I haven’t read the next 50 or so messages, but where @PoulB is coming from is that is very common in the Nordic countries, which are social democracies (i’m half-Swedish) to have young people pricing (including, transportation, services, airline tickets, cinemas) as well as older-people pricing. So, @anon13702412 this is very much a cultural/political difference than the US, where is is a market based economy and a private company can decided what they want to do, regardless of wether it is fair or not, unlike a listed company who’s focus is to maximize revenue to raise shareholder value.
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Not sure about that analogy.
More like someone bought the same floorplan house as you 7 years ago and bought another one every year since. Then today in 2021 you both go to buy one and pay different price.
Well at least in California, public services for youth and elderly are heavily subsidized. Certain things in the private sector such as dinning and amusement are also subsidized. Youth is generally those younger than say 12 and elderly are those over 50 (but typically in the 60s). There are normally a time of use condition for the discount, like early dinner at 5:00 pm and movie matinee during middle of the weekday 3:00-5:00 pm. Those are more win-win situation for the private sector. It’ll take much more capital to make that a reality and it most like generate more complaints.
I for one signed up with TR 4-5 years ago i think!?
And i wouldve cancelled and re-subscribed if it weren’t of the legacy pricing being promised. Did i possibly lose out more $$ from not cancelling and resubscribing considering that i can spend 2-3 months or more not using the tool? Sure.
But THEIR STRATEGY WORKS lol
Now in terms of fairness to new users and all that stuff… TR of old was probably worth less than it is now considering all the new features that are now available (and will be available shortly) And if you want growth of the product and quality staff, you gotta pay them.
So the number of employees they had back then i’m assuming was a lot lower than it is now (i think Nate mentioned that they are looking to get to about 100 employees once they fill the open postings). It aint cheap if you’re hiring good talent but that’s what will ensure more features and quality content gets added to the tool without having ridiculous increases time and time again.
When youre in such a hot market, you gotta position yourself for the value that you’re offering your customers, if you think it’s not worth that then, all the power to you to look at other similar options and see if they satisfy your needs…but in the meantime they have several hundreds (and more) of customers that see the value in the price theyre paying.
My $0.02
The only problem here is that there is a forum and people compare prices. If it weren’t for the forum most of us wouldn’t even know about legacy pricing.
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I have been cycling for years but am pretty new to indoor training and TR, only 3 months (call me a pandemic recruit). I really rate TR, the website/apps work seamlessly and the progression of the workouts seems to be balanced just right, I have really enjoyed the experience.
However the sun is coming out again, I am paying $20 monthly and within a few weeks my usage would be down to minimal as I would always ride outside. If it was $100 a year then I would pay that no question, maybe more but $190 is a stretch for something I will use mostly for 3-4 months of the year, hence I will probably pause my membership at the end of this month. I plan on signing up again next winter but if the prices have gone up much I will likely at least check out Sufferfest or alternatives
But those people who started years ago had a fraction of the features there are nowadays. Those older subscribers have paid to develop the platform as it is today.
If I brought Apple stock 5 years ago…should a new shareholder pay the same price? As a grandfathered subscriber at $99 for 6 years… I’ve already paid $600 to TR. It would take another 6 years before myself and the new subscriber had contributed the same to the platform. There is nothing wrong with rewarding loyalty. If they didn’t, I possibly wouldn’t be a subscriber today.
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Sure… But that was not point I was trying to make.
Point is the best time to pay for stuff is now, you don’t know in the future what will cost. That be houses or yearly paid services…
I made that mistake my first year with TR.
When I signed up, I planned on using TR during the fall, winter, and spring months and then suspend my account during the summer when I planned to do all my riding outside. I suspended my account in June and when I went to restart in August, the price had gone up. I contacted them and they let me resign up for a yearly subscription price that I had previously because I did not realize that suspending my sub would open me up to the price increase. I have not dropped my subscription since and wouldn’t because I am locked in to that rate.
If they had done the same pricing structure that Zwift and the other apps do, and increased their rates on all subscribers I would not have been as loyal as I am now. I would probably have hopped between different websites/apps especially with all that I’ve learned about structured training and what works for me. I also now use TR in the summer in order to maintain some of the form that I develop those other nine months of the year or when the weather prevents me from going for a ride outside. I am always faster in April and May than I am in August/September.
I am also looking forward to the new AT when they incorporate outdoor rides to hopefully maintain my fitness over the summer.
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I’m not up on Azure pricing but if it’s anything close to AWS TR prob have a good bill each month!
That is exactly the benefit of per-month subscriptions. I pause Zwift every summer (all three weeks of it - those who live in Northern latitudes will get it), but I keep TR going year-long since I ended up riding downstairs almost every week since I started subscribing.
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Maybe it does dent growth by discouraging new signups a bit. But rewarding loyalty means a stable customer base of longstanding members. My weekly coffee subscription gives me a £1 loyalty bonus each week, and I’ve been with them for years. Whereas my mobile phone contract constantly raises prices while giving new customers attractive deals, so I switch company every 18 months!
Also, the pricing seems like quite good value to me considering the offering?
In its current structure as a legacy subscriber ($100 tier), I’m happy to keep my subscription for years to come. I still use TR in the summer months because temperature isn’t only a problem when it’s too cold, it also gets too hot to ride outside. However, if my price were to double overnight, I’d probably fire up ye olde Golden Cheetah.
I have to win an argument for each weekday outdoor ride against DW after being rear ended two years ago. Life’s too short and I’m too poor to be single again. TR is cheap and I get an workout so as not to be dropped immediately on my Saturday club run. I appreciate the discount but probably would still be a subscriber year round without it. I’ll drop my other streaming service first.
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Any chance we can close this topic. It really is pointless. Some people are choked they havent been paying for 10 years so that they would have a cheaper price now. Perhaps these will be the same people that didnt lock in now before the next price jump and will be complaining in 10 more years.
Was smart for TR to offer locked in pricing as it kept people paying instead of using for a few months and then canceling for the outdoor season and then re-upping again. TR got 6 months extra income from me and I missed all the amazing early pricing that others got. I don’t mind at all. TR made more from me for X years to get me to pay annually when I never thought I would use it all year. Very smart move. All those other people paid for TR for 7-8 years more than I have. They have better pricing. No problem.
Anyways its not going to change anything. If you need to complain about how unfair it is than why not suggest you pay for 10 years or whatever that others paid in to the development of this product to get a better price today? Lets say you chip in $1000.00 to get a better price now. Who knows maybe TR would do it?
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Yes. They are buying the same floor plan or house in your example NOW for less than you paided, although they had to buy one every year to keep paying that original price. Thats a lot of houses or floor plans. 
Then you would only need to wait 11 years at the current rates to break even.
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Please dont make me buy my house every year! It was stressful enough doing it the one time we had to! 
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Nope. Beta users that never left were paying $7 per month. That is what TR started at when it was JUST Nate doing all the support.
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What? I have been subscribed that long? DANG!!!