Perks Of Your Amazon Prime Membership You Didn't Know You're Missing Out On

One thing binds Americans of all stripes together, regardless of their differences. Something bigger than political allegiance, class, creed, or any other dividing marker separating them. That thing is Amazon Prime. According to the most recent data, a staggering 75% of U.S. shoppers have a Prime membership. That's more than the number who vote, go to baseball games, or attend religious services. The introduction of the membership program was one of Amazon's biggest moments by far. But while hundreds of millions of Americans fork over their cash to the retail giant every month, some on a discounted Prime membership, far fewer actually take advantage of everything to which that fee entitles them. 

If you're like most Prime members, you get your expedited, free shipping on Amazon orders or maybe enjoy a show or two on Prime Video and call it a day. But if that describes you, there is a laundry list of perks that you're missing out on despite paying for them. While Amazon doesn't heavily advertise a lot of its best Prime features and programs, many of them are incredibly useful. Some will save you even more money on Amazon's marketplace, while others will enhance your experience at affiliated companies like Whole Foods. And if you're an avid reader or Kindle user, there are extra goodies just for you. That's why we're rounding up some of the most commonly overlooked Prime benefits. If you're a Prime member who likes saving money and getting free stuff, keep on reading as we explore some of the best perks your Prime membership entitles you.

Prime subscribers not only get access to free shipping, but also free books, comics, and magazines courtesy of Prime Reading and Amazon First Reads. Let's start with the former of those services. Prime Reading is a collection of what Amazon claims to have over a thousand titles that you can read for free, anytime, on a Kindle device or the Kindle mobile app. While that's obviously not even a small sliver of all the titles available in the Kindle store, it does still encompass some compelling options. 

At the time of writing, there are a plethora of Marvel, "Star Trek," and "Star Wars" comics on offer, including seminal stories like Marvel's "House of M" by Brian Michael Bendis and compendiums like "The Amazing Spider-Man" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. For lovers of literary fiction, there is the Amazon Original short story "Cut & Thirst" by Margaret Atwood, while those interested in social theory can read "The Gift of Black Folk" by the towering American intellectual W. E. B. Du Bois. What's on offer from Prime Reading may differ depending on when you read this article, but the picks are certainly worth browsing.

Next, Amazon First Reads differs from Prime Reading in that, rather than offering selected titles from across history; it offers selected titles from the future. Each month, Amazon editors pick a handful of upcoming, unreleased titles that Prime subscribers can read in advance of their launch dates. You'll find everything from book club fiction to thrillers, romance, and fantasy. If you've been looking for an excuse to read more, and if you're a Prime subscriber, these two programs are an incredible way to get back in touch with your love of books without spending a single extra penny.

We all need to eat, and we don't always have the time or ability to cook. That's one reason why app-based restaurant delivery services have become so popular. But if you're already paying for Amazon Prime, there's no need to spend money on another subscription or delivery fees in DoorDash or Uber Eats. With Prime, you get a free Grubhub subscription that guarantees free delivery on orders over $12 (which, given the cost of food these days, should be the vast majority of orders). If Grubhub has a presence in your area, there's a good chance most of your usual favorite restaurants are available on its app, which makes it worthwhile to check out next time you're in the mood to order from that Thai spot you can't get enough of.

Grubhub usually carries national chains as well, from Chipotle to Popeyes. With no delivery fee, you'll pay for the food itself, along with any taxes and fees applicable in your locale. And, of course, you should always tip your delivery driver since drivers rely on tips for a significant portion of their income. Honestly, the main problem with Grubhub+ as a Prime perk is how easy it becomes to spend far more than you intended on take-out and delivery. Activating this perk should be as easy as heading to Amazon's Grubhub+ Prime Offer landing page.

The main problem with online clothes shopping is that it's nearly impossible to tell whether the items you buy will fit or look good on you. If they don't, you're left hoping that the retailer you purchased from has a generous return policy, lest you be stuck with your ill-fitting haul. Amazon Prime makes the process much easier with the Try Before You Buy program, which lets you pick multiple items of clothing and send back the ones you don't like. Not only that, but you won't even have to pay until you've picked the items you plan on keeping.

Not all clothes on Amazon are eligible for Try Before You Buy, but many are. The process is simple if you want to give the service a try. Simply add items labeled Try Before You Buy to your cart and check out. The checkout process will look a little different than usual since you're not actually paying yet. Once you receive all the items in your order, you'll have one week to return what you don't plan on keeping, after which you'll be charged only for what you do.

