[mattmaroon]

I have had Prime literally since the day it launched. It makes little difference really. People without Prime in my area generally get stuff in a couple days. And few orders are below the free shipping threshhold. I'd bet the vast majority of Amazon orders have free shipping and as a result, the cost is factored in.

Maybe I'm lucky (price-wise) to live in suburbia. Example from yesterday, I bought some bromine for my hot tub on Amazon (cheapest they had because it's all the same) then in Lowe's later the same day saw it for less than half the price. Didn't even know Lowe's sold it!

Amazon prices are really only competitive on things that have a high cost to shipping weight ratio. Buy anything that is bulky or low margin (most stuff in Wal-Mart outside of electronics is one of those) and it's considerably more.

Also, there are a large number of items, like a Nest Thermostat, that for one reason or another have the same price anywhere. Those I buy on Amazon as well.