4 ms·

Man, I remember when Amazon Prime first started, I signed up for the free trial to get free shipping on something. Of course, I forgot about it and didn’t cance

Man, I remember when Amazon Prime first started, I signed up for the free trial to get free shipping on something. Of course, I forgot about it and didn’t cancel, but then I got an email from Amazon saying, “hey, you didn’t cancel your prime subscription but you also haven’t used it at all, so we are going to not charge you and cancel it for now. Here is how you easily restart your subscription if you end up needing it” It was such a wonderful feeling that clearly impacted me so much I remember it some 20 years later. I gained SO MUCH loyalty to Amazon after that, and sure enough, I restarted my prime subscription a bit later when I got a better job and started ordering more stuff. They made so much more money off me because they sacrificed those few dollars for one month of my subscription fee to show me they weren’t just trying to make me forget to cancel. Amazon today would never do that, of course, but man I think more companies should if they want long term, loyal, customers.

metabagel 2y ago
How are long term, loyal customers going to provide the short term profits which are needed to goose executive bonuses?
ssaannmmaann 2y ago
Today's Amazon is doing it's very best to get rid of customers like you and me! Not at all a fan of what it has evolved into!
rootusrootus 2y ago
Early Amazon was pro-customer in a way that I think most people have forgotten. Maybe that was always the strategy? They were losing money for years, and maybe that was investing in the company, or maybe it was allowing really large losses to keep customers happy, planning all along to eventually clamp down when people were addicted. And here we are. Their return rate is still pretty terrible, IIRC. I bet they are trying to cut that down. I still see a lot (and I mean a LOT) of obvious Amazon returns in the line at the UPS store, and some of them are quite egregious (I stood behind a lady for 5 solid minutes a couple weeks ago and she was pulling return after return out of a big bag). Maybe Amazon will start firing those customers.
- rtkwe 2y ago
  The way Amazon was "losing money" in the early years was all intense reinvestment though so they could at any point pretty easily tune their profit making by turning down the ridiculous amount of warehouses they were building for one example.
- kulahan 2y ago
  I think it's more a matter of companies just having different focuses. If you're wondering how to grow your userbase, you're thinking fundamentally differently than if you have an established one and are wondering how to monetize them.
  - hedvig23 2y ago
    Or maybe it's all one cycle with different phases? Not saying you did this, but is this a technique one uses to distract or diffuse a critical attack - break a system into parts and claim the parts are unconnected? Anyways to the above, e.g. spider spins it's web, attracts the prey, mummifies, etc.
    - kulahan 2y ago
      Sure, I didn't mean to imply that it's unconnected, just that they're at different places. You're right that it's almost certainly just parts of one common cycle.
- kelnos 2y ago
  > Early Amazon was pro-customer in a way that I think most people have forgotten. I think this is why I'm still such a loyal customer, and use Amazon for so many purchases. Intellectually I know that Amazon does super crappy things, both to their workers and around their website and sales. But I've been a Prime member since it was first offered, nearly 20 years now, and I still fondly remember when Amazon's customer service was pretty much better than anyone else's out there. It was actually delightful to interact with their customer service, which was (and is) so rare.
  - 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
FireBeyond 2y ago
Amazon today won't even remind you that they are about to charge your card $150ish for an annual renewal, unless you specifically opt-in.
- Schiendelman 2y ago
  They still remind you automatically. I just got one.
  - FireBeyond 2y ago
    I got mine two days ago, with no reminder. When I went in to the Account page, the "Notify me by email 3 days prior to renewal" was unchecked. While possible, I can't imagine a scenario where I'd have ever knowingly unchecked that.
EasyMark 2y ago
I’m pretty sure that I receive emails before my prime subscription is up for the year each time “renewal notice”
khushick 2y ago
Would you have that email from Amazon? That sounds interesting!!

metabagel 2y ago

How are long term, loyal customers going to provide the short term profits which are needed to goose executive bonuses?

ssaannmmaann 2y ago

Today's Amazon is doing it's very best to get rid of customers like you and me! Not at all a fan of what it has evolved into!

rootusrootus 2y ago

Early Amazon was pro-customer in a way that I think most people have forgotten. Maybe that was always the strategy? They were losing money for years, and maybe that was investing in the company, or maybe it was allowing really large losses to keep customers happy, planning all along to eventually clamp down when people were addicted. And here we are. Their return rate is still pretty terrible, IIRC. I bet they are trying to cut that down. I still see a lot (and I mean a LOT) of obvious Amazon returns in the line at the UPS store, and some of them are quite egregious (I stood behind a lady for 5 solid minutes a couple weeks ago and she was pulling return after return out of a big bag). Maybe Amazon will start firing those customers.

rtkwe 2y ago
The way Amazon was "losing money" in the early years was all intense reinvestment though so they could at any point pretty easily tune their profit making by turning down the ridiculous amount of warehouses they were building for one example.
kulahan 2y ago
I think it's more a matter of companies just having different focuses. If you're wondering how to grow your userbase, you're thinking fundamentally differently than if you have an established one and are wondering how to monetize them.
- hedvig23 2y ago
  Or maybe it's all one cycle with different phases? Not saying you did this, but is this a technique one uses to distract or diffuse a critical attack - break a system into parts and claim the parts are unconnected? Anyways to the above, e.g. spider spins it's web, attracts the prey, mummifies, etc.
  - kulahan 2y ago
    Sure, I didn't mean to imply that it's unconnected, just that they're at different places. You're right that it's almost certainly just parts of one common cycle.
kelnos 2y ago
> Early Amazon was pro-customer in a way that I think most people have forgotten. I think this is why I'm still such a loyal customer, and use Amazon for so many purchases. Intellectually I know that Amazon does super crappy things, both to their workers and around their website and sales. But I've been a Prime member since it was first offered, nearly 20 years now, and I still fondly remember when Amazon's customer service was pretty much better than anyone else's out there. It was actually delightful to interact with their customer service, which was (and is) so rare.
- 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

FireBeyond 2y ago

Amazon today won't even remind you that they are about to charge your card $150ish for an annual renewal, unless you specifically opt-in.

Schiendelman 2y ago
They still remind you automatically. I just got one.
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  I got mine two days ago, with no reminder. When I went in to the Account page, the "Notify me by email 3 days prior to renewal" was unchecked. While possible, I can't imagine a scenario where I'd have ever knowingly unchecked that.

EasyMark 2y ago

I’m pretty sure that I receive emails before my prime subscription is up for the year each time “renewal notice”

khushick 2y ago

Would you have that email from Amazon? That sounds interesting!!