Article · Coffee

Should a coffee roaster let subscribers skip, pause or cancel, and in what order?

By Super Simple Co · Updated 2026-10-30

A coffee roaster should offer skip first, pause second and cancel last, with a limit on each. Skipping keeps the subscriber and costs one bag of revenue, pausing keeps them for a longer break, and cancelling is the only one that loses them. In Supr, all three are customer portal settings, and the cancellation flow can suggest the gentler options before the final click.

Who this is for: For coffee and other consumable shops deciding which of skip, pause or cancel to offer subscribers first, and with what limits.

The decision table

A monthly coffee subscriber usually leaves because of one of three things: too much coffee in the cupboard, a holiday, or the price. Each has a matching option.

Offer	Best for	The limit you can set
Skip next order	Too much coffee, a short gap	Lock changes before the next order (1 to 14 days before), so the order can be packed as it is
Reschedule	Away for a week or two	Max reschedule window (needs Change subscription billing dates): before the next renewal, up to 7 cycles ahead, or unlimited
Pause	A holiday or a longer break	Max pause duration (days) and Max pauses per year, with a choice of what happens when the limit is reached
Cancel	Leaving for good	A cancellation flow with a counter-offer per reason, and a minimum number of orders before they can cancel

1. Skip first

Open Settings > Customer portal, find Next billing date and turn on Skip next order.
Optionally set Lock changes before the next order to 1 day before up to 14 days before. The default is Never lock. Inside the window customers can still skip, reschedule, pause, cancel or update their payment method, but cannot change what the order holds.
Click Save.

Customers get a Skip next order button on their next delivery card, and Unskip next order once it is used. You can also add a skip link to the renewal reminder email. The help center does not describe a cap on how many skips in a row, so decide what you can live with and test it.

2. Pause for a longer break

On Settings > Customer portal, turn on Pause subscriptions.
Open Grow > Pause flows. In the flow, set Max pause duration (days) and Max pauses per year.
Choose When pause limit is reached: Auto-resume subscription, Cancel subscription or Send reminder only. Set Warn customer (days before) so nobody is surprised by a charge.
Set the flow's Status to Active and click Save.

A customer who has used up Max pauses per year cannot pause again until a year has passed since the earliest of those pauses. An automatic resume moves the next order forward if its date has passed, so the customer is not charged on the spot. Turning Pause subscriptions off also removes pausing from your cancellation flow.

3. Cancel last, with a way out of it

Cancelling happens in the portal, controlled by Cancel subscriptions. Under Grow > Cancellation flows, add 4 to 6 reasons and a counter-offer for each. For a coffee roaster that could be: "Too much coffee" offers Skip next order, "Going away" offers Suggest pausing, "Too expensive" offers a discount, and "Wrong roast" offers Swap to a different product. Other response types are Delay next charge and Change delivery frequency. See a cancellation flow for a subscription box for the full set of reasons.

To stop people subscribing for the discount and leaving, turn on Minimum commitment on the subscription option and set Minimum orders (the first order counts). Until then the portal's cancel and pause buttons are disabled. You can still cancel or pause from the admin yourself.

A minimum commitment is a soft commitment, not a payment guarantee. It cannot stop a bank declining a renewal.

Limits that stop the same discount being claimed twice

Cooldown between incentives (days) under Incentive limits is 30 days unless you change it, so a discount cannot be re-triggered by cancelling again.
Show a discount only to some customers: for example Orders placed, at least 3, so a first time customer cannot cancel for a deal.
Applies for (orders) sets how many orders get a discount a customer accepted. It stacks with the subscription discount.

How the portal ties them together

The cancellation flow only suggests an action the portal allows. With Pause subscriptions off, pausing is never offered, not even inside the flow, and the same goes for skipping and for changing frequency (Change subscription plans). You see every outcome in the subscription's Timeline, and the Cancellation reasons card on Analytics shows the pattern.

Questions

Which should I offer first?

Skip. It keeps the subscriber at the lowest cost to you, then pause for longer breaks, and cancel last behind a cancellation flow.

Can I limit how long a pause lasts?

Yes. Set Max pause duration (days) and Max pauses per year in the pause flow, and choose what happens when the limit is reached.

Can customers cancel straight after the discount order?

Not if you turn on Minimum commitment on the option. The portal's cancel and pause buttons stay disabled until the minimum orders are reached.

Can I stop customers editing the order right before it ships?

Yes. Lock changes before the next order, from 1 to 14 days before, stops swaps and quantity changes inside that window.

Every setting is covered in the help center: Cancellation and pause flows.

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