Certainly we can agree to disagree. At the cost of a few dollars a month, you don’t have to worry about app partner integration and running workouts from your head unit in resistance mode. It is what it is… One other thing that I think is overlooked a little bit is the workout creator, which I haven’t used a whole lot because I’m running Chad’s plans right now, but even at the tail end of last season I made several key sessions for myself that I wanted to do on the trainer, and executed them well. It took me less than five minutes to take the workouts I’d programmed for myself (in TrainingPeaks) and make them work on my smart trainer.
Maybe someone else has that capability too, but that’s a marked improvement over running workouts off your head unit IMO. I admit I could be overestimating that.
I cannot think of a single service I subscribe to that grandfather’s prices — apart from TrainerRoad. A few have allowed to grandfather some conditions, though. Overall, I think the promise to grandfather plans in perpetuity is not a good idea business-wise. Inflation is a thing and you will have a harder and harder time to raise more money if you need to. Especially if the services offered expand, I think it is fair to raise prices on existing members. Right now I am paying for TR and TP, so once TR’s more advanced analytics features come online, I will hopefully be able to cancel my TP subscription.
You could still reward loyalty one way or another, e. g. keep long-time subscribers at the previous price level (in this case $130 instead of $190).
Strava has me on a similar pricing structure. I signed up to Premium to try out live segments and the beacon feature.
If I decide to upgrade to the new Summit next renewal and chose all three packs to get the same features I’d be paying around $10 USD more per year.
If it isn’t on Strava it never happened. Right? ;).
Edit: It wasn’t easy to find out the difference in price in the above example as the pricing structure isn’t very transparent. It turns out Strava is overcharging me for my loyalty as the local pricing has come down. Nice. I’ll just shoot the CEO a PM and ask them to sort it out.
So I stand corrected (as a Strava Premium subscriber who just couldn’t decide between the new “packages”). Nevertheless, I would say that the situation there is slightly different: we are grandfathered in an old “plan” that has different terms than the new one.
As someone who wants services and products he loves to thrive (to ensure that the business side is healthy), I don’t think grandfathering to the current degree is wise or warranted. I certainly don’t have that expectation.
Strava, you never cease to amaze me. I’m always tempted to go back to a non-premium account. I really dislike the way Strava handles its community and the lack of new features. Even simple things (like changing defaults to enable existing features to e. g. ensure the privacy of its members) are not implemented. Ugh.
I am glad I get to be grandfathered in, and I read the forums and found out about the price increase. From someone who has had multiple coaches over the past 5 years, and will still have 1-1 coaching when leading to a Nationals event. TR has provided me structure at home on the trainer and a new way of looking at training. Plus we get SOOOO much information in a Podcast. I listed to @Nate_Pearson@chad when I’m on the trainer, not only for the training information, but tactics and nutrition. For the price you get more information and access than you would through a coach at a similar price point. I feel if your using TR, this is a generalisation, you want to compete and be fast, or be the best cyclist you can be. There is a lot more to TR than Zwift, I feel they are two different platforms for differing users.
I would easily accept that price - 1 scheme. Over the years I stopped my subscription and came back with a higher price until I’ve decided to pay for the yearly fee and it does feel like a steal.
The product has greatly improved in the last year with calendar and now the whole effort of making the outdoor rides available. I’d much rather support that, making sure I will have a constantly evolving platform than being stuck with the old version I paid for.
@Nate_Pearson, if you ever solve the grandfathering by splitting to a “Classic vs New” model, count me in the new platform. Good job!
Honest question, where are you getting shelled with ads on Strava? I don’t really see any on mine via a web browser or the app. I looked and I just don’t see any.
The rest I would agree with you about. Paying for Strava adds a pretty minimal amount of features right now.
TLDR; I have not read the entire thread because it is at 367 posts when I first jumped in.
To the OP’s problem of a 3 day lapse doubling his price I am with him. I have accidentally let subscriptions lapse due to mistakes or a credit card having expired. If someone has spent at least a year with you a little lenience would be nice. You have the data on how long a subscription was lapsed.
Personally I jumped in the annual pricing before there was a price hike because it was announced. I would only be a few-months-a-year subscriber at the higher rate. To be honest I subscribed just to support the podcast. It is my favorite part of TR. For me the app is just a nice perk to the podcast but I would not subscribe yearly for the current prices.
It will also vary each month if you subscribe monthly, depending on exchange rate. And depending on how you pay for it and your credit card you’ll have to probably tack on another 3.5% foreign transaction fee –of course this is not a TR specific issue. One nice thing with Zwift is at least it’s charged in CDN so while we’re still paying $4/mo more than our American friends, it’s a consistent hit at least .
It will also vary each month if you subscribe monthly, depending on exchange rate. And depending on how you pay for it and your credit card you’ll have to probably tack on another 3.5% foreign transaction fee –of course this is not a TR specific issue. One nice thing with Zwift is at least it’s charged in CDN so while we’re still paying $4/mo more than our American friends, it’s a consistent hit at least .
I have a few “travel” credit cards that do not charge foreign transaction fees. they are out there
–of course this is not a TR specific issue. One nice thing with Zwift is at least it’s charged in CDN so while we’re still paying $4/mo more than our American friends, it’s a consistent hit at least