The reason to go prime now isn't shipping - it is everything else (music, streaming tv, etc). The free shipping on most things is just a bonus. Plus they do this thing now where you can "slow ship" and get credit towards future purchases, if it isn't something you need ASAP. Walmart is scrambling to get a piece of the e-ship market still, but if they were dominant they'd not act much different. And picking Walmart over amazon sure as hell isn't helping anyone but Walmart.

Yep - it is the "click the button and forget about it" option, and it is pretty good at that for a lot of stuff. If you want the best price you can almost always find someone willing to sell something for less. Whether or not that someone will rip you off is on you, though.