Many of us first signed up for Amazon Prime years ago to take advantage of free two-day shipping, and stayed with Amazon as the cost of a Prime membership rose from $79 to $99 -- and now to $119. Today, there are more than 100 million Prime members worldwide. But the latest $20 price hike, effective June 16 for everyone including renewing members, got me to thinking: Is Amazon Prime worth $119 a year?

Truth be told, my relationship with Prime had mellowed. I wasn't ordering as much from Jeff Bezos's baby, and I felt it might even be time to (gasp!) cancel my Amazon Prime membership. I was wrong. After logging on to Amazon.com and reviewing the perks, I realized the bounty I had let go fallow. Have a look at the best benefits of Amazon Prime.

Free Same-Day Delivery

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Free two-day shipping is so 2005, the year Amazon launched Prime. Today's Amazon Prime is all about getting more stuff to members at an ever-faster pace. Free same-day delivery doesn't apply everywhere, mind you, but more than 8,000 eligible cities and towns and counting is a fairly wide swath. If your ZIP code, which you can check out right here, offers same-day service, when you order before noon and choose the same-day shipping option at checkout, Amazon says the package will be delivered by 9 p.m. that night (Sundays included, and don't be surprised to see the U.S. Postal Service delivering). If you order past noon, an option is next-day delivery. Two caveats: The same-day order must total $35 or more, and not every product Amazon stocks is eligible (but more than a million are, so there). If your same-day-delivery swag is under $35, Amazon will dock you a surcharge of six bucks, so you might want to slow your roll.

Free Two-Hour