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    Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls

    (www.pewresearch.org)
    157 points mooreds | 16 comments | 25 Jun 25 02:46 UTC | HN request time: 1.151s | source | bottom
    1. kevin_thibedeau ◴[25 Jun 25 04:01 UTC] No.44373528[source]▶
    I would pay for news if I knew I could cancel easily without jumping through ridiculous hoops. I'd really like to get a NYT subscription but that'll never happen so long as they have their Kafka inspired cancellation process in place.
    replies(9): >>44373544 #>>44373593 #>>44373629 #>>44373748 #>>44373819 #>>44375396 #>>44378593 #>>44380585 #>>44388500 #
    2. Cerium ◴[25 Jun 25 04:09 UTC] No.44373544[source]▶
    Same! I have contemplated it many times since the content is consistently good and I canceled my local paper after they doubled the price twice in the last couple of years.
    3. grogenaut ◴[25 Jun 25 04:21 UTC] No.44373593[source]▶
    very agreed, they have tons of good articles which is about as many times as I've been warned never to sign up with them because you cancel.
    4. apical_dendrite ◴[25 Jun 25 04:33 UTC] No.44373629[source]▶
    You can subscribe to The NY Times through the App Store and then cancel painlessly just like any other app subscription.
    5. mertd ◴[25 Jun 25 04:58 UTC] No.44373748[source]▶
    California has this and it's great. https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab...
    6. MrDrMcCoy ◴[25 Jun 25 05:15 UTC] No.44373819[source]▶
    I use privacy.com proxy cards for this. Don't even bother unsubscribing most of the time, I just cancel the card and let nature run it's course :)
    replies(1): >>44375690 #
    7. lynx97 ◴[25 Jun 25 09:48 UTC] No.44375396[source]▶
    Dark patterns around subscription cancellation have led me to only use subscriptions I can do via Apple. Having a single menu in the Settings app to manage all your subs is such a comfy feeling.
    replies(1): >>44375731 #
    8. hiq ◴[25 Jun 25 10:35 UTC] No.44375690[source]▶
    Legally, can't they let the subscription run and say you owe them the money?
    replies(1): >>44375779 #
    9. jbverschoor ◴[25 Jun 25 10:44 UTC] No.44375731[source]▶
    Exactly. I wish all the Apple bashers good luck. Well worth the 15-30%
    10. Nextgrid ◴[25 Jun 25 10:52 UTC] No.44375779{3}[source]▶
    I can say you owe me money too. The hard part is collecting said money. The overheads of collecting from a non-cooperative customer would not make it worthwhile.
    replies(1): >>44376488 #
    11. tim333 ◴[25 Jun 25 12:26 UTC] No.44376488{4}[source]▶
    But what if they pass it to a debt agency? I think it's a risky strategy.
    replies(2): >>44377230 #>>44377314 #
    12. Nextgrid ◴[25 Jun 25 13:39 UTC] No.44377230{5}[source]▶
    Ignore it? Even a debt agency has profit margins to hit and wouldn't take on unprofitable clients.
    13. eastabrooka ◴[25 Jun 25 13:48 UTC] No.44377314{5}[source]▶
    Depends if they allow signup from a prepaid visa. There's no one to chase, its a prepaid.
    14. rurp ◴[25 Jun 25 15:44 UTC] No.44378593[source]▶
    Same for the Economist. I was on their signup page about to start a subscription when I figured I'd better check how cancellations work. Sure enough there's no simple online cancellation option like there is for signing up. There are a whole bunch of stories out there of people being given the run around and wasting a stupid about of time cancelling their account.

    I even double checked with their support to see if it had been changed and got a ridiculous gaslighting response about this being better for customers. I generally think pretty highly of their journalism but these sleazy tactics definitely lowered my opinion of the company and prevented me from giving them my business.

    15. mrguyorama ◴[25 Jun 25 18:42 UTC] No.44380585[source]▶
    The FTC was looking to do this stuff with "Click to cancel" but it's currently in limbo "to give the companies more time to comply" for some freaking reason.
    16. cdaringe ◴[26 Jun 25 15:43 UTC] No.44388500[source]▶
    That’s an interesting observation. I canceled mine last year and it was nearly one click, easy. Navigate to my account, manage subscription, cancel (or similar). Donzo.

    I was so not irritated by it at all that I was actually willing to resubscribe a deep discount.

    I wonder if changes were made this year, because I’m generally pretty sensitive to that malarkey too