Amazon is taking a new approach to get people to spend money on their website. The company will start offering a discount to its Prime membership programs to adult medicaid recipients. Those who take the offer will be able to receive Prime and all of its benefits for $5.99 a month, less than half of the standard monthly fee.
Last year, Amazon started offering a prime discount to people with electronic benefit transfer cards. The effort is to go after customers who usually favor Walmart due to its low prices. Walmart accounts for 18 percent of annual spending through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
Often times, medicaid recipients do not have a credit card for online shopping or a secure address to have packages delivered to. Amazon has attempted to address these problems by starting Amazon Cash which allows people to add money to their Amazon accounts by taking cash to CVS pharmacies, GameStops and other retail locations. Amazon Lockers, installed outside convenience stores and other locations, give people a secure place to pick up and return Amazon packages.
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