Editorial standards
TuesdayScore™ Methodology: How The Perk Index Rates Amazon Prime
The TuesdayScore is a count of seven named criteria, one point each, and no partial credit. A perk earns a point when it clears a criterion and loses it when it does not. Seven is a perk with nothing left to give away. Two is a perk that will not change your week.
It is a documentation and value score, not a lab test, and the whole checklist is printed below so you can argue with it.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Commissions never change a score. Full affiliate disclosure.
What the TuesdayScore is
A whole number from 1 to 7 assigned to a perk, not to you and not to your household. One point per criterion. No half points, no styling points, and no points for a feature being famous.
It answers one question: if you are the reader this page was written for, how many of the things that actually matter does this perk get right? Between 2 and 5 is where most perks land, and that is deliberate. A 7 means the perk cleared every test, including the hard ones about thresholds and exit terms.
A score you cannot audit is a slogan, so every point has a stated source. A low score is not a warning to avoid the membership. It is a count of what the membership leaves you to solve yourself. A perk that scores 2 can still be the reason you join, as long as you know what you traded away.
The seven criteria, point by point
1. Tuesday impact
Does it change an ordinary week, or is it a perk you forget you have? A benefit that only appears when you go looking for it loses the point. This is the criterion the framework is named after, and it is the one most perks fail.
2. Documentation
Does Amazon's own help page state the limits, or does the perk live only in marketing copy? If the terms are not written down anywhere we can cite, the perk does not score. An undocumented limit is a limit nobody can hold anyone to.
3. Threshold
Does the perk carry a spend or usage bar you have to clear before it does anything? Free delivery with a minimum order is a different product from free delivery without one, and the page has to say which one you are getting.
4. Coverage
Does it work where you actually order from, including rural and non-contiguous addresses? A perk that quietly excludes your address is a perk you are paying for and not receiving.
5. Substitution
Does it replace a cost you already carry, or stack on top of one? Replacing something you pay for today is worth more than adding something you will never open.
6. Stacking
Does it combine with other discounts and programs, or is it excluded from them? A perk that cancels out savings you already had is worth less than its position in the list suggests.
7. Exit
What happens to the perk when the membership ends, and does it claw anything back? Every perk gets scored on how cleanly it leaves.
Where each of the seven points comes from
Amazon's published help pages and terms for the perk itself, read on a dated check, plus the perk's own terms where they state a limit.
Nothing scores on our opinion of whether a perk is pleasant. If Amazon does not document a limit, the criterion fails on documentation rather than on our guess. Where the terms are silent, the page says they are silent.
What the score refuses to measure
- Whether you personally will use the perk.
- Whether any given week's deal is a good one.
- What Amazon will change next.
- Anything we cannot read on Amazon's own pages.
Why there is no partial credit
Half points are where a score turns into marketing. A perk either clears a criterion or it does not. If a package almost arrives in two days, that is not a point.
How a score changes
A revised perk, a documented threshold change, or a corrected help page triggers a rescore and a new revision date on every page that cites it. We date changes instead of quietly editing them.
Money and the score are not connected
Commissions are identical no matter what we tell you. The pages that tell you not to join are the proof, and they cost us money. A membership cannot buy its score.
Why we publish this
Because worth it is a decision, and a decision needs a number you can audit. If you disagree with a score, the checklist is printed above so you can argue with it.
TuesdayScore™ and The Perk Index™ are trademarks of The Perk Index.