I've noticed the subscription trend has been on a tear lately. Whether it's for software you've already purchased, features for a car you've already bought, or even just going to the movie theater. They get ever more ridiculous and I find it rather fascinating.
I can only assume subscription services are such a popular offering because the revenue generated by a single sale may not be seen as particularly valuable. A predictable cash flow on the other hand, is incredibly valuable as it's the basis for the valuation of a company. As equities start to replace many of the functions of money, it follows that the incentives of the executives would flow down to the affect the customer - and there are the subscriptions. (By the way, have you noticed you can send stock shares via cashapp rather than, you know, cash?) This increasing value of equities as money means that predictable cash flow schemes for the business (automatically inflation adjusted at renewal!) becomes more valuable than actually making a sale today, so what's better than selling a premium feature once? Having a recurring subscription charge on the books.
Is this subscription trend another result of a deteriorating monetary system, or is it just the latest craze to hit corporate America? How much further can it go?