Here’s a hilarious story. For the past three years I’ve been paying $15 a month for an electronic fax service I’ve used… twice. That’s $540. For the same amount, I could have bought 20 rolls of fax paper. Or 10 real working fax machines. Or a plane ticket to Ireland to visit the museum where the world’s first fax machine is on display.

Say hello to the subscription economy, where every business—and I mean every business—moves toward billing you monthly or yearly. That shirt you’re wearing? There’s a subscription for that....