This is the public face of startups. And it’s getting embarrassing.
July 19, 2017 1:20 PM Subscribe
I gotta ask, what's the absolute maximum number of dog collars you'd like to buy this year? Probably less than twelve?
In a lighthearted column, Adam Ozimek turns a beady eye on the wave of start-up subscription services and what they may reveal about the state of tech investment world.
I agree with the premise of the article, but I also love my subscription toothbrush.
posted by tofu_crouton at 1:29 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tofu_crouton at 1:29 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
There are definitely some crazy subscription products out there. I got my brother-in-law a peanut butter & jelly of-the-month subscription which I think was a fun gift if not the best value for the dollar. But getcairn.com for a camping gear subscription? Even though $30 a month isn't crazy, who wants random camping gear? My camping gear needs are fairly specific.
I suspect these services do well while the economy is on an upswing but a little economic contraction and they'll all evaporate.
posted by GuyZero at 1:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
I suspect these services do well while the economy is on an upswing but a little economic contraction and they'll all evaporate.
posted by GuyZero at 1:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
If y'all wanna get REALLY frustrated and terrified about our obvious, impending crash, I dare you to look up Initial Coin Offerings.
posted by penduluum at 1:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by penduluum at 1:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
There's an awful lot of "people spend their money on stuff I wouldn't choose to spend my money on and that's bad somehow" going on in that article. I'm not sure why a box of local stuff showing up every month or two is a "self-evidently bad" idea. And the Amazon thing, far as I can tell, isn't even a subscription, it's a sampler, which is an entirely different thing.
It also seems like a pretty big leap from "this is one example of an odd and seemingly unsustainable business model" to "we're in a tech bubble!"
posted by brentajones at 1:36 PM on July 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
It also seems like a pretty big leap from "this is one example of an odd and seemingly unsustainable business model" to "we're in a tech bubble!"
posted by brentajones at 1:36 PM on July 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
How are subscription boxes part of a "tech" industry? Fundamentally, you're collecting a list of addresses and credit card numbers, then selecting a product or basket of products and shipping it. There's a logistics element (presumably you're leveraging access to a cheaper-than-retail channel and outsourcing the packaging/shipping part), but that's not particularly technical. At best, it's a new industry arising from the kinds of business models Amazon/Alibaba/etc. make possible, and of course people are going to try stupid stuff in the course of figuring out what works in that industry.
Also, are these subscription box companies attracting a lot of investment?
posted by five toed sloth at 1:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
Also, are these subscription box companies attracting a lot of investment?
posted by five toed sloth at 1:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
How are subscription boxes part of a "tech" industry
How are jittney cabs part of tech or how is a slightly better version of a meal replacement drink for the bedridden part of tech etc etc.
Literally every small business is a tech startup these days.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by GuyZero at 1:40 PM on July 19, 2017 [26 favorites]
How are jittney cabs part of tech or how is a slightly better version of a meal replacement drink for the bedridden part of tech etc etc.
Literally every small business is a tech startup these days.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by GuyZero at 1:40 PM on July 19, 2017 [26 favorites]
presumably you're leveraging access to a cheaper-than-retail channel
I suspect, but I do not know, that the manufacturers either provides their products at a deep discount, for free or possibly even pay to play as some of these subscription services are basically marketing channels for their products. Consumers get the product, try it and some percentage of them will buy more. It's basically customer acquisition.
It's quite possible that these services proliferate because they make good money from the actual product manufacturers and the subscription fee is just to separate the potential actual buyers from people just looking for freebies.
posted by GuyZero at 1:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
I suspect, but I do not know, that the manufacturers either provides their products at a deep discount, for free or possibly even pay to play as some of these subscription services are basically marketing channels for their products. Consumers get the product, try it and some percentage of them will buy more. It's basically customer acquisition.
It's quite possible that these services proliferate because they make good money from the actual product manufacturers and the subscription fee is just to separate the potential actual buyers from people just looking for freebies.
posted by GuyZero at 1:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
Also, are these subscription box companies attracting a lot of investment?