While Try Before You Buy is extremely convenient for online shoppers, you should be aware that there's a very high likelihood that the items you return will end up in a landfill. As reported by CNBC, most of the items returned to Amazon are never restocked, even if they're in perfect condition, and although Amazon claims it is working toward "zero product disposal," 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions are generated. How you choose to shop is your choice, of course, but it's worth bearing in mind this hidden cost.

Like other tech companies, Amazon has made forays into gaming for a number of years. One fruit of those efforts is Prime Gaming, a suite of benefits specifically for gamers who subscribe to Amazon Prime. In addition to cloud streaming for massive titles like "Fallout," "Fortnite," and more, Prime Gaming offers a new, free PC game every week to download and permanently own, as well as free loot in popular games. For instance, one drop for "Destiny 2" included an exclusive, plaid-colored armor shader along with a special set of vehicles, while the most recent "Apex Legends" drop includes AR and SMG Thematic Packs, along with an Apex Pack and 10 Battle Pass Stars. All you'll need to do to access these benefits, other than signing up for Amazon Prime, is to connect your gaming accounts to the Prime Gaming website.

Free game streaming through Amazon Luna is perhaps the best perk here, at least if you've got a robust internet connection. At the time of writing, "Fortnite" and "Fallout: New Vegas" are free-to-play for Prime members. But the free weekly games are equally enticing since you'll get to keep them even if you stop subscribing to Prime. And if you play any live service games or looter shooters, you'll definitely want to keep an eye on the free Prime Gaming loot since it often contains exclusive items you can't get in-game otherwise. Additionally, Prime Gaming is tied into Twitch, the live-streaming platform owned by Amazon. Prime subscribers get one free Twitch channel subscription per month, meaning you can support your favorite streamer without needing to shell out money for their subscription. If you already subscribe to Prime, and if you're a PC gamer, Prime Gaming is well worth checking out.

Amazon Music is available in a limited fashion to subscribers of Amazon Prime, as is its podcast library. While the full experience of Amazon Music includes the ability to make playlists, play individual songs, listen to HD music, and more, these features are restricted to the Amazon Music Unlimited subscription tier, but the Prime version still comes with unlimited listening. One strange limitation is that you can't skip more than a few tracks at a time on the Prime tier of Amazon Music, which feels like a throwback to the days when Pandora was the king of music streaming. Still, some people are not massive consumers of music and don't want to pay for a premium subscription to Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music, so the built-in access to the basics of the latter service will certainly be welcome to some Amazon Prime members.

The Prime version of Amazon Music also comes with access to ad-free podcasts. The platform has a rather robust library of podcasts ranging from "NPR News Now" and other NPR shows to true crime shows like "Morbid" and political punditry like "Pod Save America," "Morning Joe," and "The Ben Shapiro Show." Those with fandom allegiances may take interest in content like "The Official Game of Thrones Podcast: House of the Dragon," while fans of science-fiction can enjoy "The Uncanny Magazine Podcast." With the exception of some podcasts that remain exclusive to one platform or another (for example, "The Joe Rogan Experience" is a Spotify exclusive), you'll seldom struggle to find any of the most popular podcasts on Amazon Music. For those who want to maximize the value of their Prime subscription and don't want to shell out for a separate streaming service, Amazon Music is a great Prime perk.

What many people don't realize about Amazon is that it isn't just a marketplace for consumer goods. The company also runs a vast cloud computing and web service called Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon's servers are home to the web presence of, among others, government agencies, including the CIA and NASA, Snapchat, and Netflix. It makes sense, then, that Amazon is willing to break off a chunk of its enormous server space for its own paying Prime subscribers. Those paying for Amazon's all-inclusive membership have access to unlimited photo storage through Amazon Photos, along with 5 GB of video storage. While the video storage allotment is a bit meager — videos are quite large, especially now that many smartphones can shoot in up to 8K and RAW — on the other hand, server space is a valuable resource, so unlimited photo storage at no extra cost is a welcome addition for many Prime members.

At first blush, Amazon Photos will look suspiciously familiar to users of the beloved Google Photos, with an interface far too similar to Google's offering to be a coincidence. However, unlike Google's service, Amazon Photos lacks the free AI features Google Photos brings to the table, and it offers relatively few editing options. It's a rather bare-boned storage solution that seems designed to give you straightforward access to your media or share photos with friends and family. You can sort photos into albums and search them by time or place or search based on objects in the photos. You can also share photos with loved ones using the Family Vault feature. Amazon Photos is perfect for those who are deep in the Amazon ecosystem, or for whom the free version of Google Photos does not provide enough photo storage.