Video description : Subscription services exist for nearly everything consumers buy. Many, like Netflix or Spotify, start out affordable, but the cost adds up over time. And while signing up is effortless, cancelling can be difficult. Companies such as Adobe and Amazon have even been accused by the Federal Trade Commission of using dark patterns to trap consumers in subscriptions.
But rising costs are only part of the problem. The subscription model is eroding consumer’s opportunity to own what they buy. So how did we get to the point where practically everything is a subscription? And why is owning nothing making everything so expensive?
00:00 - Intro 01:58 - Why subscriptions are everywhere 06:26 - Companies love subscriptions 09:13 - Subscriptions are sneaky 10:29 - Cancelling is difficult 13:39 - Own nothing economy 16:52 - Consumers fight back 22:56 - The future of subscriptions 24:24 - Credits
Wow there’s some really bad deals here!
History is full of trendy hustles, but people aren’t usually dumb enough to keep falling for them forever. Probably that will apply to these, too, and a lot of shitty subscriptions will go the way of the Juicero.
It’s worth mentioning renting rather than owning isn’t an intrinsically bad concept. Owning your own bus probably doesn’t interest you, and while streaming costs are going up, it’s still a better deal than buying a DVD you watch once.
You have to think when the infamous “own nothing and being happy” quote was coined, they were imaging there still was a nice diversified portfolio of investments in the background, which amounts to owning a small piece of everything.