4 ms·

Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. If everyone paying into it actually expected to extract their entire money's

by paxys 3y ago

Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. If everyone paying into it actually expected to extract their entire money's worth of value the whole industry would collapse.

hartator 3y ago
> restaurant buffets Buffets have monthly subcriptions?
- rappatic 3y ago
  No, their entire model is based on the assumption that users could extract maximum value from the buffet (eating everything) but typically don't (have a normal- to large-sized meal, the supply cost of which is obviously far less than what the customer pays to get in). The parent commenter's point is that many businesses are run this way (eg. the gym is not equipped for 100% of subscribers to go to the gym every day, just as the buffet is not equipped for 100% of customers to eat a huge amount).
  - hartator 3y ago
    I mean I don't go to buffet to eat a lot, but just because I like what they serve and I can make my own plates. We exist.
    - Aeolun 3y ago
      And you can eat a whole plate of snitzels or cake without anyone looking at you like you are crazy.
- smtp 3y ago
  I was legitimately excited about this idea. If anyone wants to start a buffet with a monthly subscription, I may be your first customer.
  - makeitdouble 3y ago
    A monthly subscription restaurant would be a true game changer. I'm imagining going to a place where I sit and choose food without ever making price calculations, the restaurant also doesn't have to care about pushing drink orders or time spent at the table. if the cost was low enough people would probably stop caring about optimizing and try to get their money's worth, while the restaurant would only need to focus on customer satisfaction to get renewals. That must exist in some way, what is it ? Edit: school restauration is that, and I genuinely think of it as a crucial system that helps so many kids. I could see company restaurants in the same light but the closed nature isn't great.
jjulius 3y ago
>Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. I'm struggling to understand how you can lambaste people by saying "jUsT cAnCeL iT"[0] when you seem to be well aware of the business model of gyms, wherein cancelling a membership is widely-known to be a purposefully cumbersome and difficult experience. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793
- themacguffinman 3y ago
  That's misunderstanding the point, "this business model" doesn't mean hard-to-cancel. The comment specifically points to a model where customers with heavy usage are subsidizing customers with light usage (edit: I mixed it up, it's light users who subsidize heavy users). With maybe the exception of gyms which I've heard bad things about, cloud storage and buffets and insurance are usually not hard to cancel.
  - jjulius 3y ago
    I completely understand the original point and also agree with it wholeheartedly, but you misunderstand the reason for my comment. The user I responded to made a separate comment elsewhere in this thread, and I highlighted their comment in this chain we're in as evidence that they should be well aware of why the point in their other comment doesn't always work out the way they would like. The fundamental business model in this discussion is different, yes, but if you understand that business model then you're likely also well aware of the other side of their business around membership cancellations.
    - themacguffinman 3y ago
      I don't see the conflict between the two comments. You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers.

by paxys 3y ago

hartator 3y ago

> restaurant buffets Buffets have monthly subcriptions?

rappatic 3y ago
No, their entire model is based on the assumption that users could extract maximum value from the buffet (eating everything) but typically don't (have a normal- to large-sized meal, the supply cost of which is obviously far less than what the customer pays to get in). The parent commenter's point is that many businesses are run this way (eg. the gym is not equipped for 100% of subscribers to go to the gym every day, just as the buffet is not equipped for 100% of customers to eat a huge amount).
- hartator 3y ago
  I mean I don't go to buffet to eat a lot, but just because I like what they serve and I can make my own plates. We exist.
  - Aeolun 3y ago
    And you can eat a whole plate of snitzels or cake without anyone looking at you like you are crazy.
smtp 3y ago
I was legitimately excited about this idea. If anyone wants to start a buffet with a monthly subscription, I may be your first customer.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  A monthly subscription restaurant would be a true game changer. I'm imagining going to a place where I sit and choose food without ever making price calculations, the restaurant also doesn't have to care about pushing drink orders or time spent at the table. if the cost was low enough people would probably stop caring about optimizing and try to get their money's worth, while the restaurant would only need to focus on customer satisfaction to get renewals. That must exist in some way, what is it ? Edit: school restauration is that, and I genuinely think of it as a crucial system that helps so many kids. I could see company restaurants in the same light but the closed nature isn't great.

jjulius 3y ago

>Gyms, cloud storage, restaurant buffets, insurance all follow this business model. I'm struggling to understand how you can lambaste people by saying "jUsT cAnCeL iT"[0] when you seem to be well aware of the business model of gyms, wherein cancelling a membership is widely-known to be a purposefully cumbersome and difficult experience. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39059793

themacguffinman 3y ago
That's misunderstanding the point, "this business model" doesn't mean hard-to-cancel. The comment specifically points to a model where customers with heavy usage are subsidizing customers with light usage (edit: I mixed it up, it's light users who subsidize heavy users). With maybe the exception of gyms which I've heard bad things about, cloud storage and buffets and insurance are usually not hard to cancel.
- jjulius 3y ago
  I completely understand the original point and also agree with it wholeheartedly, but you misunderstand the reason for my comment. The user I responded to made a separate comment elsewhere in this thread, and I highlighted their comment in this chain we're in as evidence that they should be well aware of why the point in their other comment doesn't always work out the way they would like. The fundamental business model in this discussion is different, yes, but if you understand that business model then you're likely also well aware of the other side of their business around membership cancellations.
  - themacguffinman 3y ago
    I don't see the conflict between the two comments. You can lambaste people for not even trying to cancel a subscription they don't want while recognizing that many subscriptions depend on light users. Light users are not people who want to cancel their subscription but can't because of shenanigans, they're just light users. It's not "the other side of their business", you can have a heavy/light user model while not playing these shenanigans with customers.