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Ugh, I hate even thinking about ads during a "reading" experience. I've also got an anecdote about Audible that will make me quite literally never subscribe to

Ugh, I hate even thinking about ads during a "reading" experience. I've also got an anecdote about Audible that will make me quite literally never subscribe to the service, even if it somehow becomes the only game in town. Was in the Amazon bookstore in UVillage (Seattle) 4-5 years ago, and overheard one of the sales reps at the counter checking customers out signing then up for Audible subscriptions. As every customer walked through the checker's line, they casually mentioned the customer's purchase qualified for 3 free months of audible and said they'd get that activated with their purchase. It was VERY CLEAR most customers weren't paying attention at all and this checker was printing new subscriptions that I'm willing to bet most customers wouldn't ever notice on their monthly credit card statements. I sat there for maybe 10-15 minutes listening and in that time span it was at least 10+ customers that got signed up. And while I'd like to blame this individual checker, I'm 100% sure this sales tactic was coming from a manager that was almost certainly coming from Amazon corporate. Disgusting thinking about how many people ended up subscribed to a monthly service they had virtually no understanding of.

barbazoo 4y ago
> I'm 100% sure this sales tactic was coming from a manager that was almost certainly coming from Amazon corporate. This reminded me of when I recently helped my mother-in-law cancelling all her Amazon subscriptions she forgot she had, they make it VERY easy to not find out about the different ways you spend money on Amazon. For instance you have to log into the accounts for different countries separately to see that you have Prime subscriptions in those countries.
dreamcompiler 4y ago
Reminds me of a similar episode at a convenience store in Colorado a few weeks ago. I was paying for a cup of coffee and the woman on the register asked if I was a member of their frequent shopper plan. No. "Would you like to sign up?" No. So far, just like pretty much every brick and mortar retail experience in 2023. But then it got weird. "If you sign up you get a free cup of coffee every month." No thanks. "If you sign up you get cash back on every purchase." No thanks. "If you sign up you get a free donut right now." Um, could I just pay for my coffee? "If you sign up we will give you a free tank of gas on your birthday. You really should think about it." By this time I had my hand out waiting for my change, which she finally gave me. She tried one more pitch as I walked away. It was very strange. Obviously her boss had told the employees something like "You must sign up at least 20 new customers per day or you're fired." I felt sorry for her. This modern retail obsession with mining customer data is making it so I don't want to walk in to any place with a cash register.
- chrismorgan 4y ago
  The distressing thing is how loyalty programmes have been hijacked. They used to be harmless, e.g. a printed business card and they punch holes: there wasn’t any or more than perfunctory tracking because doing more wasn’t viable. Simple and obvious: this card is a straightforward incentive to keep coming back, no strings attached. But now it’s all digital and all tracking and all mining, and most people don’t realise this or think through the implications.

barbazoo 4y ago

> I'm 100% sure this sales tactic was coming from a manager that was almost certainly coming from Amazon corporate. This reminded me of when I recently helped my mother-in-law cancelling all her Amazon subscriptions she forgot she had, they make it VERY easy to not find out about the different ways you spend money on Amazon. For instance you have to log into the accounts for different countries separately to see that you have Prime subscriptions in those countries.

dreamcompiler 4y ago

Reminds me of a similar episode at a convenience store in Colorado a few weeks ago. I was paying for a cup of coffee and the woman on the register asked if I was a member of their frequent shopper plan. No. "Would you like to sign up?" No. So far, just like pretty much every brick and mortar retail experience in 2023. But then it got weird. "If you sign up you get a free cup of coffee every month." No thanks. "If you sign up you get cash back on every purchase." No thanks. "If you sign up you get a free donut right now." Um, could I just pay for my coffee? "If you sign up we will give you a free tank of gas on your birthday. You really should think about it." By this time I had my hand out waiting for my change, which she finally gave me. She tried one more pitch as I walked away. It was very strange. Obviously her boss had told the employees something like "You must sign up at least 20 new customers per day or you're fired." I felt sorry for her. This modern retail obsession with mining customer data is making it so I don't want to walk in to any place with a cash register.

chrismorgan 4y ago
The distressing thing is how loyalty programmes have been hijacked. They used to be harmless, e.g. a printed business card and they punch holes: there wasn’t any or more than perfunctory tracking because doing more wasn’t viable. Simple and obvious: this card is a straightforward incentive to keep coming back, no strings attached. But now it’s all digital and all tracking and all mining, and most people don’t realise this or think through the implications.