It is my policy these days to investigate how easy it is to cancel/delete a service or subscription before I register for it, which is incidentally why I will never ever be a Comcast customer.
US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
201–210 of 217 posts
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many other countries have all-inclusive prices. Most of Europe from my experience. I wonder, how do they handle it? One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations (which it does anyway due to labor, transportation, advertising density, etc.).
> One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations Imagine you have customers in California (high taxes) and Wyoming (low taxes). You have one price, but the taxes in the former nets you zero profit. But, that's also where 98%+ of your customers are. That isn't going to work, needless to say.
The highest sales tax in California that I can find is 10.750% (lowest 7.50%). The highest in Wyoming is 6% (lowest 5%). That's not a wide spread. On many MANY items the existing profit margin is north of 30%, but even leaving that aside. Adding %10 to your base price to have a single price just means that in lower tax markets you're making more money. There's no obvious situation where you make less unless you intentionally under price your products and it eats into your margin.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many other countries have all-inclusive prices. Most of Europe from my experience. I wonder, how do they handle it? One solution could be to price things such that any amount of tax is included in the margin so the price is standard but profitability varies in minute ways between locations (which it does anyway due to labor, transportation, advertising density, etc.).
I imagine companies don't have a standard price across all of Europe, so smaller differences within a country are handled more smoothly. You'd still get that benefit in the us by having one price for an entire state but I don't think anyone is eager to lose profits and try that.
But they probably have a standard price across all of, let's say, The Netherlands. How many companies advertise across country lines? Is that a big problem? This feels very much like one of those "it's only a problem in the US" things where other countries have figured it out but Americans keep playing dumb about it.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
By ignoring it until checkout it lets vendors put lower prices on the shelf which encourages more spending. It is intentionally disfavorable to consumers.
One could argue that including the taxes in the price makes it less obvious how much tax the government is collecting - which is disadvantageous to taxpayers.
Tax rates are still published and could still be included in line items on the receipt. Like in Europe. the price on the rack is so the consumer understands their out-of-pocket costs. The price on the receipt gives a breakdown between the product and the VAT.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#205It's nice when the government improves the quality of life for regular people at the expense of businesses who are using dark patterns. I'll be sure to remember this in November. Here's more info on the initiative: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases...
Long overdue reforms. Godspeed to the government to push it through.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#206Disclosure: I only read up until it was revealed what the policy was. This was always my opinion on this. "As easy to cancel as it is to sign up". It's simple, and completely shuts down this malicious behaviour without making it harder to operate for the honest companies (or worse for customers in any way I can think of). Usually these policies have downsides but I can't really think of any. This kind of behaviour is…
I have been trying to get my state legislators to implement such a consumer law for over a decade. The federal proposal will likely be ineffective unless it has an individual cause of action. What that means is that the only way (IMO) such a law works is not if the government enforces it, but rather if any consumer can sue the company in small claims court for a reasonable judgment (eg $1000 or something). Now the co…
I agree with the bit about individual cause of action, as long as it includes attorney fees too, as that is the way to go from having to file yourself, to getting juicy lawyers lined up to make bank (from my experience litigating FOIA).
In fact, with FOIA in Illinois the only way to hurt a non-compliant public body is with the attorney fees[]. There is a civil penalty per violation, but it isn't paid to the litigant, but it is paid by the public body to the county. As one government lawyer said to me, "I don't care if I lose! I just write a check out to myself!"
[] some of the lawyers I know who do this work agree to split their fees with the litigant as an incentive for them to see it through, which I don't think is technically legal, but it let's people keep the government honest and make some change for their effort
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
"As easy to cancel as it is to sign up" Hm, I would prefer two-step sign up to one-step unsubscribe.
Why the asymmetry? And what do you have in mind when you refer to "two-step sign up"?
It would stop my email doppelgänger from signing up for services under my address.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#208Rather than adding additional regulation (which rarely works, just look at Apple vs EU), the only change needed is to allow individuals to sue under the CANSPAM act. Fairly certain you'd see an immediate change in behavior. Right now, only State AGs can sue. While we're at it, extend CANSPAM to physical mail as well so we can clean up the massive environmental burden of companies abusing the US Postal Service for mar…
It’s not abuse of the USPS. It’s literally a product they sell: to spam everyone in an area with analytics and all.
This comment brings me pain. Technically that means the usps is operating as a bureau?
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am well aware of that, but there is a very huge and crucial difference between putting something in the newspaper for the sake of public dissemination vs. for the sake of making sure one specific known private entity gets the information. The only case I can recall off the top of my head for the latter is for things like service of judicial papers, and even then as a last resort, only when direct attempts to reach…
And yet, in the US, you can have process servers publish a notice in a very specific law newspaper that only lawyers ever read, then claim that you couldn't reach someone who would never in their life read such a newspaper for decades simply to see if they've been served. If this sounds ridiculous, it's because it is, and yet somehow, we still do it. What Sweden does sounds no different, except it's companies with mi…
Could you point me to any description or source for this?
It doesn't describe any legal process I'm familiar with.
Re: US Government wants to make it easier for you to click the 'unsubscribe' button
#210Just use privacy.com virtual cards as an interface to a real card. When you want to unsubscribe just close the virtual card to said service.