Yahoo Mail Gets Pricier

from the free-to-fee dept

Not at all surprising, but the latest "give us some damn money" news out of Yahoo! is that you now have to pay to forward your mail out of Yahoo mail. While I understand why they're doing this, it does seem that Yahoo is adding these little subscription fees here and there for random features of their site. Luckily, I don't use Yahoo for very much, but if I were a big time user, I think it would piss me off that every two weeks or so they pick one more tiny feature to drag some money out of me. If Yahoo wants to charge people money, why not come out with a comprehensive subscription plan, rather than just nickeling and diming their users on each of the various services they offer? It's as if they're trying to sneak these fees past their users.
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  • identicon
    D Henkel-Wallace, 21 Mar 2002 @ 12:49pm

    No Subject Given

    If Yahoo wants to charge people money, why not come out with a comprehensive subscription plan, rather than just nickeling and diming their users on each of the various services they offer? It's as if they're trying to sneak these fees past their users.
    Yahoo's services are pretty independent. I suspect everyone has received the message that it's time to bring in some cash, and each of them is rolling that out one by one. Perhaps at some point they might implement a centralised "service" -- who knows? But don't think of them as a homogenous business.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Shane, 23 Mar 2002 @ 1:38pm

    Not 100% Yahoo's fault

    Yahoo is just marketing. It's the users, consumers, subscribers, clients, idiots-- whatever you want to call them-- that are most receptive to THIS type of marketing. I too would like to see flat rates. Shit, I've always been a proponent for flat tax rates, flat service/subscription rates, no-hidden-charges, and all-you-can-eat buffet's. But it seems that it's just not as profitable to run a business with that strategy. Consider this: want a song? buy it for $16 and get 15 crappy songs free. Want 3 good cable channels? $80 because each is in a different "package" and you'll need all the packages. Or how about this one: I walked into SR-systems in Boise, Idaho to buy a mother board at the price they advertised online. When I was checking out, they added $20 for shipping and handling. No, no, no... I'm picking it up so I'll just charge them $0 for MY shipping and handling services and they can charge me their shipping and handling cost, $0. They wouldn't go for it. All you can do is not buy from shitheads like that. Oh, one more I think is funny: I just order some cable internet service. I'm only allowed to have one computer connected at a time, even though my bandwidth is capped. But... here is the good part... I can pay another $15 dollars a month to have up to three connected simultaneously. I guess their banking on the honor system. Here's what I'm figuring... if they can charge me $40 to "turn the line on", I can BE one large-multi-processor-multi-case-single-filesystem-computing-machine that needs ONE DHCP addr. Hear me again, I am ONE computer. Me and the cable company will just take turns bending over for each other. It's the new age business-consumer love affair. Knowledge is cash. Loop-holes and loose-definitions exist for exploit... no.. wait... wrong word. I meant utilization.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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