The Subscription Business Model is Getting out of F*cking Control-Here’s Why.

Subscriptions are becoming a problem and are being flooded everywhere.

Two years ago I wrote an article about why the subscription model will fail. I still stand firmly behind that. Now with a year of a pandemic disrupting our lives, subscriptions are dominating our lives. I pay over $350+ per month in fucking subscriptions. That $4,200 per year. It’s eating into my wallet and taking over my life in every fucking way.

This doesn’t include regular bills, the subscriptions are on top of a mortgage and normal day to day payments (internet, food, water, electricity, etc). I know what you’re gonna say-why don’t you budget? I am budgeting, but companies are sneaking these prices into our lives with slow increases by the $1. What used to be this all inclusive mentality where most things where rolled into one service are now becoming à la carte.

Companies are shooting themselves in the foot with a subscription model. I hate the model. It FORCES me to buy into something on a monthly basis when I don’t want to. It’s manipulative, frustrating, and there are no other options. While only a couple of years ago content providers were doing the subscription model, now EVERYONE — IS — DOING — IT. Take the Apple App Store, for example, there is not a single app that is on the store that doesn’t have a subscription, even utility apps have subscriptions now, but as I said before this is a terrible business model for a consumer. Why? Simple–the cost will add up.

Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, CBS, HBO Max, Paramount +, Spotify, Apple Music, and many, many more– are just the basics depending on your own need-this doesn’t factor in your internet bill on top of everything else. Then, you have workout services like Peloton, Mirror, Tonal, and Tempo all having an upfront cost of the device itself than a monthly subscription. Are you kidding me?! Let’s not forget kids' apps and services that are on a subscription model too. It’s getting out of control.

Consumers are soon going to realize they will need to cut the cord somewhere. The bills will be too high and this presents a problem for companies- too much competition and the model itself is flooding the markets making it harder for consumers from purchasing services. All that listed above easily equals to over $100/mo. I’ll do the math below:

Let's say you have the following at the low-end monthly plan (to be fair).

Streaming Content

Netflix Basic plan $8.99

Disney Plus $6.99 when it came out now $7.99

Hulu $5.99

Apple TV $4.99

Apple Arcade $4.99

Apple one $14.99.(assuming you’re gonna use all those services)

Amazon Prime $12.99/mo

HBO MAX $14.99/mo

Paramount + $5.99

Total- $54.94 a year ago in 2020

With price increases in 2021 Total : $66.92/MO

Apps (this is an generic list assuming people use these)

Music — Spotify $9.99 / Apple Music $9.99 / Pandora $4.99

Storage — Google 200GB$2.99/Apple 200GB $2.99/One Drive 100GB $1.99

Password Organizer––$3.99/mo

Total : $32.94

Internet Services

Microsoft Office 365- $6.99/mo

Domains- $19/year

Total $25.99

Communication Services — (1 person)

Verizon $70/mo

AT&T $65/mo

TMOBILE/SPRINT $60/mo

Not counting

Financial Services

Robinhood Gold $9/mo

Acorns $3/mo

Total $12

Gaming

Play Station Network $9.99/mo

Xbox Live $9.99/mo

Ninteno Switch Online $3.99

Assuming you have all 3- Total $23.96

Services

Tv/Internet *Price Varies based on area*

$34.99

Fitness

My Fitness Pal $9.99/mo

Peloton $39.99/mo

Tonal $49.99/mo

Picking one (peloton) $39.99

Health/Beauty

Dollar Shave Club $8.99

Extras

Dating

Tinder $12.50/mo assuming you get a 12 month plan

Bumble $22.99/mo

Hinge $19.99/mo

Pet insurance 1 72.67/mo

Pet insurance 2 $13.33

*Pet insurance prices are based on pets age and health.*

Computer services

Adobe $9.99

Nest- $100/year

Security system-$31.96

Let’s Add up the total and list some caveats.

Total: $363.74/month

Annual: $4,364.88

Now I didn’t add things like dating or cell phone bill. Those are based on the person. I did add my internet bill as a base (34.99), but that’s internet ONLY plan. I didn’t account for internet and tv which could be more. A lot of these prices I used the bottom basic plan like on Netflix and Hulu, but personally, I have a higher plan price of $15.99. My Hulu is free with my $9.99 Spotify music plan. In reality I don’t think someone would have both Spotify and Apple Music, but I could be wrong. I only account for one music plan. Again, Apple TV arcade and music would fall under the apple one plan, BUT not everyone wants the Apple one plan. People pay for them individually, so I accounted for that. I did the same for gaming- I assumed people have 2-3 systems and pay for online subscription with them.

The problem with a lot of these plan is that they are really connected heavily. For example I can’t have PlayStation or Xbox live without purchasing internet- no brainer, but other services like nest security won’t work unless you purchase brinks security. So I have to shell out $300 for a system then pay for $31 a month just to have the monitoring. Same goes for Peloton- buy a $2000 bike and then pay $39.99 to access the classes otherwise it’s a $2,000 brick sitting in your room. It’s tit for tat. It’s really frustrating. Another frustrating thing is a lot of the streaming services like paramount + are marketing their services “cheap” for $5.99. While this might seem like a bargain and have premium content, it’s just another bill that adds up to $71.88 per year. The small numbers makes your brain think it’s a good deal-it’s not. So if you got all the services above at 66.92/mo that’s $803.04.

You might ask why don’t you cancel? You’re right I could cancel, but then if I want to watch something and find it’s not on A particular app or free streaming services I have to PAY to watch it for that month? The streaming services are cornering me (the consumer) into making a decision. I’m sure they are doing it to you too. Just download a simple app like Truebill to see your total subscriptions. You’ll be surprised at what you see. Think about everything you pay for monthly in a subscription format. Count grey areas too (internet, stuff for kids, subscription boxes) then add your monthly expenses on top. The number is sticker shock.

Eventually, I’m going to cancel most of the services because it costing me too much and it’s becoming a nightmare of subscriptions everywhere. The subscription models are causing financial stress and anxiety. They eat away into our paychecks and for most Americans who don’t have fucking jobs right now- it’s robbery to force everyone into this shit business model. $3000–$4000 a year is a lot of money and right now I need my money to go else where.

So with that I say fuck you subscription business model.