I'm fine with Amazon's add-on program - it lets me get small low-priced items much cheaper than they would be if they were priced to cover the shipping cost.
For example, a 2 pack of Sharpie pens is $1.77 with "add-on" shipping, $3.09 from a non-amazon merchant with 1 week shipping, or $6.98 from Amazon for prime 2 day shipping.
If I'm not in a hurry, I can either add it to my cart and keep it there until I find $23 more stuff to purchase, or I can buy the $3.09 product and wait a week for it to arrive.
If I'm in a hurry, I can pay the $7 or keep shopping until I hit the $25 add-on shipping limit (which is usually not too hard to do, I can add laundry detergent or some other consumables that I know I'll need).
What's not to like? Fast shipping if I want it (and am willing to pay for it), slower shipping if I don't.
Still better than making a special trip to Office Max (a 20 minute drive) just to get a pen.
For example, a 2 pack of Sharpie pens is $1.77 with "add-on" shipping, $3.09 from a non-amazon merchant with 1 week shipping, or $6.98 from Amazon for prime 2 day shipping.
If I'm not in a hurry, I can either add it to my cart and keep it there until I find $23 more stuff to purchase, or I can buy the $3.09 product and wait a week for it to arrive.
If I'm in a hurry, I can pay the $7 or keep shopping until I hit the $25 add-on shipping limit (which is usually not too hard to do, I can add laundry detergent or some other consumables that I know I'll need).
What's not to like? Fast shipping if I want it (and am willing to pay for it), slower shipping if I don't.
Still better than making a special trip to Office Max (a 20 minute drive) just to get a pen.