I quit Amazon Prime on Friday.

The company announced on Friday that the price of a monthly subscription would increase to $12.99 from $10.99.

Though I wasn't getting my money's worth with Prime, I had been lulled into complacency. The price increase was the jolt I needed to snap out of it and cancel the service.



I've finally canceled my Amazon Prime subscription.

I've been debating for a long time whether to cancel the service, as I have almost certainly not been getting my $10.99 worth every month.

While most people celebrate two-day shipping, I'm an (annoying) person who frequently lets packages sit on the mail rack at my office for days. I don't understand or use Prime Music or Prime Photos. I don't own a Kindle.

I originally signed up for Prime because I could get a free month of the service. Then, for a long time, Amazon had me hooked on hope for the future.

Prime Now seemed like an incredibly convenient way to get things delivered quickly — and something that I thought I would end up using more. Two-day shipping was useful for holiday shopping. I love Amazon shows like "Catastrophe," "I Love Dick," and "Fleabag."

Perhaps most of all, I was excited to get discounts at the Whole Foods a few blocks from my Brooklyn apartment — a perk Amazon had promised for Prime members since it acquired the grocery chain last summer.

Then came the straw that broke the camel's back.

Amazon on Friday announced it would increase the price of a Prime monthly membership to $12.99 a month from $10.99.

As soon as I saw the headline, I knew it was time.

I know I could have switched to a yearly subscription — something Amazon reminded me as I tried to cancel the service — instead of paying more for a monthly one.

However, I am, quite frankly, terrified of commitment.

It was easy to allow the auto-pay to take $10.99 out of my bank account every month. But agreeing to cough up $99 for a service I didn't use that often laid bare how much money I had already wasted on Prime.

There was another blow earlier this week that helped convince me it was time to ditch Prime.

On Wednesday, Amazon announced it had canceled three original series: "I Love Dick," "One Mississippi," and "Jean-Claude Van Johnson." The cancellations seem to indicate a shift away from smaller, artsier shows to bigger hits, like the coming "Lord of the Rings" show.

It felt reasonable to pay a little bit of money every month to watch shows by talented writer-actors like Tig Notaro of "One Mississippi" or Phoebe Waller-Bridge of "Fleabag." But I've already watched "Lord of the Rings." I don't need to pay $12.99 a month to watch its prequel.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote and stars on Amazon's original series "Fleabag." Amazon

Amazon's raising its monthly price for Prime was the jolt that I've needed for a while to push me over the edge and click the "unsubscribe" button. With the one-month trial and automatic billing, it's easy for Amazon to lull you into paying $10.99 a month.

And honestly, figuring out how to unsubscribe is a process. I spent a few minutes clicking around on random tabs until I finally googled "how to quit Amazon Prime" and found the correct page.

After a three-step process, I was finally done. A weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had an extra $155.88 to spend in 2018 that I would have otherwise paid, month by month, to Amazon.

Then again, if Whole Foods starts rolling out its Prime loyalty program, I may need to see if I can get back on the one-month-free bandwagon.