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Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

wsj.com

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Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#641

Post by Modified3019 »

sailfast wrote: post #281
Modified3019 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a lovely and idealistic view of humans. Unfortunately bad actors have realized that what we actually are is just meat computers with unpatchable security vulnerabilities, so demanding that people just stop having problems and fit your nebulous definition of competence with unlimited and unwavering performance, has predictably not panned out. What is the more moral solution then? Recognizing and placing systema…

Just wanted to say that I found this phrasing to be fantastic.

Just came across a very terse version of this sentiment, which you might like:

“You can try having self-control, but there are a thousand engineers on the other side of the screen working against you.” ― Tristan Harris

(Found on https://www.staygrounded.online/p/how-i-got-my-phone-screen-..., itself linked from a discussion of use of grayscale mode, which I also recommend for people like me that easily get sucked into a whirlpool of novel information seeking. History has relentlessly proven to me that the less "self control" I need to have, the more self control I actually have.)

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#642

Post by wolverine876 »

theendisney2 wrote: post #570
runsonrum wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure there are some out there that remember 10.. 15.. 20 CDs for 1¢ mail order. My assumption was that they would bank on guilt or forgetfulness to keep the cash flowing in.

I've actually created a business model based on it. The vhs rental stores were dying left and right. The one i looked into got most of its money from snacks and drinks. The subscription moddel was 75 cent, renting a movie would drop from 3-4 euro to 75 cent. (only 1 at a time) You could keep it for a week, then you would get a call if you could please return it. The existing customers knew vhs rental was not really a…

In a sense, a social club for movie lovers. Why not switch to showing movies and serving some food?

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#643

Post by wolverine876 »

safety1st wrote: post #573
vasco wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gym membership model is the power of SaaS.

Yeah I'm extremely critical of big tech in general, but calling tech companies criminal because people subscribe for stuff then don't use it sounds like a double standard to me. This is the way we are able to have nice gyms at reasonable prices. It probably contributes to making other subscriptions cheaper too. If you want to make the world better you have to focus on the correct things. One of those is that deceptiv…

With the state of the world - climate change, dictatorship, warfare, corporate power, AI, mass surveillance - none of these issues is the right bone to pick.

But I agree there's a matter of degree: If people get renewal warnings and can easily cancel ('Reply with the word 'Cancel''), that's different.

> which don't make sense to your personal sense of frugality?

Why attribute stuff to people who disagree with you, in order to dismiss them? Why is it important to dismiss them? Maybe just believe they have some reasons and try to learn what they are.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#644

Post by autoexec »

listenallyall wrote: post #618
plasma_beam wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many people bought a peacock subscription last weekend for the nfl wild card game then forgot to cancel it after.

> I wonder how many people bought a peacock subscription last weekend for the nfl wild card game None. That was a slap in the face to football fans.

Not a fan so I hadn't even heard of it, but the internet tells me that it was the most streamed live event in US history. (https://news.yahoo.com/peacocks-nfl-wild-card-game-broke-str...) I'm guessing there are some who will stay on the platform.

I hope Pat Ryan makes good on his threats.

> I’m demanding the NFL and NBC stop the BS and offer fans the service they already pay for, or we’re coming for your antitrust exemption,...The NFL raked in $12 billion in 2022; NBCUniversal made almost $40 billion. They now have a choice, either fix this problem, or we’ll fix it for them.”

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#645

Post by simplyluke »

crummy wrote: post #539
gmd63 wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be illegal to charge someone for a month of a service that they did not use. It's trivially easy to see that someone doesn't log in. Then you just pause their subscription after refunding that month. Next time they log in, you can prompt them to resubscribe with one click.

Gyms everywhere would go belly-up!

And neighborhood gym memberships would be well north of $100/month. No one in these discussions considers second order effects.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#646

Post by 4b11b4 »

setr wrote: post #596
pxc wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also don't know that it closed because it failed. Small businesses like that can end up closing just because the owner moves away or something like that, if the owner is highly involved in operating the place.

I’m highly suspicious that the whole 90% of restaurants fail thing is largely because small business owners don’t know how to manage their finances and maintain adequate buffers for lean months. I expect even the highest revenue places to just fall over suddenly because of it

do you have any proof for this? this is up the alley of something I'm building

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#648

Post by vasco »

taffer wrote: post #608
safety1st wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm extremely critical of big tech in general, but calling tech companies criminal because people subscribe for stuff then don't use it sounds like a double standard to me. This is the way we are able to have nice gyms at reasonable prices. It probably contributes to making other subscriptions cheaper too. If you want to make the world better you have to focus on the correct things. One of those is that deceptiv…

> difficult to cancel subscriptions should not be allowed In the European Union, you can cancel any subscription by email.

Warning to the sailor: results may vary.

Re: Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

#650

Post by Krasnol »

robertlagrant wrote: post #638
Krasnol wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite concerning that this comment is so high up. It is lazy, doesn't provide any additional explanation for their reasoning. It is useless and basically just says "no".

Perhaps, but all I'm doing is reversing the equally unjustified claims in the parent. Ironically they've lamented unjustified claims in the sibling comment to this one, but their post is chock full of them.

How are you supposed to know that they're unjustified when the (at that time) top comment is just "no"? Are you supposed to accept the superiority of some anonymous commenter, or is the fact that they just "need to" post "no" and therefore show that their opinion must be superior?
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