Hmm, Amazon is offering me a dollar of MP3 Store credit to *NOT* use the two-day shipping I get for free as part of Prime. Wonder if this is a test or my order behavior triggered this? Some thoughts:

1. Acquisition of Digital Users
Amazon has used “$1 to spend on MP3s” before as a promotion accompanying the purchase of CDs. They’re clearly trying to drive usage of their digital downloads especially now that Kindle Fire is closely tied to their music, video and ebook strategy. Part of this could be just customer acquisition except I’ve already purchased Amazon MP3s in the past [but don’t own a Kindle], so this would be more about reactivating me rather than introducing me to this product area.

2. It’s Not a Real Dollar
It’s not a real dollar in the sense that they only have to pay the record label’s portion of the purchase, so the dollars they are giving me only costs them the wholesale price.

3. Shipping is Expensive
Especially with the new baby I’ve been ordering a ton of low margin items on Amazon Prime. I’ve often wondered whether shipping on, for example, a box of formula leaves them any profit. Perhaps this is an indication that certain usage patterns of Amazon Prime actually make me a net loss to their bottom line despite my incredible order volume.

Has anyone else seen this? Have they been doing it for a while?