How to Get Amazon Prime Membership Discount for Foster Parents
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As foster parents, my husband and I purchase a lot of things from Amazon. We have been Amazon Prime members for several years now, but as foster parents, it seems as though we make an online purchase almost every single day. Whether it is diapers, noise machines for sleeping, cereal, or new sneakers, we get most of it from Amazon.
It saves us a ton of time from needing to go to the store, especially with kiddos who don’t do too well in the store. I still remember the first time I went to Walmart with our brand-new placement of twin 9-year-olds… It was chaotic, and tears were shed. Thus, I decided to do as much of my shopping from the security and comforts of my own house (or wherever I’m at at the time via the app) to avoid the insanity of going to the store with kids!
Not only does it save us a lot of time, but we also save a decent amount of money by shopping on Amazon. We love taking advantage of the Subscribe & Save option when it’s available for the things we use most often. Items such as vitamins, cereals, and hair oil (for African American hair). We also have an Amazon Prime credit card which earns us 5-6% cash back on all of our Amazon purchases and 1% cash back on everything else. We use that cashback for more purchases on Amazon which in turn saves us some money!
While there are a lot of great resources that are free or discounted for foster families, one of the best ways foster parents can save money is by applying for a Prime Access account.
What is a Prime Access Account?
A Prime Access account is offered to anyone receiving qualifying government assistance with a valid program ID or document to prove eligibility. With a Prime Access membership, you receive all the same benefits as a traditional Prime membership just at a reduced rate.
Check out this full list of Prime membership benefits if you aren’t familiar with them.
How Much is a Prime Access Membership?
Qualifying government assistance recipients can access all of Prime for $6.99 per month. A traditional Prime membership is $14.99 per month. (These are the prices as of January 2024)
Who Qualifies for a Prime Access Membership?
A household can qualify for a Prime Access membership if someone participates in one of these government programs:
- Medicaid: Upload image of your Medicaid eligibility letter
- SNAP: Enter your EBT number and upload an image of the EBT card
- SSI: Supplemental Security Income (this is different from Social Security and SSDI)
- Direct Express Prepaid Debit Card: Upload image of card
- TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- TTANF: Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- NSLP: National School Lunch Program, (letter must include your child’s name and the school’s name)
- LIHEAP: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
- WIC: Women, Infants, and Children program
- NAP: Puerto Rico’s Nutrition Assistance Program card (Tarjeta de la Familia)
How To Get a Prime Access Membership as a Foster Parent
If you read the list above, you probably already recognize the fact that your foster child participates in at least one of the government programs listed above. Every foster child in the United States has Medicaid for their health insurance. You will simply need documentation of their Medicaid status as mentioned above.
However, from reading online and chatting with other foster parents, I have learned that many people have been turned down when they submit their foster child’s Medicaid letter. This may be because the Amazon Prime account holder’s name is not the one listed on the Medicaid document.
I recently applied for a Prime Access membership to receive an Amazon Prime membership discount as a foster parent and the document I found that worked the first time was the National School Lunch Program letter. Not only did this document state that our foster child was approved for this government program but it was addressed to me as the “guardian” of the child. This was because I had enrolled her in our local school.
I did not personally try submitting any other documents prior to submitting the NSLP document. So, I cannot confirm nor deny that any of the other documents will work or not for you in your situation.
However, I did speak with an Amazon representative, named Prasanjit, to determine how to best approach receiving an Amazon Prime membership discount as a foster parent because I knew that others have had trouble with it in the past, and here is a little bit of our conversation and what he told me.
Me: Hi, I am wondering about your half-price Prime deal for income-verified customers. My husband and I are foster parents to kiddos who participate in some of the programs listed. We’ve been told we could probably use this benefit for our own Amazon Prime account. Is this true?
Prasanjit: Yes, that is absolutely true! I will guide you here.
Me: Great! Thanks. The documents we have would have the kids’ names on them and not mine or my husband’s. We are the account holders on the Prime Membership. Is there anything we should provide to show that they are foster children in our care?
Prasanjit: No worries. You can submit the documents for verification and if those go through you will be able to receive the benefits. When you go to enroll yourself for the program, just follow the shown instructions and provide the documents that you will be asked for, that’s it. You will be good to go.
Me: Thanks. I just want to make sure it won’t get kicked back if the name isn’t the same as on our Prime account. Because I do see that the qualifications do list that the documents need to match our account name.
Prasanjit: I get your concern. I would still suggest you try that once and see if it goes through or not. There will be no issues if that doesn’t go through.
Me: Alright we will give it a try thanks.
So this was the conversation we had. I don’t know that he 100% understood my concern about the names being different on the forms from our Amazon Prime account. It ended up being a non-issue since I found that NSLP form that had my name on it along with our foster daughter’s name as well.
I took screenshots of the entire conversation just in case I ran into an issue. That way I could connect with someone new and explain how I was told that it wouldn’t be a problem. So if you are wondering exactly how to get the Amazon Prime membership discount as a foster parent, I would suggest the same route. Chat with someone and explain the situation, then try it out!
After applying, I received an email on the same day saying that there was a recent Amazon Prime membership change. It was an email to say that I was approved for the Prime Access membership.
How to Apply for a Prime Access Membership as a Foster Parent
Receiving the discounted Prime membership through Prime Access is super simple.
- Go to the Prime Access page here.
- Upload one of nine forms of verification for any of the government assistance programs that are eligible for a Prime Access membership.
I suggest trying to find a document that may also contain your own name if it exists. We used the National School Lunch Program form that also had our foster daughter’s name as well as my own.
- Receive an email confirmation that your membership has changed (this is the email we received since we already had an active Prime membership).
Here is a direct link to the Amazon Chat With Us page for you to talk to an associate if you run into any issues!
So here is all the information you will hopefully need to secure the Amazon Prime membership discount for yourself as a foster parent! Check out some of these other great ways to get free and discounted stuff as a foster family.
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