译者：疫情前，我常常在杭州陪父母。为此，我订阅了FT中文版（好像是一年42美金）。疫情中，被NYT感动，初期价格非常便宜，1美金/星期。（不小心，因为我不看信用卡账单，成为4～5美金/星期；等我“醒了”，打电话抱怨，减到～2美金/星期。但是一年后又会涨回原价。纠结中。）也因为疫情，我不再去瑜伽馆（节约了145美金/月）。

我还订阅Netflix（DVD+stream；谢天谢地，DVD不再）（好像stream现在是17美金/月；但是，家人依然可以分享）。

有些“订阅”实为捐款，比方说：NPR的10.5美金/月。（他们常常劝我给15美金。）

我喜欢看书、听书；但是，我现在很少买书。我用Libby从图书馆借电子书。（其实，可以参加clubs，月费应该是10美金左右。）我也喜欢听音乐，但是，免费油管上的够我听了。

订阅的诱惑非常大。我几乎天天都会收到广告。之所以能够做到“不浪费”，还是因为我脑子依然清楚着。LOL

订阅文化的鬼祟标价震惊(双语)

近年来，我作为消费者的大部分生活已经转向我所说的背景支出。 随着我订阅了更多的应用程序和流媒体平台，每个月我的一大笔钱往往会在我不经意间就流失掉。 这就好像是从我的薪水中扣除了一项税，但这笔税是花在一些愚蠢或放纵的事情上，比如国际零食订阅盒，而不是——我不知道——基本的公共基础设施。

将其视为自动化资本主义。 花钱无忧。 无需采取任何思考、行动即可获得的消费。

但是，虽然卖给我的订阅量激增的前提是它会让我的生活更加无忧无虑，但当我真正发现我每个月不知不觉地花了多少钱（179.45 美元）时，我感到了一定的震惊——当然，是马后炮，因为我已经花掉了这些钱。

我不禁觉得自己被欺骗了一点。 我承认，在被《Ted Lasso》第一季迷住之后，我忘记了自己是按月付费才能享受 Apple TV+ 的特权，然后很快就“被甩了”。 当我亿万年以来第一次重新打开该应用程序时，我看到了数十部我从未听说过，但我一直慷慨地为其制作预算做出贡献的节目。

你看，关于后台支出的事情是，它往往发生在后台，而没有你的全部注意力。 这就是重点（问题所在）。

这些公司向我们保证：“交出你的信用卡详细信息，让我们处理剩下的事情。” 但通过同意这种贸易，我们就变成了被动的消费者，让资本主义的天平向我们倾斜。 我们已经放弃了作为个人的一项关键权力：我们的控制权（agency）。

这种懒惰会滋生更多的懒惰，因为我们大多数人都懒得定期审查我们的订阅支出。 事实上，经济学家估计，买家忘记取消订阅可能会使企业收入增加 200%。 难怪这些公司认为他们可以抬高价格。 我们太懒或太忙，甚至没有注意到或取消！

我知道不仅仅是我突然过上了头脑灵活的订户生活。 数字服务公司 West Monroe 在2021 年对 2,500 人进行的一项民意调查显示，消费者平均每月在订阅上花费 273 美元，调查发现这一支出比 2018 年增长了 15%。没有一个受访者知道他每月的实际支出是多少。

可以理解为什么这种模式对企业如此有吸引力。 当公司质疑传统广告模式（尤其是社交媒体平台和数字出版商）时，订阅提供了“一次销售，永远赚钱”的承诺。 （作为时代的标志，甚至像 Meta 和 X这样的社交媒体公司现在也提供订阅服务）。 尽管订阅服务已经存在了几十年（想想每月的葡萄酒俱乐部），但由于智能手机的普及和送货上门的日益便利，越来越多的客户愿意注册。

需求如此之高，投资银行瑞银 (UBS) 预计，到 2025 年，整个订阅经济将增长到 1.5 万亿美元，比 2020 年的 6500 亿美元增加一倍多。

但是，虽然这些订阅承诺轻松和幸福，但并非所有人都满意。 去年，科尔尼消费者研究所发现 40% 的消费者认为他们的订阅数量过多。 根据 Deloitte Insights 4 月份的一份报告，几乎一半的人还认为我们为流媒体视频点播订阅支付了太多费用，而大约三分之一的人打算减少此类订阅的数量。

还有证据表明，我们在订阅上的支出比我们意识到的要多得多。 去年，C+R Research 要求 1,000 人估算一下他们在订阅费用中所花费的金额，然后才让他们实际逐项列出这笔支出。 他们发现每月平均支出为 219 美元，比人们猜测的 86 美元高出2.5 倍多。

