[dec0dedab0de]

This is the only honest way to do automatic payments, and I think it should be a legal requirement for streaming services, gyms, and anything else that charges recurring fees and has the means to track usage. I would even be ok with "we'll charge you for this month, but since you didn't use it we will suspend your service and stop billing you"

I don't know of any services that do this though. So I assume they are all dishonest.

[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

> gyms

From my understanding, the profitability of gyms is actually dependent upon some sizable percentage of people paying for a membership and not using it. If that cohort didn't exist, membership fees would have to be much higher.

Software subscriptions are different though, as the variable costs are negligible: the cost associated with providing service to each new user is next to nothing.

Personally, I'd be way more likely to sign up for a paid subscription if I knew they would automatically stop charging me if/when I stop using the service.

[TeMPOraL]

> Software subscriptions are different though, as the variable costs are negligible

Depends on the service. Many boast about their large or unlimited storage for user's data, but this part of their marketing relies on the assumption that almost nobody will actually use a noticeable amount of the offer.

It's similar to the dishonest, but sadly normalized practice of ISPs, where the bandwidth offered would be impossible to provide if a significant number of customers tried to use it at once.

[crdrost]

I believe Slack has an "only pay for what you use" model? Or at least had one at some point?

And of course every cloud provider works this way, but that's not a "subscription model" anymore.