Leaving VMP: Change My View (CMV)
14I’ve been a VMP member since July of 2016 and don’t see enough reason to continue. Here’s Why:
- BIGGEST: Contributing to landfills with IRK purchases. IRKs are still my main motivator for VMP membership. Stuff I don’t need gets contributed to Goodwill but they end up trashing most of that stuff.
- Mehrathons: A time suck on 98% of items I don’t need. The VMP hour is usually filled with typical Meh items or specialized ones I would never buy. I mean who really needs a Danny Devito pillow?
- I don’t subscribe to Meh e-mails. Just another thing to add to my e-mail clutter on 98% of items I’ll never buy.
- Quality of products: Meh’s got some gems, but most are, of course “Meh”. Seeing the same Meh products repeat over and over (usually with ridiculous quantity amounts I’ll never need) continues to dwindle my interest.
- I’ve looked over Meh’s sister sites and I rarely buy. I even had a few discount codes I never used.
- All orders I’ve made last year I could live without.
- I rarely join community discussions and don’t really care about VMP bragging rights.
Care to change my view?
If you don’t know what CMV is, go HERE.
- 36 comments, 107 replies
- Comment
There isn’t even a VMP hour anymore…
I keep my VMP primarily because I feel the entertainment I get from visiting Meh each day is worth $5 per month. But if you don’t visit regularly, then that wouldn’t be a factor for you.
So I looked at your post and you’re not super active on the forum so you might not be convinced by this but just a reminder that VMP and Membership are different. You won’t be able to get that VMP back if there’s a VMP only thing you want.
@DoctorOW What were the last few VMP-only “things” offered?
@DoctorOW @G1 I remember pastadrop benefits and discounts on other sister sites.
@cengland0 @DoctorOW @G1 I was able to buy the the Quip toothbrush coin/shirt/bag set without buying the toothbrush that got cancelled. That might have been VMP only? Does anyone remember?
@brianzajac @G1 There has been far fewer VMP items than there used to be. The free VMP items are, apparently, history. Members can now buy in what used to be just the VMP hour… Certainly the benefits are far less than they used to be. Certainly financially if # free shiping from # of purchases < what shipping would cost if one didn’t have VMP (or bought member) then financially it doesn’t make sense. As far as other benefits go, if you aren’t involved in the community, don’t really buy, don’t come here often and don’t see that changing then likely dropping VMP is a good financial decision. Maybe that $60 is better spent with a membership at Costco, Sams Club, etc.
@cengland0 @DoctorOW There were a couple of VMP-only IRKs as well a few months ago. Ones that required finding hints and thoroughly reading posts. That was fun.
@afurball But they didn’t email the VMP’s. You had to have read the thread to know about it. A number of VMP’s were upset that they weren’t outright told. The one was open several days I believe - the one that wanted us to check out sidedeal to get it.
Just about impossible to argue with your conclusion. Can you please help me get over my VMP addiction?
Even for folks who do occasionally find something they want, VMP makes little sense.
“Member” status, at the same price, grants just about everything in VMP status… and offers something VMP used to include but lost a couple years ago… the ability to turn it on and off!
In the early years of Meh, the deals led to rarely turning VMP off. But in subsequent years, the smart frugal choice was to only activate VMP when you saw something you wanted. And then turn it off again before getting hit with the next month’s charge.
A couple months ago I cancelled my VMP membership, sadly. My husband found out the quite large balance on my credit cards (oops!) and we (me!) had to trim a bunch of things (good bye meh VMP, Ipsy, Hulu, Mealpal, etc) as part of my new “budget” that I’m mostly ignoring.
@moonhat Sounds like a solid marriage built on trust. I give it 12 more months.
@KENSAI
/giphy wrong
@moonhat Ipsy, too? Now that’s just harsh.
@LaVikinga tell me about it!
I think this is the image/meme format you’re looking for.
Cancel, don’t cancel. Meh
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@tinamarie1974 Eat at Arby’s.
CMV? cytomegalovirus? away with you foul virus!
@carl669 I’ve had no issues with that specific virus, but YMMV.
I’m feeling a similar sentiment. The good days are long gone around here. I even find some of the chatter in the comments is just not the same anymore either. Early days it seemed like Meh was a priority in the owners overall business, now it seems like the owners have progressed their other sites to the point where this gets just enough effort to keep it alive.
I’ve almost cancelled a few times then pulled back telling myself to just buy one thing a month to offset the cost, but that seems almost impossible with the crap that gets posted.
Coming from an old school Woot fan, and a strong Meh VMP supporter for many years…I think my days around here as a VMP are numbered unless something worthy happens soon…
@Stallion Yes @jonT did a fantastic job with building the community and keeping the excitement. He was exceptionally good at that.
