I like how Rinse does this, a laundry service that charges roughly by weight of laundry. They text me if a driver is in my area and they subtract the weight from my account's total. If I don't use it, the excess weight carries over to the next month. It reminds me of how cell phone plans used to 'roll over' unused minutes to the next payment cycle.
This isn’t perfect either. Now they have pre sold weight to you. Will they offer a full refund of unused weight? If so, why did they charge you for it ahead of time instead of a per usage?
They are hoping you have some excess weight you never use and it’s free profit for them
They have a Pay-As-You-Go ($2.25/lb + $12.95*/order, $30 minimum) and the subscription offering ("Rinse Repeat"). They make it impossible to price compare these offerings, as the subscription offering is charged per "bag" not by pound weight, but they do give you a guesstimate figure: $1.39/lb based on their most expensive subscription tier (very YMMV, as the "bags" hold different weight based on the clothing materials).
* The website misleadingly lists the Service Fee as $7.95, and then throws in the "Health & Safety Fee" into a list of other optional fees while making it non-optional in the small print. Essentially making the Service Fee $12.95 with deceptive dark patterns for good measure.
