to be saturation point with everyone and everything wanting me to pay them a subscription fee?

[Brystar]

There is a well known chef and cookbook writer whose newsletter I subscribe to, I have all their books and even paid £100 to buy an online course that they made to teach various cooking methods. I love their work, am a big fan of their books and recipes and feel like their work has really helped me to become a better cook.

Today in that newsletter they said how they were moving their online blog and content to a paid platform where I could pay a monthly fee to read their musings about food and get access to recipes which are already in their book which I bought so it would be paying to read a blog.

I get that if you have an online audience and you look around and see everyone moving their content behind a paywall that it is quite likely you feel like a bit of an idiot if you don't do it yourself. I also understand if people are actually providing a service of some kind or producing courses but for lots of these paid sites it is just milking your fans for cash at this point.

Lots of musicians and youtube people are doing it and for not very much and sure it is only a few pounds a month but everyone wants you to pay and I feel like I have total monthly subscription fatigue and anyone asking me to pay to get a link to their spotify playlist of the month, their monthly mood board and exclusive behind the scenes musings is just off putting to me now.

Add to that there are the various apps and bits of software which want you to pay £8.99 a month or more when it used to be a one time payment. Hairdressers locally now are saying that you need to be on their subscription plan to ensure you can get an appointment, ditto for any beauty service.

I do get it makes good business sense but as a consumer, a customer it is wearing me down and is putting me off the people who keep insisting on this model.

Telegraph is largely not paywalled and it pops up on my Bing feed at work, so they have changed their paying structure. There's an archive version of newspapers but I don't know if it would apply to more niche publications like science research. I subscribe to Invisible Women in order to support the work, but then I have a couple of Amazon's that I should ditch, really. I really enjoy Audible, though.

I pay a monthly subscription to my dentist which I’m happy to do. Spreads out costs for hygienist appointments etc but HAIRDRESSERS….??? 😱

It’s very irritating and it just feels a bit like being pickpocketed. I watched a YouTuber - when she went behind a paywall on another platform, I just watched someone else who did similar content.

Even the DM has now got paywall content. People must actually be paying to read that content.

The hairdresser thing is shocking!

I was cross about the last time I got a basic wet cut - cost had gone up so much that my 16yo is going to have a go at my hair with the dog’s grooming scissors soon. I don’t mind if it’s not completely straight as long as I can get away with it. I already do my dh’s with clippers.

It’s definitely a pricing model. It’s now not even a possibility to be billed for the electricity/gas that I’ve used each quarter. Instead I have to pay a regular amount monthly - which builds up a huge credit if I use less than they say I’ll use.
Of course, they will argue that they are just spreading the cost, but I’m sure that by creaming off everyone’s money in the summer months it is benefitting the utility companies more than me!
More alarming is the drive to impose this model on “things” that are currently more usually owned by people and families: imagine if not only your phone and car, but your kitchen appliances and tools were only available by subscription - most people would end up paying for their appliances and tools many times over.
This model is driven by greed…

There is a family attraction near us - which to be fair to them, is great - which have recently made their Facebook page subscription for I think £4.99.

And for that, what I think all you get is told about upcoming events first, before they post them on public IG the following the day and the promise of a priority booking window for their Christmas event. There could be more, but if there is I don’t know what it is.

Not sure if making people to see your advertising messages is a solid marketing plan, but I guess time will tell.

I would unsubscribe, unless it’s really worth it.
As regards to the hairdressers I already pay a fortune for a haircut.
I do it as they are convenient and I’ve had several hairdressers in the hart who are either very difficult to get an appointment with, or move and again make it difficult to get an appointment.
Basically I’ve found a good one who I can access.
Otherwise I pay for prime, Apple Music, tv streaming and BBC.
I let my family use prime.

I've been bombarded over the last 3 days with everything suddenly coming out at once, when I set them up to come out at the start of the month. Has anyone else had that this month? I don't understand what is going on!

I am also still being charged for Adobe on Paypal monthly despite me cancelling it months ago (in paypal), which surely is a Paypal problem?

Caroline Girvan is the best thing about YouTube for me 😃

@Anyotherdude - there was a programme on R4 last year (in conjunction with Moneybox) about the amount of money the energy companies have in their coffers as a result of all the direct debits we’re paying them.

it’s a staggering amount 😡

The latest thing seems to be to sign up for regular payments to charities. I don't mind dropping a few spare coins in the box on the way past, but I'm not up for giving all my details to a random chugger however secure they assure me it is, and anyway I prefer supporting several charities a little bit to sending the whole lot (a fiver probably, I'm quite mean!) to just one. No, they can't take your cash or even a one-off donation by card, you have to sign up to regular payments. Apparently they can't collect gift aid otherwise. OK, but now you're not even getting the gift!

Oh well, now I can give in to my inner miser, tell them all what to do with their subscription model, and keep my none too plentiful cash to myself.

I keep an eye on mine and get a refund of between £100- £200 twice a year! I’m with Octopus and it’s so easy to do as their team are all contactable by email and they usually reply within a few hours so no sitting on the phone for ages!

I'm shocked too at having to pay a sub to 'retain the services' of a hairdresser. At the very least, a subscription should be the charge you pay to access something; not just a charge to unlock the 'opportunity' to pay further charges!

