Amazon Mom

Brandon, here. And apparently I am a mom. An Amazon Mom, that is.

Let me back up to January 2008. I was looking at a $79 bill from Amazon and could not identify what the order was. Asking Tassi, she admitted she did some Christmas shopping on Amazon the previous month. Upon checkout she selected on "Free Shipping by signing up for Amazon Prime" option. Prime is a program at Amazon where many items are free 2-day shipping. Only the program costs $79 a year.

I teased Tassi quite a bit for inadvertently falling into an e-commerce "upsell" trick. I'm sure I asked if she is sponsoring a Nigerian prince estranged from his family. I was also a little mad at Amazon for charging $79 for shipping this item and calling it "free shipping."

But then I did the math. We'd have to ship 20 to 25 things to pay for itself. I checked the previous year's number of orders. 30 shipments. OK, status quo would pay for itself. Nice. We kept Amazon Prime.

Then, about a year ago, I discovered Amazon's Subscribe and Save program. Sign up for automated delivery of products at monthly intervals. Dallin was a few months old and Camden was still in diapers. Either we continue to periodically run to the grocery or drug store at 11 PM when we realize we just used the last diaper, or use Amazon Subscribe and Save to schedule delivery. Seemed an obvious choice.

Not only is Subscribe and Save convenient, it saves loads of money. On average 20-25% of what you pay retail. Nice! How this works is Amazon has a "general" discount just because it is an item being sold on Amazon. Then the "save" part of "Subscribe and Save" kicks in the form of 15% off the Amazon price. Again, nice!

And it has worked out pretty great. In fact, we have since extended Subscribe and Save to many products. In fact, nearly all household goods, barring food, are shipped to us through Amazon Subscribe and Save. This includes: Tide, Charmin, Brawny, Windex, Chlorox wipes, Reynolds wrap, Hefty bags, Ziplock bags, Huggies diapers and wipes, and more and more.

All delivered to our door. We are on a hill. Our UPS guy must hate us. And shipping is free to us because it is under the Prime program.

So, how am I a mom?

Well, this last summer, I got an email from Amazon as part of the Prime program, asking if I wanted to be an Amazon Mom. Amazon has been trying to get the word out on Prime. For instance, college students get Prime for free. Smart for Amazon, while freshmen are getting addicted to their first credit card, get them addicted to free shipping. So, it seems Amazon is targeting moms. And this is how it works:

• 30% off select diapers and wipes: As an Amazon Mom, you receive an additional 15% discount on top of the standard 15% discount on Subscribe & Save when you sign up for Subscribe & Save delivery. Subscribe & Save shipping is always free, and you can change your delivery schedule or cancel at any time. No fees, no risks, no obligations.

• FREE 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime: When you join Amazon Mom, you will receive FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime for the first 3 months of your membership. For each $25 you spend within a single order in the Baby store, we’ll grant you an additional month of Amazon Prime shipping benefits. You can earn up to one year from the date you joined Amazon Mom.

Awesome. I was already subscribed to diapers that happened to come to $26 a month. So, I get to pocket $79 a year AND earn 30% of diapers and wipes instead of 15%.

Seemed an obvious choice. And seems like the easiest way for this dad to become a mom. An Amazon Mom, that is.