Tech Corner: March 2024
Topic: Why So Many Subscriptions?
I am sure you have noticed by now, that literally everything has a subscription service attached to it. Have you ever wondered why the subscription world has taken over? The Wall Street Journal answers this question truthfully, “It’s one of the hidden forces behind the subscription economy… Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel.”
This notion goes along with prior Tech Corner article of what it really means to “Cut Your Cable Cord” at your home. Often people follow the notion that saving money at home by cutting your Cable Provider will bring endless monetary rewards. They quickly find themselves subscribed to 20 different services again just to watch their favorite shows or movies, but the dollar amount doesn’t equate the same because its $9.99 here and $9.99 there, instead of the 1 monthly cable bill.
In fact, a poll conducted found that Americans spend an average of around $273 a month on subscription services. Subscriptions have become a business model which has created massive stability for businesses and for the most part an ease of use for the consumer, but be careful not to fall into the trap of over-extended yourself to the subscription game as well as being aware of subscriptions that sound great due to the low monthly cost, but have a contract requirement to maintain service for a period of time.
If this situation sounds like yourself, the best thing to do is create a spreadsheet inventory of every subscription you currently have, the cost for that subscription, the payment interval, and the contract length of time for that subscription. For subscriptions on your apple device, you can go to your device, click on your Apple account, and there is a subscriptions tab to list all of your running subscriptions.
If you are unsure what subscription services are, here are a few examples of the most common ones: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Hulu, YouTube, Hello Fresh, and so many more.
This article is not to say that subscriptions are not a useful and convenient tool. The world of subscription models has enabled people to utilize amazing services on a daily basis that were somewhat unaffordable in the past due to their initial purchase prices. There is without question an ease of convenience! The point is to say, just be aware of what subscriptions you have, and if you really use them, or if you are just paying for something, have forgotten about it, and it might be time to reclaim your monthly dollars back.
