As I expressed earlier this week, it’s been a bit tough lately dealing with a Google algorithm that seems intent on surfacing AI slop and prioritizing it over our great original reporting. You, dear readers, answered the call and we’ve seen a huge uptick in membership in all categories except one: Cloth Monthly. I think I know why, so we’re fixing it. Cloth Monthly is now just $5 if you click this link.
One of the exciting aspects of doing a membership program like this is learning as you go. While we did look at our competitive set and took advice and inspiration from others, some of this was just guessing. We didn’t even have “Cloth” level when we launched, and we had to think long and hard about pricing it. There’s a transaction fee we pay every time someone renews, so we pay the fee 12 times for a monthly member versus once for an annual member. That, and for planning purposes, we’ve made the annual plans cheaper.
When we launched Cloth Annual, it was $70. And Cloth Monthly was $7. We ended up lowering the Cloth Annual price to $50, but we kept the monthly price because of the fees. This made sense at the time, but during this last drive, a couple of you pointed out that the price delta didn’t work for them. So we lowered it. You can also click the button below to order.
If you’re a current Cloth Monthly member, thank you! When your plan renews, it’ll be $2 cheaper. If you’ve been holding out from becoming a member because you thought $7 was too much, well, we’ve solved the problem!
As a reminder, for $5, you get special access in our Discord, member emails, an invite behind the paywall, and a chance to win swag we randomly give out. Full details on what you get at every level can be found here.
Thanks to everyone for the helpful feedback and just for helping create the greatest car community on the web.
You all rock. I’m planning on bumping my membership up a notch this year.
Commenting to add that I came over here from the old site, having been a daily reader and very occasional commenter going back to 2015.
I decided to stop lurking and start contributing- you guys do great work in an increasingly bleak internet landscape. I became an annual cloth member this evening to help keep the lights on.
I just wanted to remind everyone to set your clocks ahead 23 hours tonight!
You got me. Luv ya guys. Keep up the awesome work!
Done.
LOL, to quote Mercedes, I thought I already was paying that much to be a member. Either way I think this is a good move as for some reason that’s a number that’s psychologically significant to many people just like being “under $100 a year” is.
Out of curiosity, what other websites do other readers recommend supporting?
Defector.com
+1 on Defector! I also support TheParcFermePodcast, It’s Christmastown (David Roth reviewing Hallmark movies, enough said), and The Smoking Tire through Patreon.
It might sound like a lot, but really it’s less than paying two or three magazine subscriptions in the old days.
If you liked Kotaku, then aftermath.site is a few of those people. Another video game site is giantbomb.com, who recently bought themselves out and went independent.
Don’t know many other sites, I use Patreon for video creators i watch regularly.
Awesome news! As soon as I’m financially stable I’m doing it. Until then you’ll just get more comments to DRiVe EnGaGeMenT
My first favorite niche website, Uni Watch, died today after 26 years in operation. On an increasingly dead and soulless internet landscape, the Autopian is an oasis in a desert of AI and bots. I have zero regrets about purchasing my membership because this website seems to be one of the last havens of good content from good people.
Fellow uni-watcher here! RIP
Long live the Autopian!
Down with the enshittification of the Internet!
Aw, bummer. I rarely ventured into that corner of the internt, but that site was good every time I did. I’m super disappointed that most of the archives are down, and I hope some intrepid data-hoarder saves it somehow.
Could you support Paypal? It’s the only thing holding me back at this point. I dont want to give my bank info to everyone.
Well, ain’t that swell. I just signed up for Cloth last month.
Looks like I made the right decision.
Time for me to support you. I like your content and have a strong dislike of Google. I support a number of other creators that have been screwed over by Google YouTube.
Sorry to hear this is happening to you. Besides trying to avoid their services, this is one of the best ways for me to give them the middle finger. Keep up the good work.
I got to join this crazy site as a member thanks to a presidential mattress sale (my memory of it is hazy since this site made me cross the fence from casual observer to crazy, and hop on a plane to buy and drive home the current car I’m working on, but somehow I’ve been a member ever since). Hope more will join with the new rate
I honestly didn’t know you had an annual one to begin with
I’d just like to point out what an insanely good value proposition this is (assuming you’re here and reading this by choice, and didn’t accidentally super glue your eyes open [again] while your cat walked in your keyboard, opening private tabs of saucy car websites). It’s better than TV, not a relentless torrent of “please god watch us we’ll do anything* (*except lower the ad load)” trash like streaming, it’s a pretty healthy and lovely community with great access to the big squishy brains behind it all (I’ve met DT a twice nd Torch three times IRL!).
