Why is everything a subscription?

Subscription services are everywhere effecting personal finance the average person is now spending $273 a month on subscriptions and at the same time less than one third of them could afford a $1,000 expense without going into debt…

This only includes software services like netflix, disney plus, hulu, spotify, adobe, apple music, xbox games pass and others. it does not include other recuring expenses like gym or club memberships.

Service companies are doing this to attract venture capital investment. These investors favour subscription businesses because they provide consistent cash flows and can be scaled rapidly before being sold through a traditional IPO, a SPAC or to a private equity fund.

But these businesses are not always perfect and there are some products that just make more sense to sell through a one time direct sale.

So it’s time to Learn How Money Works to find out how everything became a subscription.

      • exohuman@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Not that I have seen. I have been offered packages that cover the drive train or something similar, but the maintenance is up to me, the insurance is up to me, and that makes for a hell of a car payment each month.

  • Daniel Retana@mastodon.ie
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    1 year ago

    @WhoRoger Thanks to Adobe shitheads!!!
    Also the only subscription that I can stand is Humble Choice which let me keep the games that they give on my Steam account. So if I cancel I don’t loose them.

    I keep HBO MAX for the sole reason that it has newly released films. So is cheaper ($8 monthly) that paying for a cinema ticket.

    • WhoRoger@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Golly I remember when Adobe came up with that shit, everyone was up in arms about it.

      If only professionals had enough foresight to reject that, maybe we wouldn’t be so deep down in subscription hell.

    • lol3droflxp@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      TBH, I’m quite happy with the Affinity alternatives, although I never used Lightroom and I guess that’s the hardest to replace for the average user