考虑到订阅几乎消耗了我们生活的方方面面，我们已经忘记了这笔支出也就不足为奇了。 考虑一下：在典型的一天中，你可能会醒来并冥想，可能会使用 Calm 应用程序（每年订阅：69.99 美元），然后准备使用 Birchbox 中的化妆品（每月 20 美元）。 然后，当你吃早餐时，别忘了在你的减肥应用 Noom 上记录你的膳食（每年209 美元）。 之后，只需快速乘坐 Citi Bike 上班（年费 205 美元）即可到达当地的Equinox 健身房（每月 200 美元左右），在那里，你决定选择选择私人教练来省钱，而不是花钱请私人教练 使用 Fitbod 等应用程序（每月 12.99 美元）。

在工作日，你可能会在午餐时吃一份 Sweetgreen 沙拉（其首屈一指的忠诚度计划每月花费 10 美元），或者可能只是 Pret 的一杯咖啡（每月 40 美元的忠诚度计划）。 当你下班回家后在 Spotify 上听音乐（每月 10.99 美元）时，请务必检查你的大厅，看看是否有任何亚马逊套餐已送达（Prime 会员每月 14.99 美元）。 不要忘记购买Hello Fresh 杂货（三顿两人餐大约 70 美元）或从 SommSelect 购买葡萄酒订阅盒（每月 99 美元购买四瓶）或从 Barkbox 购买新宠物玩具（每月 20 美元购买一瓶，需要订阅一年）。

晚餐后，你可以观看无广告【译者注：不再】的流媒体网站来放松一下，例如Netflix（标准套餐每月 15.49 美元）或 Hulu（每月 17.99 美元）或 Disney+（每月13.99 美元）或 Paramount+ with Showtime（每月 11.99 美元）或 Peacock （每月11.99 美元）或 Apple TV+（每月 9.99 美元）。 如果你无法选择在其中任何一个上观看什么内容，也许可以看看 YouTube TV 上直播的内容，它与 TiVo 和有线电视类似，但每月费用为 72.99 美元。

最后，当你使用 Whoop 健康和睡眠追踪器（每年 239 美元）小睡一会儿时，你可以放心，你用手机拍摄的任何照片都会悄悄更新到你在数字云中支付的额外存储空间（每张 2.99 美元）。 标准 Google One 帐户的月）。

你看，我们已经实现了生活中几乎所有支出要素的自动化！ 我几乎确信，在硅谷的某个地方，一位由风投资助的科技兄弟正坐在一个房间里，试图想象一种葬礼订阅服务，该服务可能会克服我们往往只会死一次的核心问题。【译者：大笑！】

虽然它不应该让人感到疲惫或不知所措，但我大脑后部的某个部分几乎感觉就像这样。 我被一种嗡嗡作响的焦虑所困扰，我可以通过合并或取消其中一些订阅来省钱，如果不是因为我有一种挥之不去的内疚感，说实话，我已经不知道自己付了什么钱。

如果我们要稍微重新平衡资本主义的车轮，我们可能会做得比支持联邦贸易委员会最近提出的规则更糟糕。 今年三月，该机构提出了一项“点击取消”条款，要求公司让终止订阅与注册订阅一样容易。 如果你能够在线加入，就不再被迫去健身房终止你的会员资格！ （对于应用程序，Apple 已经在其 App Store 中提供了此取消按钮的版本）。

此外，在这一额外的消费者保护层下，企业需要每年提醒订户其会员资格，然后才能自动续订。 这条规则意味着任何背景支出，哪怕一年只有一次，都会成为你脑海中最重要的事情。

如果这一切都不起作用，我还有另一个想法：一款旨在跟踪你的各种订阅和后台支出的应用程序，以便你可以更好地控制你的财务状况。 哦等等，这些已经存在了——当然需要定期付费。

The Sneaky Sticker-Shock of Subscription Culture

Nov. 19, 2023

By David Mack

Mr. Mack is a writer.

You see, the thing about background spending is it tends to happen, well, in the background without your full attention. And therein lies the point.

“Hand over your credit card details and let us take care of the rest,” these companies assure us. But by agreeing to this trade, we’ve become passive consumers who are allowing the balance of capitalism to tilt away from us. We have ceded one of our key powers as individuals: our agency.

And this laziness breeds more laziness because most of us can’t be bothered conducting regular reviews of our subscription spending. Indeed, economists estimate that buyers forgetting to cancel subscriptions can increase a business’s revenues by as much as 200 percent. It’s no wonder these companies feel that they can jack up the prices. We’re too lazy or busy to even notice or cancel!

