Amazon just got a little less generous with its Prime membership perks.
Starting on Oct. 1, Prime members will no longer be able to share the free two-day shipping benefit with people outside of their household, as spotted by the Associated Press (AP).
Previously, the Prime Invitee Program let Prime members share with one other adult, even if they had a different home address. But that's being replaced by a program called Amazon Family which only extends Prime membership benefits to people sharing the same home address, according to a notice on the Amazon site.
The change comes after a report that Prime signups leading up to its Prime Day event — which was extended to a whopping four days this year — were down compared to previous years. According to Reuters, Amazon missed their projected goal by about 2 percent.
The new program, Amazon Family will offer Prime benefits to one other adult, up to four teens (if added to the membership before April 17, 2025), and up to four children — as long as they all have the same primary address.
Adults sharing the Prime membership have to share payment methods to verify their billing addresses and link their accounts through the Amazon Family program. Students and Prime members between the ages of 18 and 22, free trial members, and Prime Video-only members aren't able to join the sharing program, so college kids are out of luck.
If you don't have the same address, Amazon says you'll have to sign up for your own Prime account. The AP reported that Amazon is offering a limited time discount of $14.99 a year, which is valid through Dec. 31. After that, you'll have to pay the full subscription price of $14.99 per month, or $139 annually.
The Prime membership is a solid deal for people who buy lots of products from the retail giant. It offers free two-day shipping, exclusive Prime Day deals, access to Prime Video, audiobooks, and other benefits.