@Stallion I am likely staring down the barrel of the same eventuality. My last Irk was awesome, but in a “nothing in here was really needed, just valuable” sort of way. The free shipping is the last vestige I hang on to, since the rest of the perks pretty much died.
KRULL! A SKULL! BRETT HULL! AWESOME!
I’ve hemmed and hawed over vmp, especially with the realization that it sometimes led me to buy stuff just to justify vmp. But, erm. The dropped pasta pasta drop kinda sold me on sustaining meh. That was pretty fabulous, especially during the combo boring/trauma of pandemic.
I regard VMP a bit like a patreon. Am I getting value for money? Maybe? Some days more than others.
But am I supporting something that has value? So far, I think so.
@brainmist I’m with you on Pastadrop. As I’m going through the comments, my value continues to diminish.
@brainmist
If Meh/et al were a non-profit org or a YouTube channel with little else to sustain it, I’d agree. But the value of a buck… actually 5 bucks every month is too high for me to look at that way for a commercial organization.
If you cancel VMP you get the little icon next to my name here whatever that is called. Not nice.
@ojohn Well you could be goat and then the goat and dead goat will show first and you’d have to hover to see the poop pile.
@ojohn if you don’t want the icon, meh.com/support will get rid of it.
@ojohn I thought the poop pile was only when you dropped VMP but then tried to go back
@ojohn @RiotDemon I don’t know, I’m kind of jealous.
@moonhat I did not try to go back, I did not try to re-establish VMP.
@ojohn ah ok, sorry. I was confused
@ojohn Hopefully kickstarter 'K’s are forever, even if I someday drop VMP.
@duodec @ojohn I think that I’m about to find out. before the recent IRK my previous purchase was in October. I miss the knives and I’d really like another of them $15 refurb blu-ray players… that was a great buy. Six years later and it still plays without a hitch.
@Noddy93
yep… still the ‘kickstarter’ icon (and you can see the ‘ex-VMP’ message if you hover over the K or your user name.)
@ojohn It looks like a turd. I agree, not nice
sometimes i buy many things sometimes no things.
it’s like 17 cents a day to keep it.
i don’t give a fuck about no 17 cents a day.
guess you have to figure out how much you care about 17 cents?
i buy from casemates too. for me? it is a great bargain.
@mick Didn’t use the coupon & never bought from Casemates. It seems like a great incentive if you use it. 17 cents isn’t much but I can use that money on buying a SaaS product from an Indiehacker, or a music service - a better value for me. Plus less waste from items I didn’t want in IRK packages.
I have been a VMP for almost 5 years and not once have I ever received anything in the mail just as a surprise. They canceled VMP hour, er, “expanded the access to.”
I was especially fond of keeping it when they made it seem like that was the only way to get free shipping on casemates. Turns out they let anyone do that now for $5 a month. (Which is insane that they still charge $12 a case for shipping. That is a $5 penalty for not signing up and canceling. If only people knew.)
It is pretty disappointing. There is no reason to keep it, but as long as I keep buying a some wine each month (highly likely) it is easier than worrying about canceling and subscribing all to possibly save 5 to 10 a year in that rare month I missed an irk and didn’t buy wine.
As for benefits around here? I haven’t seen any since pasta drop, and that seems like a lifetime ago.
@KNmeh7 $7 penalty. I swear I can math.
@KNmeh7 If you buy anything at Morningsave or Sidedeal use code VMP and get 10% off. Doesn’t work on the daily special but kind of nice.
I cancelled mine. You can too.
@ELUNO
You can do iiiit!
Just commenting here while wearing my mediocre socks to see what my icon is. By the way, Meh folks, I could use another pair. Thanks!
/image mediocre socks
@artulo I may have a new pair sitting around somewhere or other (key word - somewhere). The pair I got I gave away in an exchange because they were too big. I then got one in an exchange. You can have it for postage if I can find it.
@artulo my pair still looks exactly like that, tag and all.
Since I missed a Meh button click last year and broke my long streak, I don’t come over here as often.
I’ve been considering dropping the VMP as well. I get taxed on it and, even though it’s only five dollars and change each month, that would pay for my Pandora account.
My most recent purchases were junk gifts for Christmas. I did buy the slim fast bars, lesson learned on buying food stuff. (They were so nasty, I was only able to eat three of them and the rest went into the trash.)
And now that the room I used to dump my purchases in has been cleaned up (the reason I missed that Meh button click, I was pretty busy that week), earlier this month I did some more re-organizing, still finding stuff I bought here but never used, I just don’t want to junk it up again.
It shouldn’t be this hard to say goodbye to VMP.
@lisaviolet You missed the Jim Beam brand “bourbon-flavored” Keurig cups - they go great* with SlimFast bars!.
