Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee' • Hacker News Board

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#61

Post by anthonygd » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:36 PM UTC

mannykannot wrote: post #58

Spivak wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're not really buying the hardware. Like you are in the sense that the price of the bike covers the hardware cost, and that you own the hunk of metal and plastic so that you're responsible for maintaining it and fixing/replacing it if you break it and it's transferable if you ever want to sell it. But like an iPhone you're buying a client to a larger service hosted by Peleton -- that's their whole business…

> Because you're not really buying the hardware. Apparently, what you are buying is an obligation to buy a recurring subscription. The genius in getting people to spend a lot up front to so burden themselves is that the more they pay, the less likely they are to walk away from it.

The Sunk Cost fallacy is strong.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#62

Post by anonfornoreason » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:37 PM UTC

sellyme wrote: post #32

darkcha0s wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of weird ass psychoanalysis is this? People who pay money for products and connect them to the internet are stupid and have money?

> People who pay money for products and connect them to the internet are stupid and have money? If you can buy a $3k treadmill, you have money (although about $3k less of it, in fairness). If you think your treadmill needs to be connected to the internet, you are not particularly intelligent. Neither of these are controversial takes. We've had enough experience with IoT devices being absolutely god-awful to know this…

the whole point of the product is to connect it to the internet and participate in a remote class, along with other gamification features that encourage using the product and staying fit. people buy it for this reason, generally speaking.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#63

Post by schnebbau » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:38 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #23

'The company has cited "safety and well-being" as a reason for introducing the membership fee.' I've noticed the "fake because" lately seems to be getting more and more brazen from corporations. This is about the third or fourth "for your safety and convenience we're helping ourselves to more of your money" I've seen in the last couple months, and unfortunately all the other ones I've seen are for products or service…

They do it because it works. There are more than enough idiots out there who will nod and keep giving them money to make up for those that won't.

"Vote with your wallet" doesn't work, because too much of the population are lemmings.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#64

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #7

I mean the entire business model of the company seems to be to depart rich people from their money in obscene ways, so that move does not seem unexpected. I generally do not understand the thought process of buying a tablet glued to a treadmill for three thousand dollars. That's like what, a decade of gym membership

[deleted]

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#65

Post by sunshineforever » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

I think this is horrible and I feel bad for the customers, but maybe this will make people think twice about buying a 3000 treadmill in the future.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#66

Post by sunshineforever » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

rkalla wrote: post #17

This seems like a "pout" move... get blasted with a class-action, so blast everyone in the face with this 'safety and goodness' fee. No other solution to keeping toddlers off of a treadmill with a giant touch screen? Maybe a simple math question or 'confirm your birthday'? No no... gotta cash-grab to pay for the lawsuit. Classy.

It reminds me of Google charging 12.99 a month for the ability to darken the screen in YouTube.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#67

Post by matco11 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

I am confused. I almost bought the Peloton treadmill months ago and it was pretty clear that the $40 subscription was needed and was on top. To me, the $40 subscription for treadmill is not new news

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#68

Post by kevstev » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #42

kevstev wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are competing with fitness studios like Soul Cycle- which charges $40+ a class after shoe rental and water. The bike is more like $2000 at least for the standard bike, not $3000. My wife bought one in November 2019, and both joined the "century club" (100 rides) by the middle of 2020 and she takes the Yoga classes as well and I have done a few strength classes- its not just about the bike. We had never previous…

The Soul Cycle (and copycats) business model boggles my mind. I can even understand people paying $200+/month for an Equinox gym. At least it's unlimited use. But paying $35+ for a single one hour spinning class?

For my wife, it was partly a social thing- her friends did it, and she is in sales and this actually became a popular thing to take clients to. She had expensed over $10K in classes her peak year. She became friends with some of the people that worked at her favored studio, and even some of the instructors (which appears to have been not unique to my wife but cultivated by corporate culture: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22195549/soulcycle-decline-reo... It was a Thing, and in NYC once something is a Thing, it becomes unstoppable and takes on a life of its own.

Its not even a full hour, the standard class is 45 minutes IIRC.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#69

Post by koala_man » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

Joker_vD wrote: post #50

jerf wrote: post #23

'The company has cited "safety and well-being" as a reason for introducing the membership fee.' I've noticed the "fake because" lately seems to be getting more and more brazen from corporations. This is about the third or fourth "for your safety and convenience we're helping ourselves to more of your money" I've seen in the last couple months, and unfortunately all the other ones I've seen are for products or service…

The supermarket network I usually shop at lets one chose 5 product categories (out of about 30 or so) that they will get cashback from. Recently, they've decided to split categories "Tea, Coffee, Cocoa" and "Fruits & vegetables" into two new categories each: "Tea", "Coffee & Cocoa", "Fruits", and "Vegetables", — with the stated reason "to improve your shopping experience". No idea how that would improve my shopping e…

Which category are tomatoes in?

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#70

Post by pb77 » Tue, Jun 22, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

mimixco wrote: post #3

Since Peloton has sold subscriptions from day 1, this probably shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The worst part of this story is that the device killed a child and they're using that as the reason to collect monthly ransom. It sounds like a Sopranos episode: Make your monthly payments or we might hurt your kid.

Am i missing something, if a treadmill has a subscription, the kid can still run on it right?, is it some kind of fingerprint or face authentication that would stop a kid from running.