$90 million from 21 venture capital investors with a valuation of $485 million, for Birchbox. Only a half-unicorn, but not bad for sending-boxes-of-shit-through-the-mail. Blue Apron, the sending-dinner-through-the-mail startup, is down below $2 billion from a pre-IPO high of $3 billion.
posted by Diablevert at 1:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Even vaguely remembering the ThingWithNoFunctionality.OperatingAsAStandAloneWebsite.WithNoMonetizationPlans.com/PleaseSendUsCash/ business implosion of the early 2000's, I'm getting a disturbingly similar vibe.
posted by Slackermagee at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by Slackermagee at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [12 favorites]
Also, are these subscription box companies attracting a lot of investment?
They may actually be the tech bro equivalent of declaring yourself a self employed hairdresser when on the dole. It's not going to actually make you rich or even earn a living, but it will get you all sorts of government bennies (or investor capital in this case) that you couldn't get when unemployed and it's much better than being badgered to death by a hostile bureaucracy.
On the other side of the problem is of course the overwhelming surplus of cash that needs to be wasted not paying people decent wages and what better way to do so than investing in obviously DOA "tech" startups?
And who knows, perhaps the horse will learn to sing.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
They may actually be the tech bro equivalent of declaring yourself a self employed hairdresser when on the dole. It's not going to actually make you rich or even earn a living, but it will get you all sorts of government bennies (or investor capital in this case) that you couldn't get when unemployed and it's much better than being badgered to death by a hostile bureaucracy.
On the other side of the problem is of course the overwhelming surplus of cash that needs to be wasted not paying people decent wages and what better way to do so than investing in obviously DOA "tech" startups?
And who knows, perhaps the horse will learn to sing.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
These subscription services are rarely "start-ups" let alone "tech companies" - they are on par with one or two dudes trying their hand at drop-shipping products from Alibaba and eeking out a profit, or getting in on the affiliate marketing/SEO boom of the mid 2000's where you create a niche blog filled with affiliate ads.
It's usually one or two people with an entrepreneurial itch trying their hand at subscription box marketing and maybe hitting it big and becoming the next Dollar Shave or Birchbox - miles from "tech start ups" and closer to "person in their garage".
posted by windbox at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
It's usually one or two people with an entrepreneurial itch trying their hand at subscription box marketing and maybe hitting it big and becoming the next Dollar Shave or Birchbox - miles from "tech start ups" and closer to "person in their garage".
posted by windbox at 1:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
Initial Coin Offerings sound like they should only be available in Nevada.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm just throwing this out there, but I feel like that article really underestimates how awesome it is to get a box of something in the mail! OOH IS IT FOR ME WHAT IS IT
It's not just about the stuff in the box. It's about the experience of getting a fun surprise every month.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:53 PM on July 19, 2017 [25 favorites]
It's not just about the stuff in the box. It's about the experience of getting a fun surprise every month.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:53 PM on July 19, 2017 [25 favorites]
I bet the mark-up on the content of these boxes is incredible. I mean, Loot Crate is just tat from the back of a warehouse crammed into a box for people who are not known for their discernment when it comes to merch. Gotta be what, 500, 600% more than cost?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:57 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:57 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am a happy subscriber to Field Notes even though I already have many more notebooks than I will ever fill. And I place the blame squarely on MetaFilter, which served me FN's ads via the late lamented The Deck. Also, I have long been a sucker for archly faux nostalgic copy, which mode FN has mastered. I've bought things from J. Peterman, for my sins!
posted by chavenet at 1:58 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 1:58 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
Coming from the world of knitting, as I do, this article is really weird. Like, none of these subscription box sellers has been accused of faking their own death in order to avoid meeting their commitments or anything interesting. People sell dumb stuff on subscription plans, where's the drama?
posted by jacquilynne at 2:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [43 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 2:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [43 favorites]
Just wait till the video game industry gets in on this. Digital subscription box. I can see Blizzard doing this, every month a few random toys for their games, WoW, Diablo, StarCraft.
