Tech Friday: The subscription models and the 180K threshold
Posted By RichC on January 17, 2020
Back in the late 1980s when I was starting in the commercial printing and eventually ‘small time’ publishing business (Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co), I didn’t realize how far ahead of the game we were when focusing on the subscription model. Early on we were able to capitalize on few people in the printing industry being computer savvy, so when Aldus Pagemaker (now Adobe) and the Apple Macintosh computer came out, I was able to build “newsletter” templates for customers who were told to stay in touch and/or market to their customers with regular mailings. This was before email or the world wide web, so correspondence was either in person
(sales calls) or by using the phone or mail. Eventually we had a decent string of regularly published newsletters and just needed the fresh content to fill the pages (fill the templates).
Fast forward 30 years and the subscription business model has taken over when it comes to technology. Now we pay monthly or yearly for our internet connection and wireless, our software licenses and hardware. We pay for cloud subscriptions that offer everything from online apps to data storage and virus detection. 
Magazines and newspapers are still focused on the subscription model too … but are likely delivered as digital content to a phone, tablet or connected computer device rather than printed on paper. Music, audio and video that were once purchased on vinyl, tape, cds, dvd or digital files, are now subscribed to with any number of streaming services which automatically bill monthly or annually. The number of subscriptions continue to rise and are likely straining tight budgets.
Do you want to eat this month or pay for your subscriptions? Where is your limit?
On a lighter note, my 2010 BMW X5 35d is ready for some service as it has just rolled past 180,000 miles … unless odometers no longer roll?
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