Amazon Prime's free 2-day shipping changes your buying life, enough so that you start feeling bad for your loved ones waiting out standard shipments. Until you poke around in your Amazon account settings and give up to four "household members" free Prime shipping.
It's not a secret, and it's apparently not a new find, but it caught the Lifehacker staff by surprise this morning. Head to "Your Account," then, once signed in, "Manage Prime Membership." There you'll see your Prime membership status, but scroll down a bit and look for "Invite a household member."
You need to provide a name, email address, relation, and a birthday for each member. When they move to activate the Prime benefits, they'll need to know your own birthday. There's no real "household" requirement, though, and your friends or roommates can still fit, if they don't mind being your "brother/sister." Your Prime sharing only extends the free two-day shipping to relatives and friends, not the Prime video or Kindle book benefits, but nobody should be complaining when you grant them a much better online shopping experience.
Note: Chris Van Patten points out that Amazon Prime student accounts cannot share their shipping benefits. Boo.
Share Amazon Prime Benefits with Friends and Family | Online Tech Tips