Amazon Has Ended Shared Free Shipping to Encourage More Individual Subscriptions

The crackdown on password sharing has come for many of your favorite subscription services, and now, the AP is reporting that Amazon is ending a program that allows users to share free shipping with people who live at a different primary address. The program, which is often called shared free shipping, allowed people with Prime subscriptions to extend those benefits to other people.

Following the news that it was coming to an end on Oct. 1, many wanted to know more about why Amazon had decided to wind the program down. Here's what we know.

Amazon made the announcement on the customer service section of the website, and while the company didn't offer an explicit business explanation for their decision, it did include an appealing offer. It's encouraging people who are not currently Prime members to sign up at the discounted rate of $14.99 for one year. After that, the price of the subscription will be $14.99 a month or $139 a year. That offer starts on Sept. 5 and is valid through the end of the year.

It seems, then, like the basic rationale for this change is to incentivize more individual subscriptions and therefore more revenue for Amazon. Amazon did announce, however, that it was replacing the Prime Invitee program with Amazon Family, which gives account holders the ability to get the free two-day shipping perk as well as a broad range of other perks like exclusive deals and movies.

What's changed is that you can share all of those benefits with only one other adult in their household, up to four teens (who were added before April 7), and up to four profiles for children, according to Amazon's website. The adult can be a spouse, roommate, or other family member. It seems clear, then, that Amazon is trying to limit the sharing of Prime information across households.

The news that Amazon is changing its approach to sharing free shipping comes as the retailer is also trying to improve its delivery speeds in more remote parts of the country. That means that the benefits of Prime's shipping network will be even greater in the months to come in more places across the country, even if more people are also now required to pay for it.

The yearly subscription for just $14.99 is a good deal, although it's also definitely designed to get people to sign up and then renew at the higher price point. It seems designed to make the transition away from free Prime benefits as seamless as possible, even if it's still costing you more than it did before.

If you're someone who has benefited from shared free shipping, you still have one more month to stock up on all of the essentials you might usually purchase through Amazon. Or, you can sign up for a subscription yourself if you've decided you really need it.