cover of episode The Subscription Trap

The Subscription Trap

2024/10/18
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Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi
一名在《The Indicator from Planet Money》中活跃的经济新闻记者和主持人。
H
Heron Motoza
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Jeff Guo
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Neil Mooney
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Sam
通过削减开支、获取电销职位和启动咨询业务，实现从零开始的企业家之旅。
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Tim
以深入的硬件评测和技术分析著称的播客和YouTube主播。
Topics
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi和Jeff Guo：节目开篇以两位主持人自身经历引入，指出许多用户在不知情或忘记取消的情况下，仍在为各种订阅服务付费，揭示了订阅经济的便利性与用户体验之间的矛盾。 Heron Motoza：讲述了其创业初衷及过程，从自身及兄弟的经历出发，指出难以追踪个人订阅信息是普遍问题，并由此开发了帮助用户管理订阅服务的应用。他详细描述了应用开发过程中遇到的挑战，包括盈利模式的探索以及与用户需求的磨合，最终通过自身产品，深刻体会到订阅模式的双面性。 Tim：作为订阅服务基础设施提供商，Tim从行业角度分析了订阅经济的兴起，指出Salesforce的成功是订阅模式普及的关键，并阐述了订阅模式对企业和用户的双重影响。他分析了订阅模式的优势，例如降低风险、提供稳定收入流等，以及其对企业行为的影响。 Neil Mooney：从经济学角度分析了订阅服务中用户惰性带来的问题，通过研究数据指出，许多用户在不知情或忘记取消的情况下继续付费，导致企业获得超出预期的收入，并阻碍市场竞争。 Sam：作为FTC消费者保护部门负责人，Sam介绍了FTC为打击订阅服务欺诈行为所做的努力，包括对相关企业的法律诉讼以及“一键取消”规则的制定。他指出，解决订阅服务问题需要改变企业的设计思路，降低取消订阅的难度。 Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi：节目结尾处，主持人Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi分享了其个人经历，通过使用应用查看自身订阅服务，发现其一年在订阅服务上的花费高达7379美元，并反思了自身在订阅服务上的消费习惯。

Deep Dive

Chapters
The rise of the subscription model has led to an explosion of services, but also a dark side where companies make cancellation difficult. This episode explores how this "subscription trap" evolved, who benefits, and what's being done to address it.
  • Many consumers unknowingly pay for unused subscriptions.
  • Companies design subscriptions to be easy to sign up for but difficult to cancel.
  • The subscription model has shifted from individual goods to services across various industries.

Shownotes Transcript

Over the past two decades, there's been a sort of tectonic economic shift happening under our feet. More and more companies have switched from selling goods one by one to selling services, available as a subscription. These days everything from razor blades to meal kits to car washes have become subscriptions. But all that convenience has also come with a dark side – some companies have designed their offerings to be as easy as possible to sign up for and also as difficult as possible to cancel. Many consumers are now paying for way more subscriptions than they even know about.On today's show, we discover how we all fell into this subscription trap – who is winning and who is losing in this brave new subscription based world – and what both the government and the free market are doing to try and fix it.*This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts) or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)