A new report from the subscription based publication Wave7 Research indicates that Boost Mobile's Shrink-It plan is set to be discontinued on 6/2. After that date, customers will no longer be able to activate on that plan or switch to it.
Boost Mobile's Shrink-It plan is designed to reward customers for being loyal and to help reduce customer churn. It gives customers discounts on their monthly plan the longer they stay with it.
The Shrink-It plan starts at $45/month and includes 15GB of high-speed data before throttling. After customers make three consecutive months of on-time payments, the price of the plan drops down to $40/month. After another three months of consecutive on-time payments, the maximum discount gets reached and the price of the plan drops down to $35/month.
Shrink-It has been available on the market for just under one year. Given its relatively quick disappearance, it can be considered a bust. Boost Mobile likely didn't help themselves here with good enough plan differentiation. Instead of waiting for 6-months for the price of the Shrink-It plan to drop down to $35/month, customers could elect to simply pay $35/month for a plan from the get go albeit with 10GB of high-speed hard-capped data.
Loyalty discount plans aren't new to the wireless industry. Boost Mobile offered similar types of loyalty reward plans from late 2010 through 2014. And last June, Verizon introduced "Stay With Us, Save With Us" loyalty discount plans, that at least for the time being are still being offered.
Last year, Boost Mobile was heavily focused on the Shrink-It plan. The company marketed the plan with heavy TV advertising, and also ran radio ads.
"This is the second time this kind of a plan has failed for Boost Mobile. During 2010-14, the carrier ran a similar plan, called Shrinkage, but it also failed. Verizon prepaid is trying something similar, but Verizon prepaid is losing subscribers, as is Boost.” - Jeff Moore, Principal of Wave7 Research
The Shrink-It plan isn't the only plan disappearing from Boost Mobile. Back in March, BestMVNO reported that Boost Mobile would stop activating new customers on the Sprint network on June 1st. Wave7 Research now reports that Boost Affordable Family Plan will also be discontinued on 6/2. The plan is offered in-stores only and includes 12GB of high-speed data before throttling and is priced at $60 for 2-lines, $90 for 3-lines, $120 for 4-lines and $150 for 5-lines. Current customers will be grandfathered in if they'd like to keep the plan.
DraftKings Partnership Is Now Live
Several weeks ago, BestMVNO noted that Boost Mobile would be launching its partnership with DraftKings to facilitate gaming operations within Boost stores. On 5/21, Wave7 Research spotted the appearance of DraftKings signage in Boost Mobile stores. The signs inform customers that they can get a "free $3 ticket" when they deposit $5 and "enter any paid daily fantasy contest." The rollout varies by state and won't be available everywhere, as DraftKings is only fully approved and up and running with support sports betting in nine states – Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. DraftKings supports fantasy sports betting in approximately 40 states.
A report from Mike Dano at Light Reading detailed more of the DraftKings offering at Boost Mobile stores. The company plans to run contests where customers will be able to win up to $100,000 and it will have ways for customers to be able to place bets directly in the DraftKings platform. Besides contests, customers may also earn credits that they can use with the DraftKings platform. Customers that signup for automatic bill payments may receive credits that they can apply towards DraftKings.
Boost has been grossly mismanaged under Dish. Dish has slashed and throttled data and destroyed their family plans.
Boost seems lost and rudderless. The “soon-to-be fourth major wireless network” shows no sign of any movement toward that fantasy DISH objective, instead scooping up the occasional MVNO and putting its future in the hands of the person who gave us the failed and much-despised FreedomPop. Why would anyone be surprised that the ridiculous Shrink-It plan received the same market response as Covid-19?