4 ms·

Get rid of $5.99 / mo, charge a flat $99 lifetime. Monthly doesn't make sense at all for this kind of service. I have no plan on dying anytime soon.

pheug 7y ago
Monthly can actually make perfect sense for this kind of service as a signal that the user's still alive. But yeah, $6/month is way too high.
- bananocurrency 7y ago
  ...what? >Monthly can actually make perfect sense for this kind of service as a signal that the user's still alive ...and so when they stop paying for the service...?
mcast 7y ago
I agree this is too high, but a better question is, will this service even be solvent in 50+ years? I don't even expect my Gmail account to last to my death. Maybe at that point, maintenance and support engineers will be entirely automated.
- mrdazm 7y ago
  Are you presuming a scenario where the company would go dark with no notice?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
ghostbrainalpha 7y ago
While I agree that your pricing makes more sense to the customer, consider that $99 is only 17 months. Someone who signs up with this service and sort of forgets about it or thinks about it like life insurance (just another small monthly bill), could be a paying customer for 20 years and ultimately be worth $1,200 to the company. Couple that with the monthly fee model is much easier to pari with a "3 months free" offer, and the current pricing may be optimal for the company even if it results in significantly less signups or a less common sense pricing strategy.
- madamelic 7y ago
  >ultimately be worth $1,200 to the company. Ok, then charge $1,200. The price doesn't matter. In fact, $99 is very likely too little. I shouldn't have thrown out a token number. I mean, it would cost ~$0.11 to store 1KB of data for 100,000 years [1]. I don't plan on living that long. $99 would be more than enough to store 1KB, 10KB, 1MB for 100 years. Business-wise, death is big business, charge $1,000, $1,500, whatever as long as you can convince people it is worth it. Emotionally it feels much better to pay a lump sum and now it is taken care of rather than having to swallow and maintain a monthly payment regardless of its size. I don't want to look or think about my will every month. I want it to be done and filed. [1]: https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/ https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/
  - mrdazm 7y ago
    Thanks for your thoughts and the clarification to your original point I understand your set and forget mentality with respect to paying a single fee, setting Passbox up and then leaving it be. Does that change for you at all given the fact that digital items/accounts/etc get updated on occasion? You may also fall into and out of favor with trusted folks and may need to adjust who is allowed to access your account or even assign the data differently. Other than this I like how you explained not wanting to think about the price on a recurring basis. Thanks again

pheug 7y ago

Monthly can actually make perfect sense for this kind of service as a signal that the user's still alive. But yeah, $6/month is way too high.

bananocurrency 7y ago
...what? >Monthly can actually make perfect sense for this kind of service as a signal that the user's still alive ...and so when they stop paying for the service...?

mcast 7y ago

I agree this is too high, but a better question is, will this service even be solvent in 50+ years? I don't even expect my Gmail account to last to my death. Maybe at that point, maintenance and support engineers will be entirely automated.

mrdazm 7y ago
Are you presuming a scenario where the company would go dark with no notice?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

ghostbrainalpha 7y ago

While I agree that your pricing makes more sense to the customer, consider that $99 is only 17 months. Someone who signs up with this service and sort of forgets about it or thinks about it like life insurance (just another small monthly bill), could be a paying customer for 20 years and ultimately be worth $1,200 to the company. Couple that with the monthly fee model is much easier to pari with a "3 months free" offer, and the current pricing may be optimal for the company even if it results in significantly less signups or a less common sense pricing strategy.

madamelic 7y ago
>ultimately be worth $1,200 to the company. Ok, then charge $1,200. The price doesn't matter. In fact, $99 is very likely too little. I shouldn't have thrown out a token number. I mean, it would cost ~$0.11 to store 1KB of data for 100,000 years [1]. I don't plan on living that long. $99 would be more than enough to store 1KB, 10KB, 1MB for 100 years. Business-wise, death is big business, charge $1,000, $1,500, whatever as long as you can convince people it is worth it. Emotionally it feels much better to pay a lump sum and now it is taken care of rather than having to swallow and maintain a monthly payment regardless of its size. I don't want to look or think about my will every month. I want it to be done and filed. [1]: https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/ https://aws.amazon.com/glacier/
- mrdazm 7y ago
  Thanks for your thoughts and the clarification to your original point I understand your set and forget mentality with respect to paying a single fee, setting Passbox up and then leaving it be. Does that change for you at all given the fact that digital items/accounts/etc get updated on occasion? You may also fall into and out of favor with trusted folks and may need to adjust who is allowed to access your account or even assign the data differently. Other than this I like how you explained not wanting to think about the price on a recurring basis. Thanks again