ program discounts on gas since 2020. It expanded the program two years ago to include some 13,000 gas stations.
It’s a timely perk: The average national price of regular gasoline on Monday was $3.13 a gallon, according to GasBuddy. Although this represents a drop of about 6 cents from a month ago, and about 40 cents versus a year ago, families pinched by years of elevated inflation are likely to welcome any reprieve they can get, especially as more companies — Amazon included — implement return-to-office mandates that will saddle more people with the expense of a daily commute once again.
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