Peloton is in something of a financial rut lately, and we all know what companies do when that happens. They take it out on consumers. To that end, the exercise machine maker just announced it will be charging a $95 “used equipment activation fee” to anyone who buys one of its machines on the secondhand market, according to a report by CNBC.
The company made this announcement in its Q4 2024 shareholder letter. The fairly exorbitant fee will apply to any machine bought directly from a previous owner, meaning anything purchased via Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or, heck, even a neighbor down the street. Without tithing $95 to the church of Peloton, the machine won’t have access to any of the classes or features the company has become known for.
The company says this activation fee is just to ensure that new members “receive the same high-quality onboarding experience Peloton is known for.” In a recent earnings call, however, a company representative was more transparent, calling the fee a “source of incremental revenue and gross profit,” according to The Verge.
The standard Bike, for instance, sells new for nearly $1,500, but you can pick up a used one online for $300 to $500. Now, that price goes up to $400 to $600. Peloton also requires a monthly membership fee to access content, which is around $44.
The high-quality onboarding experience?
Oh for fucks sake, this is just people entering information into a webpage.
Just another failing business model trying to find somewhere to “extract value”.
Setting something up is literally the worst part of anything you buy that isn’t a lego/model kit. No one is excited to set up a new TV, phone, or computer because it takes forever and prevents you from doing wha you actually want to do with the damn thing.
I have to disagree a little bit personally. It can be a chore, but sometimes there is a sense that you’re taking this generic piece of tech sold by the millions and tailoring it to your personal preferences. It’s a little silly and superficial, but it can add a little extra enjoyment to that whole experience of getting a new shiny that you’ve been looking forward to.
All that said, paying $95 for the experience of setting up a used exercise bike is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.
Failed
Not sure how this was ever a good model, unless they knew they’d make their profit very quickly before people realized they could download a phone app for interval training and watch whatever they want.
I use an interval app, Just Run, but not just for running. I’ve used it for physical therapy exercises, because I have a bunch of them, and it works really well. I just make a list of exercises and make a sequence of them, which I do on their respective interval instead of running.
For the privilege of paying $45/month for video classes?
Edit: I googled around out of curiosity on whether you can hack it. You’re paying for a “smart exercise bike” where you still have to manually adjust resistance? What the fuck?
I’ve never understood the appeal. Seems much cheaper, easier, and more fun to find a video you like online and just use that. Could be racing down a mountain road. Or a spin class. Or that scene from Monty Python where the topless women chase the guy off a cliff.
I had assumed that they used the smart shit to adjust resistance automatically and whatever, but I googled out of curiosity on hacking one, and apparently, you still have to reach down and use a knob.
Virtual courses with automatic inclines and declines and ghost runs of myself could be worth that kind of money. But not just a screen and some shitty tracking.
Not advocating for peloton, but it’s not really that much work to dial up/down a spin bike. The point of letting the rider do it “manually” is because they may not be where the rest of the class is. They very likely need to customize the resistance.
The only real benefit here is in the real time feedback on the screen (calories, distance, etc) which also adjust with resistance, and visual queues if you’re keeping or not.
I bought a simple spin bike thirdhand. Guy who owned it before me got it from a gym. You twist a knob and it increases pressure on a leather brake. Its built like a tank.
Its great and like you say, if I wanted I could just look up spin videos on youtube for free.
Why would I bother with a Peloton?
I know there are bikes that you basically race people. It’s basically a video game and the controller is your bike. It’ll get harder or easier to pedal based on terrain. You race real people who are doing the same thing. Not sure if peloton has this but that would be way better than just some video.
The few people I know who are into the Pelaton community do it for the competition/gamification element. They watch their status against global leaderboards and are highly motivated by it.
For those that it works for, great. I am highly motivated by competition, but those prices are too rich for my blood.
Maybe there are also people into Pelaton who are like those who pay a monthly gym subscription even if they have space at home? And could buy a home setup that saves them money. The monthly pay makes them commit financially and motivates them to go to the gym consistently.
Espresso makes more gamified bikes but also have very expensive subscription packages. These are way more fun imo than what peleton offers. Nonetheless they still feel very primitive to anyone familiar with modern gaming. It’s a markets pace that I’m surprised isn’t better tapped, but the subscription stuff is nonsense. Just give me a pack of virtual tours and the option to buy some additional ones. Offering peer to peer racing etc should be a very minimal cost. What I’d really like is a Sim that taps into Google street view for riding where I want virtually
This is some great factory to landfill thinking.
Only corporations can own things. The individual can only rent property, never own it.
I’ll push back on that a little. Peloton has, from the beginning, been a very closed ecosystem.
Contrast this to the smart trainer I have which is marketed to cyclists (a Wahoo KICKR). It uses standard protocols to talk, and while they have some software available, it works independent of their ecosystem on standards compliant equipment (ANT+ and BLE). You can even talk to it using the open source GoldenCheetah software.
I would say I own this device. Sure I can’t necessarily hack the firmware easily, but I can’t hack the firmware on my microwave easily either, but I’d say I own that, too.
the downward spiral continues…
