4 Signs You're Not Taking Advantage of Your Amazon Prime Membership

The $139 fee I pay each year for Amazon Prime is a no-brainer for my household. My Prime membership saves me countless trips to the store each year, so that alone is worth the fee.

See, not only do I spend less on gas purchases thanks to my Prime membership, but I also spend less time at the store. The result? More working hours, which translates into more income since I'm self-employed.

Plus, my family tends to use Amazon's free content to some degree. That's not the main reason I pay for a membership, but it's a nice bonus.

Clearly, I'm a firm believer that an Amazon Prime membership can be worth the money. But it's really only worth it if you're making good use of your membership. Here are a few signs that may not be the case.

1. You place orders infrequently

I can say with ease that I place an Amazon Prime order at least once a week -- sometimes multiple times per week. But if you only place the occasional order, you may be better off just paying for shipping when you need it (unless you're regularly taking advantage of another Prime benefit, like streaming content or free books and music).

The cost to ship items as a non-Prime member can vary depending on their size and weight. But all told, if you're placing fewer than, say, eight or nine orders per year and aren't really using the non-shipping benefits offered by Prime, then you may want to reconsider keeping or renewing your membership.

To be clear, you shouldn't buy extra things on Amazon for the purpose of using your membership. Rather, it's that if you're not ordering from the site often, it may be that you don't need Prime, or that you're running to your local big-box store in lieu of placing a Prime order too often. So all told, you may want to revisit your shopping habits across the board.

2. You mostly place larger orders

The benefit of Amazon Prime is scoring free shipping on orders of any size. Want a $4 box of markers? Amazon will ship it and you won't have to pay (other than the $4, of course).

But if you mostly place orders of $35 or more on Amazon, then you may not need Prime. The reason? Orders of that size ship for free. (Note that in some ZIP codes, you may still be able to get free shipping at $25.) And while you won't get two-day shipping, Amazon is known for its ability to ship items efficiently.

It pays to look through your orders from the past three to six months. If they're all larger, you may be able to save your money and cancel Prime.

3. You don't try before you buy

Amazon tends to have a pretty generous return policy. But still, what might happen is you place an order, your credit card gets charged, and by the time you return an unwanted item, you're stuck paying your credit card bill in full while you wait to be refunded.

If you're a Prime member, you can easily avoid this scenario with apparel and footwear. That's because Prime members can take advantage of the Try Before You Buy program. You order items and get a seven-day try-on period once they arrive. If you don't want to keep the items, you send them back and your credit card isn't charged.

4. You run to the store for last-minute purchases before seeing if you can get them shipped same-day

You may be inclined to run to the store when you need last-minute items in a pinch. But if you're a Prime member, you may be able to spare yourself those trips.

Certain Prime items are available for same-day shipping. This will of course depend on your location and the items you're looking to purchase. But before you upend your day with a last-minute errand the next time a situation like this arises, spend 60 seconds on Amazon to see if the things you need can be shipped to your home same-day.

Many people would argue that paying the $139 annual fee for Amazon Prime is reasonable. Heck, I'm fine with paying it because I get a lot of value out of my membership. But if you're going to spend the money, you might as well get the most out of Prime yourself. And if you realize you can do without Prime, you might as well cancel your membership and use that money for other things -- or put it in the bank, where it can serve you equally well.