auh, i see what you're saying. until fairly recently, i wasn't truly online for about 7-8 years, only occasionally posting from a public PC, but never buying anything, so i'm a tad ignorant about what has transpired before now. however, just quick number crunching told me that Prime is not a good deal at all. it also took me a while to understand all the various ways the MP forces vendors to price things, which coupons work, blahblah. i've since given up, for the most part, purchasing from this site due to things surrounding pricing and the poor search engine in the MP. it's disheartening to continuously read how unhappy folks have become regarding this site as a whole since the changes - i can relate to so much of it... sigh...

the thing with Prime is that i feel as if TPTB are trying to manipulate me into joining through various triggers, and the more i feel that way, the harder i dig in my heels in opposition as i value the feeling of freewill far more than i do money, or saving it...