Mr Whose The Boss talks "subscriptions"

[AGTDenton]

It's nice to see this topic finally being talked about on a popular channel rather than continuously glossed over.

I think it's fair to say a number of us have been talking about this for years and taking action, either by cancelling fully or only subscribing when absolutely needed.
Since last year I stopped my regular subscription to Prime, I genuinely thought I couldn't live without it prior to quitting but I've actually realised it was almost an addiction.
Now if I have a a bit of a wishlist for expensive items I wait until Prime day deals or a tracker to ping me.

I go for months now without ordering and I will scour the internet (and sometimes shops) to get a price as good as or as close as possible, or just deciding on an alternative.

[Kanoe]

Yeah, I have seriously reduced my subscriptions as well.

Got rid of:
- Sky TV (used to have all the channels, sports and movies, but really only wanted the sports and movies)
- Netflix
- Disney +
- Will be getting rid of Prime when thats up in August (wasnt adding ads to Prime that did it it was locking Dolby Vision behind the extra sub that pushed me over the edge)

At the moment making use of some low cost / free trials but don't plan to carry them on:

- Apple TV (got 6 months free with a TV i bought)
- Now TV Movies (3 months at £1 a month)
- Crunchyroll (free trail from Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)
- When the others run out will do Paramount+ free trial

[Jonj1611]

I have Prime because I buy lots of rubbish I don't need but everything else is all but cancelled.

Prices have gone through the roof for a lot of things and with so many subs now its just unviable to continue most

[jimbouk]

The "time" point was a good way of looking at things. I don't have any more time to watch TV or films or play video games just because I have multiple services available for each. Currently we're down to a Crunchyroll annual subscription with Netflix occasionally for a month when there's something the other half wants to watch.

I have Prime because I buy lots of rubbish I don't need but everything else is all but cancelled.

I've been using eBay a lot more for smaller things I can't get locally / conveniently. The Amazon markup is quite horrific sometime - he was right about the 'paying twice' for delivery.

But yeah good video, sums up a lot of the bad things going on clearly without being sensationalist.

Re fragmentation of the streaming market being worse for consumers - that's a tricky one. It would be great if Netflix were the only player in the market and kept their prices low, but that didn't happen and wouldn't have happened if they'd got their monopoly. So competition should be good, no? Maybe the streaming market will be it's own death if prices keep going up and we'll go back to (digitally this time) renting new releases more often? Pay just for what you want rather than the 'good' things being split across multiple services with ever increasing prices.

[Percy1983]

I have no current streaming subscriptions and don't have prime. I occasionally pick a service and binge, I buy movies on blu ray once they are cheap.

Generally I am patient when ordering things so quite often find the same items cheaper on aliexpress at wait a week, if I do order from amazon I just use the free postage which always comes quicker than they state, occasionally if I do need something fast there is usually a month free prime or a week for 99p.

I do check amazon but don't automatically buy there (due to not having prime) and check/buy many stores.

I don't use uber eats, just eat etc, I don't order many takeaways often but when I do I order directly with them (app/phone/website).

I rarely need a taxi but if I did would phone a local firm.

I am probably take it further than many but it worries me how many don't appear to question these things.

[jimbouk]

I am probably take it further than many but it worries me how many don't appear to question these things.

The price of convenience, when is it worth it? With a newborn we regularly used prime for things. Paying the subscription and more for things to arrive next day was 'worth it' compared to dragging yourself out to go round the shops because you needed something soon, or paying one off extra delivery things. Now life has slowed down so if it takes a week then that's not a worry.

Haven't delved into the world of aliexpress yet, I'd probably just end up buying lots of things I don't need because they're cheap! This ars Technica article on budge mini desktops almost had me temped to get yet another computer for the house, probably would have bit the bullet if they were even cheaper on aliexpress that the Amazon ones I browsed - dangerous!

[AGTDenton]

The "time" point was a good way of looking at things. I don't have any more time to watch TV or films or play video games just because I have multiple services available for each. Currently we're down to a Crunchyroll annual subscription with Netflix occasionally for a month when there's something the other half wants to watch.

Yeah that was a very good point to make.

I also liked the advice of cancelling the subscription at the same time as signing up.
It's all too easy in this hectic and chaotic life to say I'll do it later and then forget about it which rolls over to another month and another....


I think someone previously mentioned on here they utilise the subscription price on some Amazon items, then immediately cancel it. I've also started to adopt this approach and it works well.

[Percy1983]

The price of convenience, when is it worth it? With a newborn we regularly used prime for things. Paying the subscription and more for things to arrive next day was 'worth it' compared to dragging yourself out to go round the shops because you needed something soon, or paying one off extra delivery things. Now life has slowed down so if it takes a week then that's not a worry.

Haven't delved into the world of aliexpress yet, I'd probably just end up buying lots of things I don't need because they're cheap! This ars Technica article on budge mini desktops almost had me temped to get yet another computer for the house, probably would have bit the bullet if they were even cheaper on aliexpress that the Amazon ones I browsed - dangerous!

By all means you reviewed it and it made sense for that time.

The main things I use aliexpres for is small electronics, ie, I wanted a smart thermometer to work with smart life/tuya, amazon/ebay £10-12, aliexpress £3.00 for the exact same product, wifi+bt pci-e card £3.80 etc. Also bought several Bburago f1 models for my son all of which have been legit at about 2/3 of the cost.

I have have also bought a few 'x99' boards and xeon processors on aliexpress and all has been great (was mostly 3 years ago when pc part prices were silly, and I wouldn't bother currently for most cases).

Overall I would say if you know what your looking at its great, and certainly much better than wish/temu.

[Saracen999]

I probably fit in that group Denton mentioned of, except for specific cases, being firmly anti-sub. THe specific cases are where it's a service rather than a product AND, one I expect to use quite a lot, every month. There are cass where the sub model makes sense. For me, it's probably books. For business users, it may be your Office suite, accounting suite, Adobe Creative, etc. If it genuinely is a business expense, then there certainly is an argument for subscriptions. It won't suit all businesses, but probably will suit quite a lot.

But I doubt it'd have suited me, and I retred abou 15 years ago anyway, It certainly doesn't much suit e now.

That said, I still have Prime, because I haven't seen an ad yet, and because I use the Kindle bit, at extra charge. I cancelled the Amazon Music sub about a year ago. The vast bulk of what I want to listen to I have on DVD (or vinyl) and therefore, have as a FLAC. For the odd time I want something quick, the free (with Prime) music option will do. I don't have any other online subscriptions, and I'm trying to wean the Mrs off Virgin TV channels. No success yet, though, but I thnk she's about ready to cut the channel package quite a lot.

Given my way, I'd cut the TV licence too, and quite happily do without (almost) eveyting I might need it for, so, ditch it quite legally. The odd program I might miss and not be able to get elsewhere, after a while, on an on-demand service, I'd just buy the DVDs (if they exist). But it wouldn't be much.

As for Amazon, I said a month or two back that the first ad I see on Prime signifies Prime geting cancelled. I'm still waiting for that ad.

And as for Mr Whose The Boss, I don't remember any of that vid I didn't wholly agree with, including the nature and objective of "reviews", if they are actually reviews which a lot of Youtube "content" isn't.