I know it’s not just me who is suddenly living life as a smooth-brained subscriber. The average consumer spends $273 per month on subscriptions, according to a 2021 poll of 2,500 by digital services firm West Monroe, which found this spending was up 15 percent from 2018. Not a single person polled knew what his actual monthly spending was.

It’s understandable why this model is so alluring for businesses. As companies questioned traditional advertising models (especially on social media platforms and digital publishers), subscriptions offered the promise of “selling once and earning forever.” (In a sign of the times, even social media companies like Meta and X, formerly Twitter, are now offering subscriptions). And while subscription services have been around for decades (think Wine of the Month Club), more customers have been willing to sign up thanks to the prevalence of smartphones and the increasing ease of home delivery.

Demand is so high that the investment bank UBS has estimatedthe entire subscription economy will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025, more than doubling the $650 billion it was in 2020.

But while these subscriptions promise ease and happiness, not all of us are satisfied. Last year, the Kearney Consumer Institutefound 40 percent of consumers believe they have too many subscriptions. Almost half of us also think we pay too much for streaming video-on-demand subscriptions, in particular, while roughly a third intend to reduce the number of such subscriptions, per an April report from Deloitte Insights.

There’s also evidence we are spending way more on subscriptionsthan we even realize. Last year, C+R Research asked 1,000 people to estimate what they fork over in subscription costs before actually having them itemize this spending. They found the average monthly spend was $219 — more than 2.5 times higher than the $86 that people guessed.

It’s no wonder we’ve lost track of this spending given how subscriptions have consumed almost every aspect of our lives. Consider this: On a typical day, you might wake up and meditate, perhaps using the Calm app (yearly subscription: $69.99), before getting ready using makeup from your Birchbox ($20 per month). Then, as you eat breakfast, don’t forget to log your meals on your weight loss app Noom ($209 annually). After that, it’s just a quick Citi Bike ride to work ($205 annual membership) to your local Equinox gym (starting at around $200 per month) where, instead of forking out for a personal trainer, you decided you could save money by opting instead to use an app like Fitbod ($12.99 per month).

During the work day, you might get a Sweetgreen salad for lunch (whose premiere loyalty program costs $10 per month) or perhaps just a coffee from Pret ($40 per month loyalty program). When you get home after a commute spent listening to music on Spotify ($10.99 per month), be sure to check your lobby to see if any Amazon packages have been delivered ($14.99 per month for Prime membership). And don’t forget to pick up your Hello Fresh groceries (roughly $70 for three two-person meals) or your wine subscription box from SommSelect ($99 per month for four bottles) or your new pet toys from Barkbox ($20 per month for a year’s subscription).

After dinner, it’s time to unwind by watching ad-free streaming sites like Netflix ($15.49 per month for a standard plan) or Hulu ($17.99 per month) or Disney+ ($13.99 per month) or Paramount+ with Showtime ($11.99 per month) or Peacock ($11.99 per month) or Apple TV+ ($9.99 per month). And if you somehow can’t choose what to watch on any of those, maybe see what’s airing live on YouTube TV, which is similar to TiVo and cable but costs $72.99 each month.

Finally, as you get some shut-eye using your Whoop health and sleep tracker ($239 per year), you can rest assured any photos you took on your cellphone will quietly update to the extra storage you pay for in the digital cloud ($2.99 per month for a standard Google One account).

You see, we’ve automated almost every element of spending in our lives! I’m almost convinced that somewhere in Silicon Valley a V.C.-funded tech bro is sitting in a room trying to imagine a subscription service for funerals that might overcome the central problem that we tend to only die just once.

And while it’s not supposed to feel exhausting or overwhelming, there’s a part at the back of my brain where it almost feels like it. I’m plagued by a buzzing anxiety that I could be saving money by consolidating or canceling some of these subscriptions, were it not for the nagging guilt that I have that, truthfully, I’ve lost track of what I’m paying for.

If we’re going to rebalance the wheels of capitalism just a little, we could do worse than to support a recent proposed rule from the Federal Trade Commission. In March, the agency suggested a “click to cancel” provision that would require companies to make it just as easy to end a subscription as to sign up for one. No more being forced to go into the gym to end your membership if you were able to join online! (For apps, Apple does already have a version of this cancel button buried within its App Store).

Additionally, under this extra layer of consumer protection, businesses would need to remind subscribers annually about their membership before these are automatically renewed. This rule would mean any background spending would, if only just for one moment a year, be at the forefront of your mind.

If all that doesn’t work, I have another idea: an app designed to keep track of your various subscriptions and background spending so you can better control your finances. Oh wait, those already exist — for a recurring fee of course.