As for the inertia selling thing - as in 'first month is free, then we start charging you automatically', this has been around forever. Britannia Music Club was working along similar lines 30 or more years ago.

It was even more outrageous then, as it wasn't just a new monthly supply of the same product that you (supposedly) want and use regularly; they would send you out THEIR random choice of cassette or CD, unless you told them that you didn't want it! Plus, of course, there was no internet, so you had to send them a card in the post each month to stop them sending you whatever album they wanted to sell you!

Personally, I think that, if you have a quality, desirable product or service that you are confident that people will want - and you have any integrity or pride in what you do - you would be just as successful giving people a free trial only and stopping it there, with nothing more than a weblink IF they want to keep it on; then, when they face the prospect of no longer having it in their lives, they will be clamouring to actively renew and start paying, rather than having to cancel an auto renewal.

Ultimately, it's like with charity donations, where they 'only' want a few pounds from you each month, which most people can afford without too much trouble; but it's everybody wanting 'only' a few pounds every month, which quickly tips the balance into unaffordable. The fact that they've all realised it's more profitable for them is proof positive that it must be a worse deal for the consumers!

@Wigtopia - I’m also with Octopus and have claimed money back from them quite easily. I keep an eye on my credit.

I’d suggest that others do the same…

Reminds me of the mumsnet subscription. I wonder who is paying it and what they get for it?

I had an elderly relative who died nearly 2 years ago. He lived a very simple life and barely had any mod cons, he was over 1k in credit with the energy company when he died

This has been charities models for decades!
So they have a regular income and plan spending better

I hate the subscription model too.

I do have a fews subscriptions - they sneak up.

Housework one on Patreon- I use this.

A substack one - happy to pay.

Fucking cat food does me in but the products are good & I've got it set up perfectly now.

I once did a sock subscription 😂 it's that kind of thing you really have to look out for. I did get some nice socks though.

The other thing about subscription models like the hairdresser one is that, once people have paid up for a sub, they have a sunk-cost mindset, so there's absolutely nothing whatsoever to incentivise them to offer competitive prices for the actual hairdos, and everything to encourage them to keep nudging up the costs of appointments all the time.

More alarming is the drive to impose this model on “things” that are currently more usually owned by people and families: imagine if not only your phone and car, but your kitchen appliances and tools were only available by subscription - most people would end up paying for their appliances and tools many times over.
This model is driven by greed…

This is undoubtedly one of the plans behind the Internet of Things (along with the end of privacy and personal autonomy, but those are for a different thread). No consumer actually needs their kettle or toaster to be connected to the internet - you've still got to be there in person to pour/butter it, so what have you actually achieved by doing one small step with an app on your phone rather than standing there poised for two minutes or less?

The appliances will all suddenly be so much worse than their counterparts from 40 years ago - the ones that didn't need endless pointless updates to stop them from killing you; and which you paid one single price to buy, then they were yours to use freely until they eventually conked out many years down the line.

Most people who are in the privileged position to be able to do so will buy their own house, rather than renting; yet I can see a situation where, even if folk own their houses outright, once the mortgage has been paid off, they will be effectively renting everything else in their homes and lives and paying every month for life, otherwise risk losing it. I presume this must be what Klaus Schwab meant when he said 'you will own nothing and be happy'. Not so sure about the second part, personally.

True, but it would be a lot more honest if they didn't reel you in by insisting that they only need £3 a month - as although it doesn't sound very much, they can actually do a great deal of good with it - and then soon after admit to you that £3 isn't very much, so they'll increase it to a tenner or more 'for you' automatically, and then badger you for more and more as time goes on.

My late father in law was with Octopus paying £42 per month G&E, he spent most of his last 6 months in hospital, so was massively in credit. He died in the February and I informed them, payments stopped, they said just let them know when house was sold, which I did, they then said I needed to pay £42 x 8 months. I told them what I thought of this and I could tell the guy I spoke to thought this wasn’t ok. I said to them to send me the bill, fortunately I never got one. This is why it’s important to pay the correct direct debit amount each month, my FIL should never have been paying what he was.

I hate to think how many subscriptions my 2 adult sons have, I hear “I’ve got this for £.. per month and this for so much a month”, but they all add up.

I am so with you OP, it's ridiculous and a turn off.
Strictly on a absolutely-need-it basis for me.

It's interesting how the energy companies allow you to 'spread the cost' of your year's energy needs over the 12 months, so that you don't get stung with massive winter heating bills all in one go; BUT it always involves you paying in advance, so they have use of your money all through the warmer months, rather than going into debit for the winter and then paying it back over the next summer!

Even TV Licensing arrange it so that, after your very first six months of paying monthly, you're permanently six months in credit with them until the end of time.

The most ridiculous is the leggings company one. Who needs a subscription to buy leggings?

In any case the reason is broadly to make money / collect data. Subscriptions allow you to generate a regular revenue stream and collect data on users you can then sell / use for other purposes.

All these companies and people are doing are looking for more ways to make money from you.

Definitely agree with you OP. The only subscriptions I have are cat food, cat flea treatment and Audible.

I've done the odd month of TV streaming (Disney+, Netflix) and, like a pp, binge watch then cancel before the renewal.

I may be a luddite, but I still buy CDs and DVDs - that way I can watch/listen as long as I want without any recurring costs.