posted by Beholder at 2:05 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Beholder at 2:05 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
The next bubble is going to be the bubble bubble; people attacking business models they don't understand or don't think are viable long term as wildly overinflated. As others have noted above, subscription services aren't really tech companies. I won't argue that the tech industry isn't overvalued, but my monthly box of nesting dolls or Spartacus memorabilia is about as relevant to the tech industry as restaurants or dry cleaning.
posted by Query at 2:06 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Query at 2:06 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Wow, this guy is such a sourpuss and his list of 'bad ideas for subscription boxes' is in no way necessarily justified. Seriously, he thinks a box of stuff for parrots is a bad box? Well then DON'T GET A PARROT, SMEGHEAD.
I subscribed to Birchbox for a year and, while I gave a lot of makeup away, the monthly surprise parcel did a huge amount for my mood, and I'm actually looking for another UK box in the same price range that isn't makeup, for the same reason. Subscription boxes are great.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 2:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
I subscribed to Birchbox for a year and, while I gave a lot of makeup away, the monthly surprise parcel did a huge amount for my mood, and I'm actually looking for another UK box in the same price range that isn't makeup, for the same reason. Subscription boxes are great.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 2:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
Reading the article in the OP, I had a real "one of these things is not like the others" feeling when they got to GoLocalBox. It features a monthly shipment of 4-6 items by small local businesses in Louisville, KY. Here's a sample box and its contents.
I actually think this is a good idea. It's like someone picking a few things from their local farmer's market and sending them to you to try once a month. And they were mostly consumables I could see a household using up in a reasonably quick fashion.
That's not like a dog collar of the month club, and it was lazy writing to throw that one in there.
(Haha jacquilynne, now I am thinking of a couple of the yarn subscription scandals that have rocked Ravelry over the last few years, especially the faked death one! So much drama.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
I actually think this is a good idea. It's like someone picking a few things from their local farmer's market and sending them to you to try once a month. And they were mostly consumables I could see a household using up in a reasonably quick fashion.
That's not like a dog collar of the month club, and it was lazy writing to throw that one in there.
(Haha jacquilynne, now I am thinking of a couple of the yarn subscription scandals that have rocked Ravelry over the last few years, especially the faked death one! So much drama.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
Autumnheart: I'm just throwing this out there, but I feel like that article really underestimates how awesome it is to get a box of something in the mail! OOH IS IT FOR ME WHAT IS IT
I get that experience by buying cheap stuff from China on Ebay. By the time it arrives, I have forgotten what it is. Ooh, surprise time!
posted by clawsoon at 2:08 PM on July 19, 2017 [15 favorites]
I get that experience by buying cheap stuff from China on Ebay. By the time it arrives, I have forgotten what it is. Ooh, surprise time!
posted by clawsoon at 2:08 PM on July 19, 2017 [15 favorites]
I mean, Loot Crate is just tat from the back of a warehouse crammed into a box for people who are not known for their discernment when it comes to merch. Gotta be what, 500, 600% more than cost?
Really they should be selling a monthly delivery of feeling superior to people who bought something you wouldn't, think of the markup people would pay on THAT.
I've gotten loot crate. It's fun. I got some stuff that I think is cool, some stuff that I didn't, and some fun puzzle things to do with both. All for about what the fun stuff would cost at a retail shop.
Plus, it was like my birthday every month for the three months I got the subscription for.
posted by Gygesringtone at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Really they should be selling a monthly delivery of feeling superior to people who bought something you wouldn't, think of the markup people would pay on THAT.
I've gotten loot crate. It's fun. I got some stuff that I think is cool, some stuff that I didn't, and some fun puzzle things to do with both. All for about what the fun stuff would cost at a retail shop.
