What Do People Pay For but Rarely Use?
What Do People Pay For but Rarely Use? People routinely continue paying for services they rarely use because the original purchase reflects an optimistic plan for the future, automatic renewal makes inaction easy, and canceling can feel like giving up on the goal the purchase represented. The gym membership is perhaps the clearest example. Someone joins in January with a plan to exercise several times each week, but attendance gradually falls. Eventually, weeks pass without a visit while the monthly payment continues exactly as scheduled. The same pattern appears with streaming subscriptions, online courses, productivity software, professional memberships, and other recurring services. The reason is not always that people simply forget. Many of these expenses survive because buying, using, and canceling involve different psychological decisions. Gym Memberships Reveal the Difference Between Intention and Behavior Economists Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier examined membership c...