6 ms·

I don't like being dragged into the minutiae of pricing plans like this. It's makes me feel like a rodent in a maze responding to some twisted experiment. An

I don't like being dragged into the minutiae of pricing plans like this. It's makes me feel like a rodent in a maze responding to some twisted experiment. And whenever I overhear people discuss the tricks they've come up with to save 2$/year on their transit pass or cable bill or whatever, I have to walk away. I find those kinds of discussions tedious to the point that it makes me angry.

redmattred 8y ago
If only there were a way to avoid reading articles about the minutiae of pricing plans and then engaging in discussions about them to avoid making yourself angry.
maxxxxx 8y ago
I think the real issue is that there is a trend that existing customers are being treated in a hostile manner. It used to be that long term customers are being treated well but these days long term customers are being exploited and new customers get the perks. I think we have a deep need to be rewarded for loyalty.
- habosa 8y ago
  I think if there is anything that is truly American, its the expectation that customers and companies are always trying to trick each other. So much of American business culture is built around this assumed adversarial relationship.
  - williamdclt 8y ago
    To be fair, I've lived in France and the UK and it's also the case (can't compare to the US though)
  - jeffdavis 8y ago
    Why do you say that's American?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - jtms 8y ago
    I think this perspective might be your own personal biases at work... this pattern of adversarial business relationships seems to be fairly evenly distributed across the globe. I would go as far as to say it is likely just a fundamental human behavioral tendency when it comes to dealing with scarce resources.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    I have been in the US since 2000 and I think it has gotten worse. Most people still believe that loyalty gets rewarded but that’s not the case anymore in business and also not anymore as employees.
maddyboo 8y ago
I love your rodent analogy, I feel like that all the time. Let's all realize that corporations are the best manipulators in history. It is essentially impossible for a person to take advantage of a corporation in an ethical/non-criminal way; their structure explicitly minimizes that. So, then, realize that they have formed themselves not to be exploited, but to exploit you. This is their raison d'être. How much time have you spent analyzing your decisions to ensure that you are never being taken advantage of? I guarantee every corporation you deal with on a daily basis has spent orders of magnitude more time thinking about it, and more, analyzing how best to take advantage of others. If a person exhibits the traits common to corporations, they would be considered narcissistic sociopaths. I'm not suggesting shunning corporations from your life is a practical answer to this issue, but you should certainly be aware of it.
- gubbrora 8y ago
  It's not unwinnable. If a few people beat the system but most don't - that's fine from corporation's point of view.
gav 8y ago
One thing that I learnt from e-commerce is that there’s a segment of customers who will delight in “beating you” to get a discount. It’s valuable to allow them to think they’ve won. Tactics include: seeding “secret” coupons, discount rules that are more lenient than advertised, price matching against yourself, selling items that are more expensive but ship free, allowing them to contact customer service for better discounts, and so on.
warent 8y ago
This always bothers me as well. Even when they say something like, they're saving $10/yr. In my mind, all the grief you go through to save that money, plus all the conversations you have about it afterward, altogether is worth more than $10/yr, so ultimately it's a net negative value. I mean really, $10/yr over 10 years is $100. Congrats, you can now afford a fraction of a plane ticket after a decade?

redmattred 8y ago

If only there were a way to avoid reading articles about the minutiae of pricing plans and then engaging in discussions about them to avoid making yourself angry.

maxxxxx 8y ago

I think the real issue is that there is a trend that existing customers are being treated in a hostile manner. It used to be that long term customers are being treated well but these days long term customers are being exploited and new customers get the perks. I think we have a deep need to be rewarded for loyalty.

habosa 8y ago
I think if there is anything that is truly American, its the expectation that customers and companies are always trying to trick each other. So much of American business culture is built around this assumed adversarial relationship.
- williamdclt 8y ago
  To be fair, I've lived in France and the UK and it's also the case (can't compare to the US though)
- jeffdavis 8y ago
  Why do you say that's American?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jtms 8y ago
  I think this perspective might be your own personal biases at work... this pattern of adversarial business relationships seems to be fairly evenly distributed across the globe. I would go as far as to say it is likely just a fundamental human behavioral tendency when it comes to dealing with scarce resources.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  I have been in the US since 2000 and I think it has gotten worse. Most people still believe that loyalty gets rewarded but that’s not the case anymore in business and also not anymore as employees.

maddyboo 8y ago

I love your rodent analogy, I feel like that all the time. Let's all realize that corporations are the best manipulators in history. It is essentially impossible for a person to take advantage of a corporation in an ethical/non-criminal way; their structure explicitly minimizes that. So, then, realize that they have formed themselves not to be exploited, but to exploit you. This is their raison d'être. How much time have you spent analyzing your decisions to ensure that you are never being taken advantage of? I guarantee every corporation you deal with on a daily basis has spent orders of magnitude more time thinking about it, and more, analyzing how best to take advantage of others. If a person exhibits the traits common to corporations, they would be considered narcissistic sociopaths. I'm not suggesting shunning corporations from your life is a practical answer to this issue, but you should certainly be aware of it.

gubbrora 8y ago
It's not unwinnable. If a few people beat the system but most don't - that's fine from corporation's point of view.

gav 8y ago

One thing that I learnt from e-commerce is that there’s a segment of customers who will delight in “beating you” to get a discount. It’s valuable to allow them to think they’ve won. Tactics include: seeding “secret” coupons, discount rules that are more lenient than advertised, price matching against yourself, selling items that are more expensive but ship free, allowing them to contact customer service for better discounts, and so on.

warent 8y ago

This always bothers me as well. Even when they say something like, they're saving $10/yr. In my mind, all the grief you go through to save that money, plus all the conversations you have about it afterward, altogether is worth more than $10/yr, so ultimately it's a net negative value. I mean really, $10/yr over 10 years is $100. Congrats, you can now afford a fraction of a plane ticket after a decade?