A Prime conundrum

Age of the Geek column: Amazon is probably evil. As the world's leading online retailer they've ruthlessly dominated the marketplace with few qualms about wielding their monopolistic power like a blunt instrument.
They muscle out their competition while paying their employees barely livable wages all the while raking in billions upon billions in profit. They are the Wal-Mart of the internet.
For the good of society as a whole, it would probably be best in the long run if we collectively boycotted Amazon out of existence.
But Amazon Prime is such a good deal.
It's terrible, but true. For all their issues, I still have to admit that Amazon Prime is the best money I spend every year.
Granted, everybody's usage may vary, but I've been frequently and consistently impressed by the value proposition of Amazon's membership program. Particularly since the $99 I spend every year seems to grant me more and more.
As a semi-regular online shopper, the free two-day shipping alone generally makes my Prime membership pay for itself over the course of the year. No more having to load up my cart with things I don't really need in order to hit that free shipping threshold. If I need a replacement head for my electronic toothbrush or a new fan for my PC, I can have it delivered with a press of a button without worrying about shipping costs.
Beyond the free shipping though, Prime offers several other services that I've found handy.
I don't often listen to music, but when I do Prime Music has enough albums on hand for me to make a lengthy playlist. Likewise, while Prime Video may not be leading the pack when it comes to online streaming services, there are a few shows exclusive to the service that shouldn't be missed and its movie selection is surprisingly good.
I wouldn't subscribe to either of them on their own merit, but it's sure nice to have them attached to something I'm already paying for.
There's little doubt that I'm getting my money's worth out of Amazon Prime and it feels like they just keep adding more value to it.
So much so that I completely understood why Amazon announced that the annual membership rate for Prime would be increasing from $99 to $119. Price hikes are inevitable regardless and Amazon Prime has added so much since I first got it that it seems perfectly fair to raise the price.
But then the hits have kept coming. Last week Amazon announced that it would be rolling back two popular benefits of Prime, specifically targeting gamers.
The first cut went to Twitch Prime. Twitch.tv is the largest video game live-streaming service on the internet and, because it's owned by Amazon, Prime members get some special benefits. Twitch Prime gives users the occasional free game or in-game item and a monthly token for a free subscription to the streamer of the user's choice. But most importantly, Twitch Prime gives users an ad-free viewing experience because, as everybody knows, there's nothing denizens of the internet despise more than advertisements standing between them and their content of choice.
But advertisements make the world go around and Twitch is no exception. Amazon recently set a $1 billion advertising sales goal for Twitch and it seems that they're looking to give themselves a head start by removing the ad-free viewing perk from Twitch Prime users. With 100 million Prime subscribers, even if only a fraction of them are regular Twitch viewers, that's a lot of eyeballs to put advertising in front of.
Those that really want to keep their Twitch experience ad-free will have to pony up $9 a month for Twitch Turbo instead.
But it gets worse. Not only is the game streaming experience taking a hit, but so is the game buying experience.
For a couple years now gamers with Amazon Prime have been able to enjoy a 20% discount when they pre-order video games. Now, in most circumstances, pre-ordering a video game is a bad practice for the consumer. You should never give money up front for a game because you never know when a game is going to end up being a buggy mess. But Amazon doesn't actually charge you until the game ships and there's no penalty for canceling if early reviews aren't positive, so there's no harm in making your reservation.
It's a better deal than you'll find most anywhere else. So much so that Amazon has been gradually rolling it back. Initially it was 20% off on pretty much any new video game, including expensive Collector's Editions. That had to have been costing more money than Amazon was comfortable with so last year the discount was restricted to just standard physical copies.
Still, $12 off a standard $60 game is nothing to scoff at either. Alas, that too seems to be too good a deal for Amazon to maintain. Starting this week, Prime members that pre-order will instead get a $10 Amazon credit. A $10 credit that must be used within 60 days and can only be applied to certain items.
That's a far cry from just having an extra $12 in your bank account.
As a cape wearing scoundrel once said, "This deal is getting worse all the time."
But is the glass half-empty or half-full?
On the one hand, when I renew my Amazon Prime membership next year, I'll be paying more and getting less than I did the year before. The value proposition of Prime has objectively decreased. That's a hard pill to swallow.
At the same time, that's almost an irrational response. There's little doubt that Prime is still an overall great deal. The discount on my Washington Post subscription alone still pays for more than half of the increased membership cost. It's going to take a lot of cuts before Prime stops being worth the money.
Still, rational or not, I can't help but resent Amazon for making me reconsider the value of Prime in the first place, even if the judgment still comes out in their favor. That's the double-edged sword of continually topping yourself.
Five years ago I was satisfied with free shipping and a lackluster streaming service. Next year I'll have the same free shipping, a vastly improved streaming service, free video games (that I'll probably never play), music, and more. Complaining about having ads on Twitch and not getting as big a discount on video games seems pretty petty in that respect.
Still, back to the first hand, nobody likes paying more for less. And that is perfectly natural.
I don't know how to feel about these recent developments, but I do know Amazon is getting my money regardless so it's probably a moot point. For now.
Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and would feel a lot better about cuts to Prime if Amazon employees were all making a living wage.