Have you ever heard of Adobe software? If not, I’m sure you have seen the results of this suite of tools at work: it is used to edit movies and YouTube videos, make special video effects, and create illustrations in magazines. In fact, Adobe created the famous PDF format that we all know and use. 

I was a heavy user of two of Adobe’s programs in the early 2000s: Adobe Premiere, a video-editing program, and Adobe Photoshop, the de facto photo-editing program. These programs were expensive to buy, but they were powerful and offered tools unavailable in other software.  However, I abandoned them in 2013 when Adobe went to a subscription model, and I found other software that worked well enough for my editing needs.  Adobe required a monthly payment to use their software.  Initially, that cost was reasonable, but I could see the writing on the wall.  Since then, the cost has risen, and Adobe has faced significant backlash for its exploitative practices, including hidden and excessive fees for anyone who dares to cancel their subscription.  Beyond this, a photographer’s photos are trapped within the Adobe system, and Adobe admits to using subscribers’ content to train its AI model.  

When Apple Music launched in 2015, I was delighted to be able to buy any song for ninety-nine cents.  However, I now pay Spotify a monthly fee to stream music.  It is great to hear any song at any time, but if I stop paying, the music goes away. 

I have been using home computers since the late 1970s.  For decades, all of the programs that I used were stored on my computer. If I needed to archive something, I plugged in an external hard drive.  However, I now store things in the cloud, which requires a subscription service. Even classic programs, like Microsoft Word, are now subscription-based. Stop paying, and the program stops working.  

I recently installed an app on a tablet, only to find it had become a monthly subscription that I absolutely didn’t want.  It was easy to subscribe, but I can’t tell you how difficult it was to cancel. How many hidden subscriptions do I have?  Subscriptions that keep charging me for things I don’t use or need.  Things I clicked on long ago, now lost to memory. 

The average person spends $300 a month on subscriptions.  You may think you don’t spend that much, but data shows the average person underestimates their subscription fees by at least $100. 

Now everything requires a subscription.  Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and so it goes. Over-the-air TV broadcasters are pushing to add encryption to TV signals that use the public airwaves. .

My old car was a 2014 Ford. It was loaded with tech, much of which I never used. On my old car, I could click on the key fob to remotely start it. I recently purchased a new car.  The new car requires a yearly fee to unlock certain features. To access these featuresI need to use an app on my phone.  That subscription also monitors options that even my former 2008 Honda did for free.  Important information, like informing me when my car needs an oil change, now costs money.  I think that is wrong.

I was recently riding in a friend’s extremely expensive car.  He was trying to find a street, and so I clicked on the button for his car’s built-in navigation system.  It didn’t work.  I told my friend this, and he told me the navigation system required a monthly subscription, which he decided not to renew.  A monthly subscription to use the built-in GPS on a car that costs well over $100,000?  That seems wrong. I have also heard of other luxury cars that require a subscription to use their seat heaters.

HP sells printers with an “Instant Ink” feature.  This is a monthly subscription that controls how much you print.  Print more than your subscription? You are charged more.  Cancel the subscription?  Your printer will brick even if you have lots of ink in your cartridges. Keurig was selling a 2.0 coffee pot that required you to use “official” coffee pods.  My GE refrigerator will not let me use non-GE water filters. 

Many of these services gather data and sell that data to third parties. Even my smart TV is informing data brokers what I’m watching and how often I turn it on.

Frankly, I’m sick of the never-ending ways that companies extract money from me.  Some of those ways I have control over.  I can choose to find alternatives to programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Word.  I can choose to forgo a car subscription and live with the limitations. Yet, it bothers me that the days of buying something seem to be over.  I recently read a report that car dealers are exploring subscription models instead of outright purchases.  These models would be different from a car lease and more like the other monthly payments we have been subjected to. 

I know that there are services that will seek out and cancel subscriptions, but can I trust them?  They are often free, so how do they make their money?  I know I can find other ways to alert me when I need an oil change, and I can brave the weather and start my car just like everyone else. I know that I can use alternative software that isn’t subscription-based.  However, I worry that those will eventually become subscriptions. It seems every subscription eventually increases in price, becomes more restrictive, and harder to cancel. My Netflix subscription started at $9 and is now almost $20.  The same can be said of my internet provider and many other services. 

I don’t see a clear solution to this problem.  For now, I’ll restrict all of those subscription options where I can find a workaround.  For others, I’ll likely go with the most basic option that works for me.  However, I have to say it makes me angry, and I only see it getting worse as ever-profit-seeking industries push the envelope further and further.  The rich get richer, and the rest of us… Well, we are the ones funding their wealth. 

This printer cost $129. Stop the subscription, and your printer will brick.