*in a landfill
@lisaviolet Exactly my main issue. I think the only way for me to stop adding to the landfill is to cancel VMP & give me little reason to continue my ‘Meh’ journey. It’s good to know others are going through this as well.
I feel like I must be missing something with the way I think about VMP.
When I see something I actually want on one of the sites (recently that’s been wine and KN-95 masks, which, admit it, is the past year in a nutshell) I pay for the VMP (equal or less than the cost to ship the one thing), set a calendar reminder that it will expire in a month, and cancel it the day before.
In the meantime, while it’s active, I pay a bit more attention to the sites and have a slightly lower threshold to pull the trigger, which seems like a win for everybody.
But I can’t see where there would be any value, other than a tiny bit of convenience, in letting the VMP auto-renew, even if it turns out there is something I want to buy just a few days later; it’s easy enough to re-join and re-start the clock.
So you all are going to tell me that there is some big hidden reward for the loyal VMPers that I’m missing, right?
@Sardinicus You’re thinking of membership- VMP is a grandfathered membership and when you quit you can’t get back in.
@sammydog01 @Sardinicus
you may have had VMP ‘back in the day’ but using your technique you have forfeited that privilege at some point.
@chienfou @sammydog01 Based on your wording I guess I should feel bad about that
@sammydog01 @Sardinicus
…no need. I was just trying to emphasize the difference (albeit slight) in VMP vs me(h)mbership, ergo the ‘privilege’ comment since you can’t jump in and out of VMP any more. Bottom line is there is no longer much difference between the two. I keep mine mostly as a patronage (as mentioned above) and class it as an ‘entertainment’ fee.
I enjoy the conversation and attitude enough to pay a what I think of as a small monthly tithe.
It’s cool.
@f00l ME TOO! Some days anyway.
@sammydog01
/youtube clip the good the bad and the ugly
: )
@f00l I know that a tithe means a tenth, but I equate it to giving to a greater cause. To me, Meh isn’t it.
I can’t comment on the value of VMP. when I remember to cancel my membership after a month of not buying anything I do. Then if I do buy something I’m smart enough to save the penny and try to convince myself I’ll buy more than one thing a month. they usually get me for $14.97 before I remember to cancel it again.
Do it.
@walarney Did it.
@brianzajac You made the correct decision. Just can’t bring myself to do it yet.
You’re doing this wrong.
/8ball Should @brianzajac cancel VMP?
Concentrate and ask again
Thanks, magic 8ball.
/8ball Should I cancel VMP?
Reply hazy try again
Is this hazy enough for you /8ball?
@brianzajac
/giphy sunny
Not especially.
You either feel the $5/month is worth it or you don’t. That’s on you.
@RedOak @Stallion @KNmeh7 @ELUNO @lisaviolet @Koolhandjoe @walarney
VMP is over! Thanks for confirming my decision.
@brianzajac good for you. The Shitpile icon next to your handle confirms it. However, this does not confirm you did not proceed to click on:
And beg customer service to restore your VMP because you screwed up!
@brianzajac
And mine.
@lisaviolet Congrats. The landfill thanks you.
@brianzajac I just canceled too, thanks for the push!
@metageist
@brianzajac
/giphy thundercats
@brianzajac @metageist
@brianzajac @lisaviolet I thank you
@brianzajac @metageist
/giphy raiden power
I remain curious how many VMPs still exist. Is it 300 or more like 50 or 75?
@RedOak
we did a Roll Call a while back but for the life of me I don’t remember what response we got back. And of course, not EVERY VMP would have answered (and some have since left) so… who knows??
@RedOak I’ve been a sucker since Dec 2014 when meh put up a free month of VMP. I rarely come around in the forums anymore and didn’t answer any roll call for sure. I should probably cancel…
@metageist yep, yours appears to be a clear cut case. If when you divide the $60 per year for VMP by the number of purchases that year, you don’t like the resulting number…
@RedOak I’m in fortunate enough circumstances to not really care about the $60 per se, but ultimately I can’t justify what I am (was) paying for anymore. Exclusivity? Being part of the “club” I guess?
@metageist
Nice situation, but you say you’re not really taking advantage of Meh, so how about instead donating $60 per year to a local church or The Salvation Army or your .org of choice?
@RedOak That’s a fair suggestion
/giphy money
@metageist @RedOak
he’s currently donating it to his favorite (?) deal-a-day site…
@chienfou @RedOak 8 including @snapster
@unixrab
wonder who the other 6 are?
@chienfou @RedOak @snapster suck ups at meh.com ?
@RedOak @snapster @unixrab
Glad someone thought to tag you for this thread so you would find a reason to post something here. I am not seeing any other activity on your user page this month.
@chienfou @RedOak @unixrab
Of the OG 8, 1&2 are Meh and snapster.
The other 6 are?
