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Issue #206 September 2007
Chronic Subscription Overdose
by Steve Ciarcia
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been trying to clean up my act regarding energy consumption rather than just looking at solar PV as a solution to overconsumption. At the very least, I’ve been looking to see where all this power is being used so that I can economize where applicable. Last month, I commented on my efforts at reducing some of the energy I consume for lighting by adding more CFLs and new AC-powered LEDs.
The irony of specifically looking at my energy costs is that it got me thinking about how I’m spending so much other money living in our communications-saturated world. The reality may be that a few bucks saved on my electric bill are just a drop in the bucket compared to the hidden expenses of all the other communication and information-related products and services I use. Certainly, environmental considerations are high on the list of reasons for installing a home PV electric system, but, if we’re comparing apples to apples about schemes for saving money each month, and for about $60,000 out-of-pocket less, I could save just as much as generating my own electricity if I merely threw out my cell phone or ripped the DIRECTV antenna off the roof. How many more subscription fees do I have that offer equivalent savings?
Yeah, I know that on face value it’s a ridiculous comparison, but it got me thinking about subscription expenses in general—and, I have a confession to make. Before explicitly looking into it for this editorial, I doubt I could tell you exactly what they were with any accuracy.
It’s sort of like your computer system. There was a time when you bought a computer and installed programs that did exactly what you wanted. The programs you bought were discrete and operated independently with no extra charges. Today, they call it feature enhancement, but the end result is a plethora of interactive and interdependent bloatware, installed in the tiniest handheld to the largest desktop, that all seem to require constant maintenance and endless communication-company subscription payments to actually work as described. In fact, I almost lost my cool when the Verizon dealer told me that after paying $350 for a new RAZR phone (when they first came out) I’d also have to subscribe to Verizon’s $5/month cell phone e-mail service if I wanted to actually see the pictures anywhere except on the phone! You’ve got to be kidding.
Absurdities like this hide a greater problem in today’s high-tech environment—chronic subscription overdose (CSO). Virtually everything we do these days involves some monthly or yearly subscription fee. Corporate America has discovered that the recurring revenues generated from small subscription “pin pricks” create large total revenues but, more importantly, a contract-secured customer base. It’s only because we add these obligations incrementally and each seems to be just another small fee that we don’t consider them sinister. Add up all the communications-related services and subscriptions and you will find a classic case of CSO.
I think I lead a rather low-profile existence in our media-overkill world. Everyone seems to have as much text messaging, streaming TV, data and picture exchange, and expensive cell-delivered life fulfillment as battery capacity allows. I just want to make a simple telephone call and don’t bother me with the other stuff—obviously no expensive extravagances there.
Still, I’m a very bad boy when it comes to all the rest of my communication purchases and it was shocking to add it all up. While some might find it curious that I have no online subscriptions at all, the 30 print magazine and four newspaper subscriptions still add up to $1,100 a year. Combine that with four landlines at home, one at the cottage, and two full-time fixed-IP-address DSL lines and you get the picture. In fact, because I have so many uploading devices, I pay $90/month for high-speed DSL at home (which still seems like a snail’s pace compared to what I’d really like to have).
When I look at the communication bills, I admit that my real communication vices are television and satellite subscriptions. Even though I’ve never purchased a pay-per-view program, my DIRECTV bill is $145/month. Satellite TV or not, I also have cable TV at another thousand dollars a year. And, while I don’t walk around with an MP3 appendage like many people these days, I do seem to have satellite radio in the house and in every car where I am. They would have all been XM, but due to exclusive satellite radio deals with some car brands, I get to pay for both XM and Sirius to the tune of $676 a year! To add insult to injury, literally speaking, if I want the BMW Assist (similar to OnStar) to call for help when I rear-end somebody while trying to tune Sirius via my iDrive, it’s another $240 a year, and it’s only for that car!
We’ve all become accustomed to these gadgets and services, but it takes adding them up to realize an insidious case of CSO. In my situation all these little pin pricks added up to $10,098 a year, and this is probably still low compared to many of you. Obviously, any real solution requires a lifestyle change, which in my case, I assure you, will be a hard sell. In the meantime, and more importantly, I guess this exercise points out that no one will ever believe that I’m installing a PV system to save money on my electricity.
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