5 great Amazon Prime benefits you’re probably not using

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Amazon Prime membership costs aren’t getting any cheaper. My credit card just caught the brunt of the yearly auto-renewal.

And as I fondly remember the modest $79 annual fee in 2005, which has ballooned to $139 today, I wonder aloud, “Why am I paying so much for two-day shipping and a video service?”

But Amazon has strategically packed the membership with enough perks that it can offset the cost and then some. It’s just that not everyone knows about all the options available to them.

Here’s a look at some of the lesser-known goodies.

Free Grubhub+

Most Prime members have no idea they’ve got fee-free restaurant delivery built into their membership. This is a dangerous perk and I’m sorry you know about it now.

The Grubhub+ partnership offers meal discounts, earned credit toward future orders, and zero delivery fees from participating restaurants.

Just link your Amazon Prime account to Grubhub, and you’re good to go.

RxPass: $5 unlimited prescriptions

Amazon’s RxPass is a prescription service that charges a flat $5 monthly fee for unlimited generic medications. Not per medication, but total.

More than 50 medications are eligible, and you don’t need to fight with your insurance to get them as long as you’ve got a prescription (or 50) from your doctor. It’s available in every U.S. state except California, Texas, and Washington.

10 cents off per gallon of gas

Prime’s fuel savings program allows members to save 10 cents per gallon at more than 7,000 gas stations nationwide.

By linking your Amazon account to the Earnify app, you can locate eligible BP, Amoco, and AM PM stations where you can save on fuel purchases and then blow those savings on fountain sodas and carb-laden snacks inside the store.

Gaming galore

Each month, Prime Gaming offers up free full-game downloads, exclusive in-game content, and Twitch channel subscriptions.

At least one of the games each month is terrific, too. The games I’ve collected alone have easily made up for the yearly Prime cost.

There’s also a cloud gaming section where you can stream popular titles to Amazon’s Luna gaming service. If you’ve got an Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, it’s a great way to play games on the big screen without buying a full console.

Unlimited photo storage

Why pay for cloud storage when Prime offers unlimited full-resolution photo backups? Hell, why even delete photos at all? Mash that shutter button with reckless abandon.

This feature provides automatic backup across all your devices, family sharing options, and organization features with the Amazon Photos app.

Download it to your phone and enable the auto-backup feature to ensure your precious memories are safely stored and easily accessible.