Rethinking the "Disadvantages" of Zero Prepayment at Mutual Aid Platforms

KangAi Commune pioneered protection with zero prepayment, an innovation we are proud of. But over these years of operation I have come to appreciate deeply that everything has two sides, and the disadvantages of "joining with zero prepayment" have become very clear.

First, zero prepayment makes people too casual when joining: they do not look into the details of the commune or read the joining notice, so they join the wrong mutual aid commune, have no entitlement to aid, and are refused when they later apply — which leaves them deeply hostile to KangAi Commune, cursing it as a swindler or picking fights over claim denials. Quite a few malicious comments online have arisen this way.

Second, following on from the previous point: because of this casual joining, the platform strengthens its review to uphold the rules, with strict vetting and cumbersome requirements, making the user experience poor — so much so that even people who benefit from aid have complaints.

Third, joining at zero cost objectively produces a certain amount of opportunistic behavior.

In response to all this we work on two fronts at once. At the front end, while continuing to insist on zero prepayment, we will further strengthen what we tell people at the point of joining, to reduce mistaken joins. At the back end, we will maintain strict review and keep the review deposit policy to raise the cost of opportunism and crack down on it, while improving the experience on that basis.