this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Lemmy

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Subscription models for an app that’s not hosting anything is just the dev wanting a constant revenue stream, no matter how they try to word it. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago by spiritedpause@sh.itjust.works to c/lemmy@lemmy.ml
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Subscription models only make sense for an app/service that have recurring costs. In the case of Lemmy apps, the instances are the ones with recurring hosting costs, not the apps.

If an app doesn’t have recurring hosting costs, it only makes sense to have one up front payment and then maybe in app purchases to pay for new features going forward

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly, and that's why I dropped Amazon Prime and most other subscriptions.

Yeah, packages taking a few days longer is annoying, but I also don't feel obligated to keep shopping at Amazon to "get my value." I miss some shows, but I can buy them for less than the yearly cost of the subscription, and most can be replaced with content at other services.

I still have two streaming subscriptions: Netflix (kids love it, I watch it while folding laundry) and Disney+ (wife and one kid loves it). I spend $20/month total for both (have discount for D+ through credit card for the legacy plan, so it's like $7-8 net), and neither have ads.

And that's pretty much it for subscriptions. Sure, I have my city utilities and whatnot, but those aren't really optional unless I'm willing to go off-grid, and from my math it would take many years to pay off (not sure it will depending on how markets go), and I'd likely have a worse experience.

Other services:

  • Spotify - I buy what I want, and YouTube + ad blocker for one-offs
  • Audible/Kindle - local library
  • apps - haven't found anything that I can't replace with open source apps
  • gym - I have a municipal gym that I pay for yearly, no auto-renew; it has a pool as well that we use enough to be cheaper than the daily rate, so I see it as a bulk discount, not a subscription
  • gaming - I buy games as needed, most of them on discount/bundles
  • food delivery - I pay for Costco, but we do most of our shopping there and it's way more convenient than other discount stores (e.g. WinCo/Aldi); we save far more than we pay for it, so the $130 or whatever we spend for the membership is nothing vs the value we get
  • phone - we're on no-contract phones, and for two lines, we pay $30-ish/month; my wife is on Mint ($15-20/month), and I'm on Tello (~$10/month); we buy phones outright (wife has iPhone 11 I got for $500, mine is usually $200-300 every 2-3 years)
  • Patreon/Twitch - I don't have any, but I do donate/buy merch from time to time to support my favorite creators (usually smaller, I don't donate to any larger orgs)

We just got two cats, so maybe I'll end up getting a Chewy membership or something, but we'll try to avoid that.

[–] StarServal@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reoccurring bills are also subscriptions. Like rent, food, electricity, gas, water, etc.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I guess, but they're a lot less optional and more useful.

I own my house, so I don't pay rent. My mortgage is below inflation and expected investment returns (it's even below risk free investments like CDs), so I actually make money by not paying it down.

Replacing gas/water/electricity/food with fixed cost items is more expensive. Electricity is the easiest, and going off-grid would cost $20-30k initially with a really good deal (assuming I DIY a lot of it; a lot of this is the battery backup), which if invested in the market would yield $1200-1600 the first year @ 6%. I only pay $50-100/month for electricity, so I'd pay more to generate it myself vs investing that money. The same goes for gas, water, and food, mostly because of the land requirement (need trees for heat, large plots for growing for, well access, etc). These items benefit from economies of scale, so it's absolutely worth paying based on use.

So it goes both ways. Some subscription-type things are cheaper long term, such as a Costco subscription or natural gas delivery, and some are likely more expensive, like paying for heated seats or many streaming subscriptions.