- Peloton is introducing a $95 “used equipment activation fee” for bikes purchased from outside its official channels in the US and Canada, aiming to boost revenue and maintain onboarding quality for new subscribers.
- The fee has sparked criticism as it reduces the cost savings typically associated with buying secondhand equipment and diverges from practices in other industries, potentially discouraging used market purchases.
- Peloton’s hardware sales continue to decline, but subscription revenue has seen slight growth; the company still faces financial struggles despite cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
Why are we comfortable with not owning the things we buy :/
Im not, I wouldnt buy one.
It’s not enough to not buy one. We need to demand that Congress and the FTC do their goddamn jobs and quit letting every company fuck over the public.
I mean, there’s a reason almost nobody is buying their products.
For everyone with a peloton, you can flash the bike with an aftermarket software.
HACK THE PLANET!!
Zwift or TrainerRoad
flash the bike with an aftermarket software.
Not a phrase I’d ever thought I’d hear.
They already charge a ridiculous monthly fee just to use the bike.
And sure, it’s a nicer exercise bike, but you can get a similar experience with a much cheaper bike and a tablet.
If this shit is allowed, every other company will follow. Imagine buying a used car and getting hit up with a $1000 activation fee, fuck that
Don’t give them new ideas. Cars are already slowly turning into a SaaS on wheels.
Another thing I predicted a decade and a half ago that the internet of that time mocked me for…
They do. At least for optional features like Apple Car and Android Auto.
So you’re saying there will soon be a scene dedicated to cracking Peloton software.
Cuz that’s what I’m hearing.
Already exists. The Peloton subreddit has a guide on rooting your bike and installing custom apks.
Damn. Might be time to pick up a used one.
Thanks for the heads up.
The tech world has become and endless conveyor belt of stupid greedy miseries.
No subscription-based company products should be in public schools. That would stop with inculcating model acceptance.
No federal agency should be using any subscription product, including any cloud products. Public data should not be capable of being held hostage or monetised.
Both are a waste of public funds and set a bad example.
We can put marketing teams in the fields and mines doing honest toil.
Thing is cloud stuff does cost money to run. In the end even electricity is a subscription.
The tech world has become and endless conveyor belt of stupid greedy miseries.
Simpler. It’s easy to create artificial maintenance costs there as needed. That, of course, wouldn’t work well without oligopoly.
Government officials are interested in buying such products due to kickbacks, which means that everybody else directly or indirectly needs them for interoperability. Thus oligopoly persists.
It’s as if only radical solutions would work, be it radical authoritarian or radical libertarian.
Wife and I bought a Peloton. It works well, we love it. I’m going to cancel the subscription and just use the damn thing without attending the classes etc like an old school stationary bike.
Sucks bc I enjoy a couple of the classes but this is BS
This is basically admitting that consumers don’t actually value their subscription service for the cost. If users were buying used bikes and signing up for subscriptions Peloton would be thrilled, they would do everything that they could to encourage that like free trials. But it must be that most people who buy used bikes don’t find the subscription worth it and cancel within a few months. Adding this fee both extracts more money and creates a sunk cost fallacy that will cause them to go longer before cancelling.
If the product sold itself they would just let people pay them subscriptions, its basically free money.
Yeah I mean I’m not surprised that this business is failing. It always just seemed like a worse and more expensive version of something that was always inherently pretty boring.
I mean it was already overpriced for what it was, and it was only really good/popular during covid. A lot of people now will either go to the gym for classes or just get a bike without a $12-$49 monthly fee. I just can’t wait to see how long until they lock the wheels without a subscription
Company: we’re limping, how can we recover and pick up the pace?
CEO: How about we shot ourselves on the foot?
Company: die
CEO: Why would customer do this to us?
This is about an exercise bike, right? Why the heck is there so much nonsense surrounding it?
Because it’s an exercise bike ✨on the internet✨
The F in IoT stands for Freedom
Peloton is designed for rich people. They don’t say it explicitly because thar ruins the illusion, but the bike is meant to be a status distinction. You may only own it if you’re eager to be seen as someone who spends too much money on an exercise bike.
Ah thanks. Though for enough $$ they could get even more status with a vintage Cinelli track bike and some Weyless rollers. I mean I’d be impressed if I saw that. Unlike with the Peliton.
That doesn’t have brand status.
Cinelli is a much more prestigious brand than Peloton, heh.
To you. Not to the people that they’re trying to impress.
Yeah I guess I’m showing my age. Still though, there must have been other fancy bikes after I got out of highschool.
So they lost resale value and will have more trouble selling new hardware as well?
My thoughts exactly. This seems like a short term play to boost the stock price, let execs get out of the market, then sell off the company before it goes under.
Also how are they gonna prove you didn’t buy it before the announcement and just didn’t register/use it until after? Seems to me that’s gonna be sticky in the eyes of copyright
Is this like an… idiot tax?
The “signing up for Planet Fitness membership but not actually using the gym” is the real idiot tax. Well, yeah, I guess this one is too.
Don’t Tesla do the same bullshit? If you paid for some feature then sell the car, the new owner has to pay for it again?
This shit should be illegal.
I predicted Peloton’s failure on launch, two of my cryptobro friends laughed and dumped semi serious money into it.
LOLLLLLLLLLLL
Peloton is introducing a $95 “used equipment activation fee” for bikes purchased from outside its official channels in the US and Canada, aiming to boost revenue and maintain onboarding quality for new subscribers.
Uh… what? No