For all you holdouts wondering why all the members come out loud and proud for the site, we really want it to succeed in an era when everything seems to be against a human-written, independent, and just plain good website surviving.
The occasional damp bubble-mailer packet of clams I receive is a perk and so should be disclosed but does not otherwise influence my decision.
Wait, what’s the clam tier? Hell yeah, clams.
I’m in! Love what you have created.
Also for $5 you get to support THIS VERY WEBSITE you’re reading right now! Like what these crazy kooks are doing here? Want to see what ill-advised lovecraftian German engineering nightmare Mercedes falls in love with next? Enjoy supporting DT’s crippling Jeep addic-I mean, lovely growing family? Need more of Torch’s unhinged rambling or Adrian’s sneering goth insults? All this could continue to be yours for just $5 a month!
Remember how everything else you loved was ransacked and savaged by tasteless finance weenies, failsons, and herbs? Want to keep just one friggin’ corner of the internet untouched by the AI-slop-pocalypse? Then open your wallet, friend, because otherwise the commies-err, capitalists… uh, the bad guys win!
EXACTLY! Very well stated.
I swear I didn’t read your post first, but I’ll just say hell yeah & high five. I’m a little relieved to see I’m not the only one fretting the AIslopcalypse.
Thank you for having an affordable option for those that want to support your awesome endeavor and aren’t rolling high in the moolah. When I was a kid I’d watch the mailbox like a hawk for my latest car mags to show up. Y’all make me feel like a giddy kid again, I get a new issue delivered everyday when I log onto The Autopian!
keep on innnovating!
Fine cloth seats are the finest seats.
Hear, hear.
Does Google pay more if we read in the Google News app vs. read on the browser?
I don’t think Google pays for news/article links and excerpts at all. Some companies/countries have sued over that IIRC, and Google just quits publishing the links for that company/country.
I can’t believe there’s not a “Rust” or “Bondo” level.
“Upside-Down Milk Crate”
One of my aunts drove her Pinto that way (no joke!)
Don’t forget nail polish paint repair.
This $5/month tier should’ve been called “Busted Seam Cloth with Cigarette Burns.”
Alternately Blanket Bench Seat Cover. You know the one. In every Dad and Grandpa pickup in the 70s
I think my grandmother actually made the blanket that was serving as the seat cover for the bench in my grandfathers Ford Courier pickup in the 70s. So fancy.
Dad/Grandpa in the 2020’s now, still driving a pickup with a Blanket Bench Seat Cover!
I would actually pay *more* for a tier named that.
This is awesome but the main thing holding me back from becoming a member at this point is that some perks are too US-centric, such as giveaways, contests, swag, etc.
I live in the jungle surrounded by sloths, monkeys and toucans. $5 is great, but missing out on some of the pluses of being a member is not so great.
Still, I disabled my ad-block because I really love you guys, even though it’s not nearly as much as what a member contributes.
That’s what’s nice about the cloth membership though, you don’t get any physical things so it’s really just financial support.
I would love to be surrounded by actual sloths rather than people imitating them in CRVs. I just finished a book trilogy with a sloth as one of the protagonists and they became my favorite animal.
There’s a Foreign Legion tier for this very purpose, but it looks like it’s annual-only: https://www.theautopian.com/membership-experience/
Good info. I’m signed up for monthly, but maybe I can switch to annual so you can avoid some of those pesky fees!
And if you switch to annual, you still save $10 over monthly, so win-win.
So is this like “value cloth,” with less side bolstering and doesn’t have the autopian logo embroidered on the seatback? But it does still have the jazzy pattern, right?
It’s like home made cutoff jorts. Stylish.
Daisy Dukes??
I wanted to reply with David Dukes in honor of DT, but then felt weird because of the trash Nazi KKK guy (Duke). There was an actor named David Dukes though, and he seems like he was probably a decent guy.
Tracy Dukes? Less of the weird association, and rhymes with the original. Just spitballin’.
Pair them with some New Balance sneakers and you’ve got yourself a Corvette owners club!
It’s the “old blanket over ripped vinyl and sprung springs” level.