On Thursday, Amazon announced that they are increasing the annual price for Prime memberships by about 20 percent.
Starting May 11, 2018, the cost of annual Prime membership for new members will jump from $99 a year, to $119 a year. Annual Prime Student membership will cost $59 a year.
The same increased prices will begin for existing Prime members on June 16, 2018. Annual Prime members will receive an email with their renewal details in May.
In January, Amazon increased the monthly Prime membership fee from $10.99 to $12.99. Monthly Prime members continue to pay $12.99 per month. Monthly Prime Student members continue to pay $6.49 per month.
According to CNBC, the company's chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky attributes the increase to the service's rising costs, releasing the following statement:
"The value of Prime to customers has never been greater. And the cost is also high, as we pointed out especially with shipping options and digital benefits, we continue to see rises in costs. So effective May 11, we're going to increase the price of our U.S. annual plan from $99 to $119 for new members. The new price will apply to renewals starting on June 16. Prime provides a unique combination of benefits, and we continue to invest in making this Prime program even more valuable for our members. As a reminder, we haven't increased the U.S. annual price Prime since our single increase, which was in March of 2014."
For more details about, or to make changes to your membership go to Manage Amazon Prime Membership.
