Date: March 17, 2022
Contact: mediacenter@freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org
Shot: Amazon is raising prices for its shoppers and third-party sellers…
“Earlier this month, Amazon’s free-shipping-plus-video Prime membership increased to $139 from $119 annually for new sign-ups. The change goes into effect for current members after March 25.” (Wall Street Journal, “Cope With the Rising Cost of Digital Subscriptions, From Netflix to Amazon Prime,” 2/27/22)
“Storage fees are going up approximately 10.5% for both standard size and oversize items from January to September. … The fee increases scheduled in 2022 are some of the biggest increases ever.” (EcomCrew, “Amazon FBA Fees in 2022 Are Going Up – How Much?,” (2/13/22)
Chaser: … despite seeing tremendous financial growth…
“Revenue at Amazon Web Services climbed almost 40% to $17.78 billion, topping analysts’ estimates.” (CNBC, “Amazon shares soar on cloud revenue beat and huge profit gain from Rivian stake,” 2/3/22)
“The company’s net income nearly doubled last quarter compared to the same period the previous year, in large part because of its investment in Rivian (RIVN). Amazon reported $14.3 billion in net income for Q4, compared to $7.2 billion during the last three months of 2020.” (Yahoo Finance, “Amazon stock soars 15% after earnings, will hike Prime membership fee,” 2/3/22)
“Last November, Amazon had the most successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the company’s history, almost three months before raising its Prime subscription prices.” (Fortune, “Bernie Sanders rips McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Amazon for ‘corporate greed” as they post huge profits and price hikes,” 2/22/22)
Chaser: … and at a time when Americans are finding it harder to make ends meet.
“As daily life gets more expensive, workers are having a harder time making ends meet. While wage growth is high by historical standards, it isn’t keeping up with the increased cost of living, which is growing at the fastest annual pace in about four decades.” (CNBC, “As inflation heats up, 64% of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck,” 3/8/22)
“Twenty-six percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business, a four-point increase since December and the highest reading since the third quarter of 1981.” (National Federation of Independent Businesses, “Twenty-six percent of owners report inflation as most important business problem,” 3/8/22)
###
The Free & Fair Markets Initiative (FFMI) is a nonprofit watchdog group committed to promoting a fair, modern marketplace that works for all Americans. For more information on the Free & Fair Markets Initiative, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org/.
