I mean... The account exists if you log into it or not. You still need to keep track of it so that you're paying into the correct account, and so that you know how much to pay.

Only you now have to talk to a person if you need to check or change anything.

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not the account for the random hotel or restaurant. "Pay with the O'Burger app!" "Collect 425 SkyPoints with a Platinum Membership!"

You don't need an online account to buy food at a grocery, but if you had one I guarantee they'd spam the heck out of you, alongside whatever else they might do with your data.

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I assumed this was in the context of paying recurring bills rather than shopping. Agree with you about stuff like groceries.

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I mean, paying for Netflix with cash would definitely be a power move.

Utilities don't have special offers that I know of. Check or online is very country dependent though.

I'm having a little trouble thinking of a service that would have automatic reminders but not require an account to access the service... Hotel? Something with layaway? Maybe car payments. Tuition too. Those don't exactly seem like spurious account services though... Maybe the reminders are for pickup?

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My VPN sometimes sends me reminders and special offers when my contact is almost up, for example. Mobile phone data usage reminders and warnings. Even just reminders that they're going to be charging your card on payment day.

But mainly I don't wanna leave home so paperless has already won for me lol

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 months ago

Ah, term based contracts, that's the missing use case! Here I was forgetting not all contracts can be canceled whenever.