True, but every time I choose that option Amazon takes a week before they even ship anything. (it then arrives in a few days) Back before prime everything I ordered from Amazon shipped next day, or I got an out of stock email and the rest shipped the next day and arrived in a few days. Sure free shipping was advertised as whenever, but the reality was free shipping used to mean about a week not it means 2 weeks to a month. This is a massive loss in satisfaction. There are many things that waiting a week is acceptable, but two weeks is beyond what I'm able to plan in advance for.
I have never ordered enough from amazon to make prime worth considering. The troubles I've had lately mean I just assume Amazon won't ship in time and so once I see something on amazon that I think I want I look to see who else sells it. I'll pay $.50 extra to have it shipped the next day.
Get a business account and order more than $49 at a time and you'll get free two day shipping.
Also, note that Amazon may take time to ship because they're sending it between their warehouses to ship from a closer location. For popular items they'll likely already have one near you, but for less popular ones they move it around before final delivery. So just because it takes time to ship doesn't mean it won't arrive as fast as other options. What counts is the expected delivery time, which is given when you order.
I have never ordered enough from amazon to make prime worth considering. The troubles I've had lately mean I just assume Amazon won't ship in time and so once I see something on amazon that I think I want I look to see who else sells it. I'll pay $.50 extra to have it shipped the next day.