The price of Amazon Prime is going up in the US, but not in Canada

Big things are happening for online retail giant Amazon. Earlier this month it was reported that they are working on their own smart home robot named Vesta, and at the end of last week they reported that this past quarter showed significant growth.

Amazon said that net income rose to $1.6 billion US, or $3.27 per share, in the first quarter of 2018. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts on average were expecting $1.26 per share. In addition, sales rose 43% to $51.0 billion US in the quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $49.8 billion US.

Seems like everything was coming up Milhouse for Amazon last week, however they have since faced some bad press and customer backlash. Along with increased sales, the retailer also announced that Thursday Night Football will be coming to their streaming service, and that they will be raising their Amazon Prime membership prices.

The price for an US Amazon Prime account is $99, and they are looking at raising it to $119, a price increase of 20%. The higher fee will go into effect for new members beginning May 11th of this year. For renewals of existing memberships, the increase will begin on June 16th. Amazon said the high cost of the membership is to cover the rising costs it takes to maintain the program, such as shipping fees.

It looks like however, that the change will only affect US Prime members, and not those with Canadian accounts. The price for a Canadian Amazon Prime account is $79 a year. So, those of us up north can continue to enjoy 2-day shipping and Amazon’s video and music service at the same price as before.