- On July 20, the billionaire Amazon cofounder Jeff Bezos briefly went to space.
- Upon returning to Earth, Bezos thanked Amazon's customers for funding his space trip.
- For some Prime members, it was a gross display of wealth that made them cancel their subscription.
On July 20, the billionaire Amazon cofounder Jeff Bezos briefly went to space in a rocket from his rocket company, Blue Origin.
Upon returning, he thanked Amazon customers and employees for making the trip possible. "I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all of this," Bezos said during a press conference. "Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It's very appreciated."
Some of those customers he thanked, however, saw the jaunt to space as a good sign to quit paying $120 annually for Amazon's wildly popular Prime subscription service.
"You guys, I just canceled my Amazon Prime membership and feel GREAT about it," one such customer said in a private Facebook group post. "I am over paying to shop on a website and/or for a zillionaire's rocket ride. Just had to tell the world I guess."
They were one of several people Insider spoke with who said they canceled their Prime subscription in the days after Bezos' trip to space and were directly inspired by the trip to cancel.
For Katie, the decision was a long time coming.
She signed up for Amazon Prime in the early 2000s. "Back then, it simply seemed like a good place to buy books online," Katie, who asked not to be identified with her last name, said.
But as time went on, reasons to feel differently about Amazon began to build.
"First it was realizing how this company negatively affects the publishing industry," she told Insider, referring to Amazon's tumultuous relationship with book publishers over the years. "Then it was discovering the abysmal treatment of the warehouse workers. Next, a growing awareness of my own consumerism that was really starting to gross me out."
For Katie, Bezos' trip to space was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"I saw a few posts from people in some of my online groups that they finally pulled the plug, and reading all of the positive replies, it's like it just clicked for me," she said.
A similar situation played out with another former Amazon Prime subscriber named Katy. As more stories about Amazon's treatment of its workers came to light and she became increasingly aware of the environmental impact of her consumer habits, she began to rethink her Prime subscription.
"In July of 2020 I started to really budget for the first time," she told Insider. "And seeing that I was spending a great deal of my money on convenience that didn't match my values and could be done in a cheaper way was a big part."
When Bezos went to space, the decision became clear.
"The whole thing was such a spectacle of a single person amassing so much wealth that they simply have lost touch with the reality for the average person," Katy said. "I had forgotten to cancel, and my membership was renewed. I had moved some money around in my budget to cover the cost of another year, and the coverage actually inspired me to log on and cancel and get a refund instead."
Katy said that though she didn't regret her decision and wasn't considering going back, she understood why millions of Americans continue to subscribe to Amazon Prime.
"For many people, Prime and Amazon gives them access to things they cannot get in other ways," she said. "I am lucky to live in a place where I have access to many locally owned shops, including a local grocery and a locally run shop that sells bulk items to help reduce single-use plastic."
Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@businessinsider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.
