It’s long been said that You Get What You Pay For. Yes, by Dad, of course, but it’s not like we claim a trademark on that old saw. “You Get What You Pay for” has always meant that you shouldn’t expect anything to ever really be free.
And it’s pretty rare that anything is. And oh boy, is everything wrong with what you see in the image here.
This week, Walmart gave away bundled a month of YouuTube TV and a $15 credit toward VUDU with a Roku streaming stick. This article pointed out that you were effectively buying that Roku for $4.
Nope.
The math is correct. If you want to subscribe to YouTube TV this is a nice little bargain. And if you want to start streaming VUDU content there’s that second technology/communications bump waiting for you.
Take a breath, kids. That free stuff ain’t free.
The VUDU offering is close. All you give up to get that fifteen bucks is the time and space needed on your favorite streaming device. Oh wait … and your e-mail address. For $15 you get SPAM for VUDU until the end of time.
Maybe you’re OK with that; we all get SPAM every day and we all have strategies for dealing with it, so what’s the real damage, right? Let’s pretend this is actually an acceptable you get what you pay for trade-off.
You Get What You Pay For
But that “free” month of YouTube TV … it’s not free. Not nearly.
YouTube TV is a subscription service. This isn’t a giveaway at all, but a chance to get your credit card number and start billing you in thirty days unless you take the step of opting out.
Got that? It’s a month of YouTube TV that you get without paying for, but both YouTube and WalMart are counting on you continuing service; YouTube because they’re selling subscriptions and WalMart because they get a commission.
How’s your memory?
Please hear the message your Rent-A-Dad is shooting for here; We think Roku is the best streaming device out there, and YouTube TV is a passable cord-cutting option. But the real point here is to make you forget to cancel a subscription.
Let that sink in.
Lots of what you face every day works just like that. Literally or figuratively, subscription or otherwise, Internet or real-world based, the name of the game is getting you to look the other way.
Be smarter than that. Because you get what you pay for.