I think it's an issue of customer need. I need a car, I can't get to my job without one, and so I'm willing to pay a $250 non-refundable deposit before knowing my interest rate and wait two months for my model y to come in.

I don't need a magazine, the content is free on HN, so minor inconveniences will prevent me from subscribing. If customers really needed this magazine they wouldn't care about how hard it is to cancel, and the magazine would probably make it easy to cancel because they would have better revenue streams to chase.