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Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

cnbc.com

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Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#51

Post by tristor »

Setting aside the larger issues with Peloton's business, this particular move is something that comes due to poor product management. Having strong product sense is exactly about knowing what psychological effects product changes will have on your customers and target prospects. This type of change stinks of spreadsheet product management where rather than applying product sense, they just took the current rate of sign-ups with equipment where the serial number had been previously registered and then figured out a price they could charge that would juice their numbers on the assumption that the rate of sign-ups would stay the same, without acknowledging that doing so will have a detractive effect on the rate of sign-ups.

This is the type of things companies do when they look at their business only by the numbers without any understanding of their product or their customers. Unfortunately this is happening more and more across all industries as financial engineering takes precedence over product development.

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#53

Post by anticorporate »

shagie wrote: post #45
dr_kiszonka wrote: post #36

The FTC's Lina Khan said mistreatment of customers signals that a company has monopoly power. Maybe Peloton is heading that way?

Weight gain is a sign of pregnancy. I've gained weight... A̶m̶ I̶ P̶r̶e̶g̶n̶a̶n̶t̶?̶ Am I pregnant? It's highly doubtful - I've got the wrong plumbing. There can be lots of reasons that a company mistreats their customers. I would be very hesitant to say that every instance of mistreatment of customers is an indication of monopoly status... and while they are (were?) the most popular ... https://www.traqline.com/news…

To be clear, it's a signal of monopoly. Not every signal is meant to be used in isolation.

Weight gain in association with other changes is still a signal for pregnancy, just as mistreatment of customers in association with other characteristics of monopolization is a signal of monopoly status.

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#54

Post by flightster »

dylan604 wrote: post #42
hathym wrote: post #29

if only they can put a tax on the air we breath

nah, they'll start with each email you send. only, they'll call it postage to avoid getting tagged with raising taxes

I would happily pay one cent per email if it meant everyone else had to as well...including advertisers

Think of how much better the signal-to-noise ratio of email would become.

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#57

Post by matwood »

farceSpherule wrote: post #32

They have a sh*t, subscription based business model. It did well during COVID and is floundering.

They have/had a pretty good business model and then completely mismanaged COVID. Now they're saddled with tons of debt from thinking the COVID trajectory was forever, and it's crushing them.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/02/peloton-staves-off-liquidity...

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#58

Post by laweijfmvo »

lesuorac wrote: post #50
afavour wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not even as if the bike is disabled when bought used, you can just use it like any other spin bike happily. While that’s true, a Peloton attracts a premium price above regular spin bikes. So if you had no intention of using the software you’d just buy a cheaper bike. If you do intend to use it you now have to add $95 to whatever price you’re paying.

Do they command a premium when used? I have one that I got for free, YMMV.

Yep. They seem to be going for very low cost around here...

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#59

Post by xeromal »

eej71 wrote: post #49
lelandfe wrote: post #43

Probably a worthwhile addendum that they had a "restructuring" in May, laying off 15% of their staff, ~400 people, and their CEO stepped down. They've yet to find a replacement CEO, still running under interim leadership.

Perhaps when the current Sonos CEO is freed up, which might be quite soon, he can take on this one.

The starbucks CEO just freed up.

Re: Peloton to charge $95 activation fee for used bikes

#60

Post by manuelmoreale »

CivBase wrote: post #44
manuelmoreale wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think by “capitalism” they mean this pervasive attitude of trying to extract money to customer in every way possible.

But that's litterally not what capitalsim is. Calling that "capitalism" is no better than calling all regulations "communism". It just serves to poison conversations on the subject.

I’m not saying it’s a good definition. It’s just how I see people using the term.

I personally don’t think there’s a good discussion to be had around the subject of this post btw.

There’s literally no good reason for that fee. None.

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