Timing For Amazon Prime Rate Increases Suspect

I AM NOT CHASTISING JEFF BEZOS OF AMAZON FOR RECENTLY ANNOUNCING HE WILL RAISE MONTHLY AMAZON PRIME RATES—ALTHOUGH HE WILL KEEP THE ANNUAL AMOUNT AT $99—but I do think that the timing of making such a decision may be a bit...well, off. The thing is not just that Amazon is nearly a trillion dollar market cap company, nor that Jeff Bezos recently took the lead in becoming not only the richest man in the world, but the richest man in history.

For me the decision is simply a bit confusing considering that at the same time we have the Trump tax cuts which will no doubt provide a significant boost to Amazon's bottom line, if you look at all of the numbers for the company...

AMAZON IS NOT EXACTLY HURTING FOR MONEY.

Amazon will be raising both its monthly prime rates from $10.99 to $12.99 and student prime rates from $5.49 to $6.49. That's an 18% increase for anyone who wanted to know, which I also think is quite a substantial increase.

Back in 2014 Amazon did also significantly increase its annual prime membership from $79 to $99 a year.

While Amazon cannot be denied anything at all for its benefit to American workers seeking jobs, and ones mind you that don't pay all that poorly either, and they also recently announced they have narrowed down their options for a second headquarters which will provide upwards of 50,000 new jobs, they also have not announced any worker bonuses after the tax cuts became law, nor have they mentioned increasing anyone's wages.

It should be mentioned that Jeff Bezos is also unusually non-philanthropic when compared to other billionaires on a percentage basis. Although he did recently announce offering $33 million to Dreamers for college—a bit of a controversial move no doubt.

But it begs a question for me when you put both that donation for the Dreamers into view along with his decision to raise prime rates and not offer bonuses or wage increases.

IS THIS JEFF BEZOS' WAY OF STICKING IT BACK TO PRESIDENT TRUMP?

Because we all know that there is a bit of a rivalry between the two, and we all know that invariably there is no love from Jeff Bezos for Donald Trump.

Or is this just another example of the real greed so many supposed "right wing rich" get accused of—but on the left, not the right, which by the way is usually how it actually goes. The greediest rich are often on the left, folks. And the rich on the left also tend to be far less philanthropic than the rich on the right.

SO BEZOS FITS PERFECTLY WITHIN THAT COMMON FRAMEWORK.

At the end of the day I do not think it is a big deal, nor do I think that current or new monthly prime members will think it is either. I own shares in Amazon and I have no intention of letting go of them any time soon. As a shareholder price increases are typically welcome since they help to boost bottom lines, and that of course helps to boost share value.

I only point out that I think the decision is a bit strange in its timing, and am very curious to know what the real basis for the decision was in the boardroom . We will never truly know of course. All we can do is speculate, and watch what happens next. Probably nothing. But it is interesting nonetheless.