auto pay

 Wouldn't it be great if just one time these companies were honest about wanting you to auto pay? They talk about convenience. They talk about simplicity. But they never talk about their agenda. Auto pay isn't a contract but just the psychology of it is that it's paying continuously and since you don't have to fool with it you can just let it continue paying. This puts you into kind of a contractual mindset. It's auto-paying so I'll just let it pay. Now I don't know the statistics, but it's a pretty good bet that if something's on auto pay this month it's going to get paid next month. But if a person is paying for something month-to-month, there's a much greater possibility that they'll just go do something different next month and not continue paying. So auto pay isn't a contract but it certainly gives the company a warm fuzzy that you're going to be paying next month. You're going to have to take some overt action like stopping the auto pay, and calling the company. With a model where you pay every month all you have to do is not pay next month and the service ends. If you pay every month then it leaves you in the driver's seat. It leaves them wondering if they're going to get any money next month. So the reality is auto pay is all about them. Now if you're the kind of person that stays on top of everything then auto pay can add some convenience, but you have to have a psychological toughness to make it pay.

 Another very big psychological advantage for a company to con you into auto-paying is that they can do small price increases, and they can also pressure you to upgrade more easily. After all you're on autopay what's another $5 a month, another $10 a month. You won't even notice it. But in all reality you're not getting anything for the 5 to $10 a month. You're paying more for the exact same service you were already getting. They're betting that you won't get so mad you'll go pick some other service you'll just pay the extra money to make them quit pestering you. Anytime somebody pesters you to upgrade it's a rip off. They're basically stealing money from you. If you look at what they're going to give you it's always stuff in services. Now occasionally they'll give you more back the more you spend. If you spend enough then you get more back than the upgrade cost. Okay well you can make that argument, and it is valid if you're already spending enough to make it worthwhile. But if you're going to have to spend more to break even then they're the ones that are really winning. They're getting you to buy more of their stuff than you really want, just so you can make your upgrade pay.