As I was sloshing through the extraordinary amount of junk mail that somehow makes it into my email inbox these days, I saw one that was a big red flag.  

The message started: “Dear Amazon Prime Member.” Uh oh. Anytime there’s an email starting with a “Dear” followed by a “Member” it usually means whatever you’re a member of is jacking up the rates. 

In this case, it was no different. Rather than jacking up the rates straightaway, however, Amazon Prime is doing it sideways. They’re going to put ads in their Amazon Video movies and TV shows. Oh, but you can avoid the ads for an additional fee of $2.99 per month.  

Gee, thanks.   

While my initial knee-jerk reaction was panic and the automatic desire to pay anything just to avoid the ads, I sat through the panic and let level-headed thinking come in. I know, right? That’s HUGE! 

Anyway, this level-headed thinking posed a series of questions. Do you even watch the Prime Video shows? Not really. Would you care if they left? Not really. Then why are you so tangled up over it? It’s the principle of the thing. I’m sick of the consistent greed.  

 When I first joined Amazon Prime after it launched in 2005, it was $79 per year. Then it went up to $99 in 2014. OK, I get it. A $20 increase after nine years. That’s do-able.  

But then it became $119 in 2018. Then $139 in 2022. And now you have to deal with ads unless you pay to avoid them in 2024. Notice the greed increases are getting closer and closer together, following the same escalation pattern as a serial killer. We shudder to see what’s next. 

Not only that, but you have to pay extra for Amazon Music if you want to listen to anything beyond a song or two from your favorite bands – and the top 10 songs from some person you never heard of whose voice sounds like a cat wailing in pain.  

Sure, the books on Amazon still rock. And you can find pretty good deals on some reputable items. But a lot of the other stuff for sale has become total junk. Even when you buy a name-brand something, you have to be wary that it’s not an imitation – or absolute garbage.  

The wolf coffee mugs are a prime example (pun not intended). The big, bright wolf image in the product picture was decidedly NOT the tiny, dark wolf image on the actual mugs I received. 

Although I contacted the seller within days, the purchase was not eligible for a refund. So no, they wouldn’t give me one. But they could send me a new set of mugs that looked like the picture in the listing sporting the big, bright wolf image. They eventually did.   

The replacement mugs actually looked good – until the image started peeling off and leaving scraps of peeled-off wolf face in the sink. (This was even without putting them in the dishwasher.) 

No, I didn’t bother contacting the seller a second time. And that’s probably what they were hoping. If they wear us down with junk long enough, we’ll eventually become too weary to fight back. 

And I was. Until now. Enough is enough! I am cutting myself loose from this prime madness. I refuse to pay another penny in fees for this, that or the other thing. I refuse to settle for junky products just because they have free shipping. Care to join me? 

Talk about huge. This shift is about much more than paying an extra $3 a month to avoid advertisements in our paid streaming. It’s about closing our mouths to the junk that keeps getting shoved down our throats – the junk we readily swallow but rarely digest because we’re too busy buying more, more, more. 

It’s about stepping out of the merry-go-round of mindless purchases just because they are fast and easy to make. It’s about using our money wisely, making that energetic exchange for meaningful services and products that help us prosper and grow. 

It’s about letting go of all that is holding is down. The attachment to things is certainly one of them.  

So thank you, Amazon Prime, for opening my eyes to the cycle of greed in which I was an eager player. I no longer have to participate. Neither do you.  

One of my favorite quotes is: “Being grateful for what we have turns what we have into enough.” While the quote is hanging in my office looking all spiritual, that’s about all it’s been doing. It’s high time to actually start living it. Kick back. Let go. See what happens.

Heck, it’s got to be better than drowning in mounds of junk – like coffee mugs with peeling-off wolf faces. Happy 2024! 

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Ryn Gargulinski is an award-winning author, artist and Reiki master who vows never to buy wolf mugs on Amazon again. Check out her latest book: “How to Get Through Hell on Earth without Drinking a Keg or Kicking a Garden Gnome.” Get your copy or learn more at RynskiLife.com.

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