Morningsave, casemates, mediocritee,
sidedeals, mediocrelabs, pastadrop
Maybe checkout.org and dronehorse should be in there too.
@chienfou @RedOak @snapster I go where i’m wanted
@chienfou @RedOak @snapster https://meh.com/forum/topics/this-is-why-i-dont-buy-vmp#5521984cb03199c8081bf14c
@mike808
Not sure I follow you… I thought the reference was to the original question of how many VMP are left??
@chienfou The VMP fee (taxed, btw) was referred to as being donated to our favorite deal-a-day site.
Then I thought you asked about which one of the 8 was the donation being made to, as VMP benefits extend across all of snapster’s deal-a-day website empire. You noted awareness of two beneficiaries of our VMP largess, meh and snapster. I enumerated the remaining 6.
@mike808
Nope. The quote was yours. I was still going back to the “how many VMP are left” question. The original reference was from unixrab and only mentioned snapster.
(Mine was to 8 minus snapster and myself… Leaves 6…)
@chienfou You said:
and then unixrab said 8, so I thought the reference was to the 8 deal-a-day sites of meh.
I think there were at least a couple hundred VMPs for the roll call and during the old VMP hours, a couple hundred in sales. I would say less than 1,000 and more than 100 if I had to guess the number of VMPs remaining.
@mike808
Ok I see your confusion though that was the first post from unixrab after the VMP # question and he only mentioned a person not any of the sites so I “assumed” he was being sarcastic/funny.
No. I canceled mine a long time ago, I don’t see the value anymore
@robson
“You’ve been a VMP member since July 2014.” Sucker here, still paying his $5 a month going on 7 years now!
@DemonMF777
/giphy one of us
@DemonMF777
$420
@DemonMF777 @RedOak speaks truth
@DemonMF777 @unixrab long time!
@RedOak I’ve made 74 orders, so that works out to $5.67 each. So it’s almost a wash?!
@DemonMF777
That’s the spirit!
But it seems, going forward, you gotta forecast that same calculation using your current buy rate. Are you buying at the same rate as in the early days?
(History is sunk cost.)
@DemonMF777 @RedOak
plus that doesn’t factor in the months in which you made more than one purchase… which you should really figure in if you are considering the ‘lost cost’.
@DemonMF777 @RedOak speak of the unixrab and he will appear!
(https://gfycat.com/whisperedillkiskadee-jackass-chris-pontius-devil-keep-god-out-of-california-funny)
@DemonMF777 @RedOak that sux
@DemonMF777 @RedOak it becomes clear
@DemonMF777 me too
So much motivation to cancel mine…
@Stallion YES!
I’m thinking that there’s few enough of us, that it doesn’t make sense to engage anymore. Thinking about canceling myself…
@ManBehindPlan do it!
@ManBehindPlan
Please don’t cancel yourself… Life is beautiful…
I fully support dropping VMP in your case.
Also, it’s not “VMP bragging rights” as much as “VMP whining rights.”
@PocketBrain I hear you but it’s one thing when you are complaining about stupid shit because you can complain. It’s another when you sign up for something and are told this is what you get and we won’t take it away. Granted the we won’t take it away may be a mandala effect. But maybe it’s not and they are just taking it away. Either way. I do miss the real vmp perks. Seems that it’s not the same but nothing ever is.
@PocketBrain
@PocketBrain join the laughing to the banc grup
Where is @unixrab? He tried to warn people from the beginning (when speaker docks and knives were plentiful)
@mjm I know - and they were even talking about giving it to him because he doth protest so much.
I cannot change your mind. good for you!
@Kidsandliz @mjm REFUSED!
https://meh.com/forum/topics/this-is-why-i-dont-buy-vmp#5521968db03199c8081bf13a
still true circa 2015
can’t believe no one has posted this gem yet:
@chienfou Who’s leaving?
@chienfou @lisaviolet
@lisaviolet
Looks like several announced their departure from the VMP ranks in the thread above this post…
@chienfou Just the VMP. I don’t consider the VMP an “online community”. If there is one, I was never invited to any of the meetings or taught the secret handshake.
Meh is the community. I don’t see anyone saying they’re leaving Meh.
Shrug.
@lisaviolet
OK I see your point. I guess I just extrapolated a bit.
@chienfou @lisaviolet frienz r free
Well, my emoji is changed!
@ManBehindPlan I’m happy for you!
Just paid VMP.
I set a reminder to cancel.
Mediocre has a couple of weeks to change my unemployed mind.
@G1 Cool. More stuff for us next month after you cancel.
Today is a great example of the value of VMP. Maybe by noon you finally thought of someone who would appreciate some decent Art supplies… No one else can get them because it has sold out… Except for a few reserved for the Meh Elite.
/giphy meh elite
@Euniceandrich Yes true but also a very rare occurrence.