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Comment by david38 | Hacker News Reader

Is $10 really expensive?

For most people, no. Can you think of $10/m you spend on something less important than search? A couple coffees, a sandwich, HBO, Netflix, a drink, using two gallons of gas recreationally, etc

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I almost never buy coffee. Rarely buy sandwiches out. I get HBO for $3/month now for 6 months and will cancel after. Netflix is $7/month, though the whole household uses that. Two gallons a gas can buy a lot of transportation to necessities for the kiddo. Though we have an EV and $10 gets us maybe 250 miles more or less of driving -- that's a lot.

No, $10 a month is not expensive. However, the problem is the amount of products and services that in the past you could buy once or buy and if you wish to upgrade to the next version you had to pay again have become less and less and subscription services have skyrocketed.

Most people I know can afford some of the luxuries you list, but only barely. If you have to choose between having a drink once a month at a place other than your own home, and having an ad-free search engine that actually works, you'll find that many people are thick enough to go for that drink.

For context, this is speaking from the Netherlands, where housing is relatively expensive.

A couple of coffees isn't a luxury, not even for the worst penny pinching Dutch miser imaginable.

How many coffees can you drink in a day? How many services and even standalone apps that don't use server resources want a measly 10/month from you?

I don’t drink coffee or alcohol, watch movies or drive a car.

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