Millions of Amazon Prime customers received the below letter this week, detailing the Amazon Prime price increase from $119 to $139 a year, and from $12.99 to $14.99 a month for the monthly plan. No you can’t get around it, no you can’t buy yourself an Amazon Prime gift card at the old rate (despite many sites saying that you can). According to the letter from Amazon “The new prices, plus applicable taxes, will apply after March 25, 2022, on the date of your next renewal.” However, the new rates are actually effective today, February 18th, 2022. Confused? You won’t be, read on.

Netflix has announced that they are raising their rates, effective for new customers immediately, while the new fees for existing customers will be effective September 1st. The rate hike is said to be necessary to reflect the increased cost of doing business, particularly with respect to postage rates for mailing DVDs. While the new prices apply to everyone, the new pricing plans will most affect those who had the unlimited streaming plus unlimited DVD plan, as Netflix is now separating the two plans, and you must pay a fee for each separately.