Rarely a week goes by without Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in the news with a new product, feature or some sort of announcement. This week is no different with two notable news items. First, Amazon announced that customers participating in government assistance programs can sign up for Amazon Prime at a discounted rate of $5.99 per month, following a 30-day free trial. There is no annual commitment, and Prime members can cancel at any time.

The Prime membership includes Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading, Prime Photos, Audible Channels for Prime, Kindle First, Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, and unlimited fast, free shipping for a year, in addition to other benefits.

“We know when people try Prime they love it, because they save time and money with low prices on millions of items, unlimited access to premium videos and music, and fast, convenient delivery,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime, in the June 6 announcement. “We designed this membership option for customers receiving government assistance to make our everyday selection and savings more accessible, including the many conveniences and entertainment benefits of Prime.”

Having a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card qualifies a customer for the special offer. The EBT card cannot be used to pay for the membership, however. Customers can qualify every 12 months up to four times. For now, this is the only eligibility opportunity, but Amazon anticipates adding other qualifications for participants of other government assistance programs that don’t use an EBT card.

In unrelated news, effective June 8, 2017, Amazon is no longer offering unlimited storage. Instead, several annual storage plans for AmazonDrive are available: 100 GB for $11.99 and 1 TB for $59.99, up to 30 TB for an additional $59.99 per TB. Customers that sign up for Amazon cloud storage automatically get 5 GB for free, and Prime members receive free unlimited photo storage. Existing unlimited storage plan customers can keep their current plan through the expiration date.

When paid subscription storage expires, if content exceeds the free storage of 5 GB, the account will be considered “over quota,” and users will not be allowed to upload additional files. However, they can view, download and delete content. There is a 180-day grace period to delete content to stay under the 5 GB free limit or to sign up for a paid plan. After the 180 days, content will be deleted (most recent files first) until the account gets under the free limit.

Those with an auto-renew option with 1 TB or less of data will be renewed automatically at $59.99 per year. Customers without auto-renew or who have more than 1 TB will need to manage their storage to opt in to one of the new plans. This does not impact Prime members who have unlimited photo storage as part of their Prime membership and free online storage of 5 GB.

Last fall Microsoft announced a similar change to its unlimited OneDrive storage plans because some very heavy users were spoiling the deal for the rest. OneDrive offers both personal and business plans. For storage-only customers, 5 GB of storage space is free, or pay $1.99/month for 50 GB. Office 365 Home users with Premium OneDrive get 5 TB of storage for $99.99/year or $9.99/month. Office 365 Personal with Premium OneDrive users get 1 TB for $69.99/year or $6.99/month. Business plans vary, starting at $60 per year for a 1 TB storage-only plan.

Insider Take:

We have always loved that Amazon is innovative. It is consistently reimagining products and services, and its discount offer to prospective customers on government assistance programs like TANF or WIC is another example of them serving as a corporate steward while also growing their audience. They are meeting customers who might want to be Prime members but who can’t afford or justify the expense of a standard membership. This gives an underserved audience the opportunity to receive goods and services at a discount and with free shipping.

As far as the cloud storage decision, this is not surprising. Microsoft led the way last fall with its discontinuance of unlimited storage on OneDrive last fall. It makes sense for Amazon to follow suit. We are only surprised they didn’t catch on sooner.