The washing machine in particular is not a subscription in disguise. You'll only pay (a well defined price) when the machine actually breaks (in a way that is not economical to repair), and you are free to choose any provider, with no pressure or default to just buy the same brand again. Especially if the machine asked for a "renewal" too early for your taste, you're probably not going with them again. They have to sell to you again.
With a subscription, by doing nothing you just keep paying to the same company in perpetuity. You even keep paying if you stop using the product unless you actively cancel. The company sells to you by default, not by convincing you to make an active decision for them.
A washing machine is also a big purchase that you'll probably spend some time to think through to some extent, much more than you will with your Netflix subscription - despite being quite small compared to typical subscriptions! A $600 washing machine that lasts 8 years is $6.25 per month. The subscription models are generally abused to charge way more for a product by making the payment seem small to people who are bad with money. A subscription washing machine would likely be "only" $3.99 per week...
For example, at rent-a-center a washing machine that costs $520 at Best Buy costs $1223.28 if you pay it off as planned (and I believe their business model also revolves around preying on people who miss payments).
Phones are also commonly sold as part of mobile plans, where you pay approximately the purchase price of the phone each year.
That's why most people who do the math hate subscriptions: They realize that they're now asked to pay 2-3x (and often even more) of what they were paying previously (or would typically be paying without a subscription model).
With a subscription, by doing nothing you just keep paying to the same company in perpetuity. You even keep paying if you stop using the product unless you actively cancel. The company sells to you by default, not by convincing you to make an active decision for them.
A washing machine is also a big purchase that you'll probably spend some time to think through to some extent, much more than you will with your Netflix subscription - despite being quite small compared to typical subscriptions! A $600 washing machine that lasts 8 years is $6.25 per month. The subscription models are generally abused to charge way more for a product by making the payment seem small to people who are bad with money. A subscription washing machine would likely be "only" $3.99 per week...
For example, at rent-a-center a washing machine that costs $520 at Best Buy costs $1223.28 if you pay it off as planned (and I believe their business model also revolves around preying on people who miss payments).
Phones are also commonly sold as part of mobile plans, where you pay approximately the purchase price of the phone each year.
That's why most people who do the math hate subscriptions: They realize that they're now asked to pay 2-3x (and often even more) of what they were paying previously (or would typically be paying without a subscription model).