Amazon Prime Ends Sharing Across Households

Amazon Prime is adjusting restrictions for users. Photo by stockcatalog via Flickr.

Amazon Prime is cracking down on account sharing and will now require members to live at the same address, a change that is hitting college students especially hard.

At the end of this month, Amazon will end its Prime Invitee Program, which, since 2009, allowed members to share shipping benefits with anyone, regardless of where they lived. 

The company announced that Prime benefits will now only be shareable through its Amazon Family program. Under this system, members can share with one other adult and up to four teens or children, but all must live in the same household.

For students, the change alters how they access fast delivery and streaming services. 

“I absolutely hate that you have to have the same address in order to use Amazon Prime,” said Giselle Smith ‘28. “As an out-of-state college student, this new policy that they put in place is frustrating.”

Netflix introduced a similar restriction two years ago, limiting account access to a single household. Some students believe Amazon is motivated by the same reasons.

“I know they’re doing it to make more money, but I think it will have the opposite effect,” said Emily Dene ‘28. “People will just order it from somewhere else or go out and buy it.”

Some students have called for further changes to make Prime accessible. “I think Prime should be free for college students,” said Antonia Stewart ‘28.

With Prime now following Netflix’s lead, students are adjusting to new limits on sharing services that were once easily split among family and friends.