pull down to refresh

i wonder what the antidote to a subscription is…
what is the thing that might make companies go “you know what, i don’t actually want automatic, repeat payments from my customers on a regular monthly schedule”
Either systemic gaming by customers to where it's unprofitable, that or total boycott. Still wonder what an Applebees subscription gets you. Maybe I'd pay if they'd refuse to let me enter the building.
reply
52 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr 25 Jan
how might one game a subscription?
like continually disputing charges with your credit card provider every month?
and what would lead to a total boycott?
reply
Maybe someone creates a reminder app which causes a large number of people to use it in a particularly unprofitable way.
Boycott might be rumors of widespread refusal to honor.
I don't know much about the program but nothing's perfect. That being said they should've thought of all these things. I enjoy adversarial thinking or else I'd probably not spend much time on this. Do you actually want to stop subscription culture?
reply
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr 26 Jan
good points. i’m not necessarily trying to stop subscriptions, just trying to understand what makes the business model work and where the business model is susceptible to breaking
reply
what is the thing that might make companies go “you know what, i don’t actually want automatic, repeat payments from my customers on a regular monthly schedule”
A competitor making more money without subscriptions. That's what's needed to kill this trend.
reply
5 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr 26 Jan
well i guess i could see one of two things happening to achieve that…
  1. a further push towards real-time subscriptions, where you’re billed by the day/minute/second/usage for better revenue predictability
  2. a return to paying full price for products upfront (which would be helpful in an era of high interest rates)
reply