I don't think it ever was.

I like buying stuff and getting bargains as much as anybody, but I've never seen any Prime Day sales for (a) something I like or (b) has a remarkable discount, not to mention both together.

I think mostly they want to make you waste time browsing the site looking for deals and maybe some people 1-click by accident or feel compelled to buy something because they feel invested in it.

I agree with this, I made a list of things I wanted and held off on buying them until Monday, I don't think any of it was on sale.

The most special thing that happened in the runup was a I bought a different item and got a 10 dollar credit for shopping small, or local, or something. Given that the item I bought was only 15 or 20 bucks, that was a nice surprise, but that was like a week before the day itself.

I would say that this mostly mirrors how I feel about it now. I'd say the first year I was excited, Black Friday level deals in the summer, sign me up! Then when it happened I was seeing products like kitchen waste baskets or spatulas that were more expensive than target because of "free" shipping.

A couple of years ago, I read about Amazon having some astounding deals on high-end camera equipment, along the lines of a $10,000 lens on sale for a few hundred dollars. My understanding is that several people snagged that deal (and actually received the product for that price) before Amazon revised the pricing, claiming that it was a mistake.

I wonder if perhaps it was not a mistake, but a tactic to get more people to carefully search through Prime deals...

In any case, this year I didn't spend much time with it. I bought a $18 cable organizer that was on sale for $14, and that I was planning on buying anyway, even at full price.