I don't think these sorts of contracts should be illegal. I think a lot of things around them should be, like gyms requiring you to go in-person to cancel, or offering a terrible phone service to cancel, or marketing it deceptively such that you were unaware it was a contract.

But getting a discount in exchange for a longer-term commitment is often a benefit to consumers.

I just paid Visible for a year of cellular service up front and it was far cheaper than paying monthly – truly a great deal. I was able to front that money now, but if I paid a slightly higher per-month price in exchange for a year contract, that would be the same but with less money required up front.

There are contracts that are basically impossible to terminate and offer basically no benefit to anyone, timeshares is a key example of it.

A problem with our contract law is that if you get anything out of a contract it becomes really hard to terminate if the terms don't allow for it (a peppercorn). With contracts now being written in dense legalese with multiple pages of terms and conditions, it's not really feasible to expect the common contractor to have a full understanding of exactly what they are signing up for.

A timeshare is purchasing fractional ownership. That's different than purchasing a service.

> But getting a discount in exchange for a longer-term commitment is often a benefit to consumers.

This is already framing it in marketing terms. You're not getting a discount but being charged an artificial price premium for less/no commitment. This can get especially obscene in places where gyms are required by law to offer monthly membership options but they charge a significant markup if you go that route.

All of this has the effect of suppressing competition.

It is absolutely not just marketing: https://commoncog.com/cash-flow-games/

Jump to "Pre-payments in the Restaurant Industry"

Money now is more valuable than money later, and guaranteed future money is more valuable than no guaranteed future money.

I don't think this is a bad idea. Each month you would confirm whether you want to continue with the service, and if you say no or don't respond, it stops. If you think this would be annoying, then pay for a year (or more) in advance. This method would in theory reduce/remove the ability for folks to perform mid-month chargebacks under the guise of "I forgot to cancel".

I don't think you even have to be that extreme.

Just make it so that you can remove the authorization of vendors to charge you. You see a vendor charging you for a service you no longer want - click a button and remove their authorization to charge you.

Yet currently, we have the opposite, financial institutions will "helpfully" update your card details with merchants you have recurring charges with.

Years ago at Key Bank I even argued with a teller and manager about blocking a recalcitrant merchant from charging our account, "But you have ongoing charges with them and if we decline the transaction..."

Yeah, that's between me and them, you shouldn't be inserting into this to 'obligate' me to pay.