This is why you can't use Subscribe & Save!< absolutefutility >
Amazon Prime lets you "subscribe" to certain items that you use regularly and it gives you a discount on the item when you order it. So, for items you use all the time - food items, for example - like crackers or soda or mayo - classic staples, you can just set them up to show up at a predetermined amount of time when you'd hopefully be ready for more.
I can count on one hand the number of times that the item I subscribed to was actually going to be automatically shipped to me at the time I was ready to need it.
And, because its automatic, you don't get a notification that its about to be charged to your account and sent! Plus, being that its a FOOD item, you can't return it if you don't want it!
So, you either don't need it when its ready to be shipped because you haven't used it all up, or you need it sooner because you have. Either way, the system is better in theory than it is in reality.
But there's a much bigger problem. Since the items are just "Amazon adjacent", meaning they're sold through Amazon and not BY Amazon, the biggest problem is that the item you bought three months ago for $5 will automatically ship to you at some new price that is WAY higher than the last one.
I had this problem continuously with subscribing to Diet Coke. I'd get one order for $5 for a 12-pack and then when the next one was getting ready to ship, the cost would jump up to some ridiculous number like $12! For "subscribe & save" to work, the price needs to be the same every time the subscription is fulfilled. There can't be any random jumps in pricing.
This is where Amazon gets it wrong. They should have it set up so that, when you sign up, you lock in the price you agreed to at that time, and this would incentivize KEEPING the subscription over the long-term.
But, of course, Amazon sees itself as the richest company in the world...and it behaves like it doesn't care.