Amazon Household Is Essentially Prime For Roommates, But There Are Some Drawbacks

Amazon Household is a lesser known feature of the Amazon universe that can save roommates or families money. This program enables subscribers to share their membership benefits with children, teens, and even another adult. In fact, members can share TV shows and movies, delivery benefits, and eBooks with as many as six people, per aboutAmazon.

There are many standout benefits to going with the Amazon Household option. The two adults can have as many as four teens (aged 13 to 17) and up to four children sharing under the Household program. It also enables the adults to manage the children and teen profiles. While teens control their Amazon login for streaming content and shopping, the parents stay in the loop, according to the Amazon Household website.

At first glance Amazon Household sounds like a brilliant way to trick yourself into saving money. Despite the appeal of savings through sharing there are some drawbacks to it. Downsides include ad free subscription issues and a lack of financial information privacy.

The process of two adults sharing Prime digital content and benefits is simple and straightforward. Both individuals have to link up their accounts via the Amazon Household website. Each adult gets to maintain their own individual personal account while they share the benefits of Prime.

There are many Amazon Prime benefits that Amazon Household allows members to share. Among these are Prime Video streaming access, free delivery benefits, and Prime Reading free books. The two adults also share free books through Amazon First Reads, album sharing through Amazon Photos, and Amazon Lightning Deals early access, per the Amazon Household website.

Many members will especially enjoy the ability to share digital content using Household. This feature includes shared access to audiobooks, eBooks, games, and apps. Teens can share Amazon Music, Twitch Prime, and Prime Video digital content. Adults are able to individualize and control children's access to permissible content and to set time limits and educational goals. Content can also be shared over Alexa devices and Kindle.

Many advantages to using Amazon Household make it seem like an obvious choice. The savings involved may even give you an opening to talk to your kids about money. Despite this, prospective users of the service should be warned that there are two main drawbacks to Amazon Household accounts.

The first downside to Amazon Household concerns Prime Video ads. Prime Video Ad Free subscriptions cannot be shared with Amazon Households. All sharing members have to pay for their own Ad Free benefit in their individual accounts, according to the Amazon Household information website.

A second drawback to the Household program involves financial information privacy. Splitting the cost of the Prime membership is nice, but it comes at a price. The Amazon Household feature requires that both adults be able to see each other's payment information. If you do not wish to share your personal financial information with your roommate, this could be a dealbreaker to what is essentially Prime for Roommates. It could be a good reason to keep your account to yourself.