The hard lessons of lifetime subscriptions
A lifetime subscription sounds like a great deal. It isn’t always. One-time payments with forever benefits are attractive to consumers looking to escape the sea of endless subscriptions, from streaming services to food delivery.
’Til-death-do-us-part deals are catching on in software and other digital services, like language-learning program Babbel and video-sharing platform Nebula, where $599 and $300, respectively, buy a lifetime. Use the subscription long enough, the thinking goes, and you’ll eventually enjoy the product or service for free. But a lifetime isn’t always as long as you think, and beyond the simple math of how many years it takes to come out ahead on the deal, there’s fine print.
The terms can translate to less value than you might have expected. Companies can change benefits after you sign up. And some memberships get discontinued.
“You have to be a very savvy consumer to sign up for something like this, if you’re going to get your money’s worth," said Sally Greenberg, executive director of the advocacy group National Consumers League. Jason Walker bought a lifetime subscription to Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 for $99, when he was 18. Most of the 400-plus print issues he’s received sit on his basement shelves.
Rolling Stone today charges $59.88 for a year’s print subscription, meaning Walker has long since earned his money’s worth. In May, Rolling Stone announced it was switching lifetime subscriptions from print to digital-only. Walker was annoyed.
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