Why is everything turning into a subscription and when will it stop?

Software subs are odd ones. I can’t decide whether they’re good or bad. I think if you use the product constantly then you’re better off buying, but if it you only use it now and again for certain tasks, then a sub allows you to dip in and out for not much money. I mean, it’s pointless spending fortunes on photoshop and premiere pro for editing your holiday videos, might as well spend £20 for a months use.
 
its an excellent business model, as it means you can get guaranteed payment and a known income stream.

i tend to dislike anything that locks you in, especially phone contracts, what looks like a good deal after 2 years becomes a case of getting shafted.

its an odd one when it comes to software, sure if you use it regularly enough that you want/need it to remain constantly up to date then its fine, but there should always be an option to just buy it.

the thing that has me curious is platforms like steam/prime etc that you by digital content, lets say they decide to close up shop does that mean anything you've bought on that platform is lost?
 
I have railed against "Subscription World" for some time.

As said elsewhere not long ago...
Welcome to subscription world.

Great for people with guaranteed life long regular employment with a pension scheme to go with it.

Back in the real world only a minority of people are in this privileged position.

For everybody else "Subscription world" means that you will struggle form month to month because you do not know how much you are going to earn in any given month and if for whatever reason you stop earning, 28 days later all your subscriptions expire and you will be on the street, probably without even your coat and shoes, because they were on "subscription" too...!
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adolf hamster said:
i tend to dislike anything that locks you in, especially phone contracts, what looks like a good deal after 2 years becomes a case of getting shafted.
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TBH phone contract deals are practically like finance plans with a sim only contract deal attached onto it. It is cheeky that the contracts go onto a rolling full price contract after the 12/18/24 months but you can cancel or change that over to a monthly cheaper one when its finished anyway and it can also be arranged in advanced.

It is also the model that the consumers have called for. We live in a throw away and upgrade culture adn everyone seems to expect to have the latest flagship every two years but how many of those people want to dish out 600-1000 for a phone at one time?
 
Avenged7Fold said:
TBH phone contract deals are practically like finance plans with a sim only contract deal attached onto it. It is cheeky that the contracts go onto a rolling full price contract after the 12/18/24 months but you can cancel or change that over to a monthly cheaper one when its finished anyway and it can also be arranged in advanced.

It is also the model that the consumers have called for. We live in a throw away and upgrade culture adn everyone seems to expect to have the latest flagship every two years but how many of those people want to dish out 600-1000 for a phone at one time?
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I got into a argument with Vodaphone about this, I had a contract for 12 months the deal ended and they put my next bill to full price with out telling me it was going up. I refused to pay the extra and threatened to not pay the bill at all, eventually they discounted the extra as a 'goodwill gesture'.
 
@Orionaut You believe the majority of people are in the position where subscriptions which can usually be terminated within the month will leave them struggling? If so then I think their issues are down to financial planning rather than this "subscription world".

You certainly don't require a lifelong job or a hefty pension that's for sure.
 
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robfosters said:
Software subs are odd ones. I can’t decide whether they’re good or bad. I think if you use the product constantly then you’re better off buying, but if it you only use it now and again for certain tasks, then a sub allows you to dip in and out for not much money. I mean, it’s pointless spending fortunes on photoshop and premiere pro for editing your holiday videos, might as well spend £20 for a months use.
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Plus with a sub you're always running the latest and greatest version so it's ideal for people in the industry too, my friend is a professional photographer and he has a creative cloud subscription as it keeps him up to date and always able to take advantage of the cutting edge stuff.
 
Ayahuasca said:
@Orionaut You believe the majority of people are in the position where subscriptions which can usually be terminated within the month will leave them struggling? If so then I think their issues are down to financial planning rather than this "subscription world".
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I once accidentally cancelled Netflix, it was a whirlwind week ending in me sleeping in a cardboard box. I manged to fight through the hard times and now currently sitting down to watch House of Cards.
 
Everything will become subscription eventually. Porsche are testing a subscription model for cars at the moment. Software companies are moving to a subscription model with great success for them and their customers.
 
I quite like subscription model for some things. Photoshop, autocad and SketchUp for a few examples. The price structure is basically the lifespan of standalone divided into months, and you get to upgrade during the subscription period. This is especially relevant to autocad and autocad.
 
It won't stop until customers stop buying them.

I was working for a company that was looking to switch is business model from a traditional upfront payment to monthly subscription and the figures that had been estimated showed quite a big jump in profitability. Customers are far more amenable to low cost monthly payments than one large payment and if you have a low starting tariff / package to get them on then they are very unlikely to leave. Plus flexible contracts (30 day) can lead to greater profits as customers rarely switch down after upgrading but will take a chance on trying the lowest cost tariff.

A lot of it is down to laziness and people just not really checking their outgoings that much.
 
Because new products\services require subs as a business model? We used to rent VHSs for a few quid a time, now we stream etc.

Razors and other products I totally agree, this is a blatent attempt to increase revenue. Although I must admit, the Harry's service is pretty good!!

I pay for most things up front - cars, insurance, household purchases etc. Not at all into increasing my run rate, I'd rather save the money first and have a high disposable income. The truth is - most people either don't want to wait - or don't have the wedge to fund their lifestyle upfront. Not sure we can blame companies in leveraging this?
 
Some things are suited to a subscription model - some things the option of a subscription or one off payment will either/or work better for some people than others but it is a worrying trend and there are some things that consumers should never let become purely subscription only as it takes away control from them though some will only see that too late.
 
MikeTheNative said:
Surely a subscription for a consumable that you know your going to need a new one of in a couple of weeks actually makes sense?
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In that case - it is, and I am subscribed. You can easily defer planned dispatches if you don't need them. TBH - my main motivation was to no longer patronise Giliette.

Not sure it needs to be scaled out to every consumable product though. £10 pcm bog roll subscription anyone?
 
Skiddley said:
In that case - it is, and I am subscribed. You can easily defer planned dispatches if you don't need them. TBH - my main motivation was to no longer patronise Giliette.

Not sure it needs to be scaled out to every consumable product though. £10 pcm bog roll subscription anyone?
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I imagine a weekly shop from ASDA/tesco that turns up with exactly what you buy will probably be the next extension. But yeah your right you can't have one for everything.
 
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