Plus, it was like my birthday every month for the three months I got the subscription for.
posted by Gygesringtone at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Wait, what, there's a fake death drama in the world of yarn subscription services? Has this been an FPP yet? (And that's only one of the dramas??)
posted by clawsoon at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2017 [26 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2017 [26 favorites]
I mean, woot.com used to sell bags of "Random Crap" and it would crash their site at midnight it was so popular.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:14 PM on July 19, 2017 [24 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:14 PM on July 19, 2017 [24 favorites]
Aw, the subscription dog box offered by my semi-celebrity former employers is not on the list, nor at the Subscription Addiction website. I'm gonna assume that's because it... went to live on a farm upstate, not because it was a good idea.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:15 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:15 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
That's not like a dog collar of the month club, and it was lazy writing to throw that one in there.
Even that was a bad argument. There are a lot of dog owners who see collars as fashion for their pets, and as such a collar box that's reasonably priced would be something of interest to such an owner.
A lot of his "this is a bad idea!" argument say more about his worldview than the idea's quality.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:21 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Even that was a bad argument. There are a lot of dog owners who see collars as fashion for their pets, and as such a collar box that's reasonably priced would be something of interest to such an owner.
A lot of his "this is a bad idea!" argument say more about his worldview than the idea's quality.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:21 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
People sell dumb stuff on subscription plans, where's the drama?
You have to pay extra for the drama, jacquilynne. The random sampler box is drama free at a low, low price. If you upgrade to the Premium Experience Subscription, the drama will come to you. Ooh, did you get a live scorpion in your box this month? Our bad. Not sure how that happened, but hey, check your T&Cs. Scorpions are an act of God.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:22 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
You have to pay extra for the drama, jacquilynne. The random sampler box is drama free at a low, low price. If you upgrade to the Premium Experience Subscription, the drama will come to you. Ooh, did you get a live scorpion in your box this month? Our bad. Not sure how that happened, but hey, check your T&Cs. Scorpions are an act of God.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:22 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Here are a couple of yarn drama links:
Goth Socks
MCY
posted by jacquilynne at 2:24 PM on July 19, 2017 [12 favorites]
Goth Socks
MCY
posted by jacquilynne at 2:24 PM on July 19, 2017 [12 favorites]
As opposed to hagfish spills, which are an act of cod.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:24 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:24 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
I gotta ask, what's the absolute maximum number of dog collars you'd like to buy this year? Probably less than twelve?
Mayyyyyybe the dog collars aren't all being used on, y'know...dogs?
posted by Thorzdad at 2:26 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
Mayyyyyybe the dog collars aren't all being used on, y'know...dogs?
posted by Thorzdad at 2:26 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
Yeah there are really two categories to these. There's stuff like Birchbox and Blue Apron with huge valuations and major infrastructure, and there are a ton of "lifestyle businesses" that are a handful of people who put something together because they thought it would be useful and fun. These things are generally bootstrapped and have little to no investment. You can probably start and promote one of these things for less than it costs to open a Subway franchise. Nobody is running these in the hope of a massive IPO and a billion dollar exit; they're either profitable and you keep going, unprofitable and you shut them down, and eventually maybe you get tired of it and sell for a modest multiplier and move on to something else.
And honestly, more lifestyle businesses are a good thing in tech (though I also question the "techiness" of most subscription services. The cheese of the month club existed long before the internet, not to mention the milk man). There are plenty of perfectly good ideas in tech that aren't ever going to be $500 million businesses, but are well worth doing. They don't get the attention of the big unicorns, but it's a good thing to have some businesses out there that are still considered successes if they don't have 100 million active users.
posted by zachlipton at 2:27 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
And honestly, more lifestyle businesses are a good thing in tech (though I also question the "techiness" of most subscription services. The cheese of the month club existed long before the internet, not to mention the milk man). There are plenty of perfectly good ideas in tech that aren't ever going to be $500 million businesses, but are well worth doing. They don't get the attention of the big unicorns, but it's a good thing to have some businesses out there that are still considered successes if they don't have 100 million active users.
posted by zachlipton at 2:27 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
Mayyyyyybe the dog collars aren't all being used on, y'know...dogs?
haha you can't put dog collars on cats
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [51 favorites]
haha you can't put dog collars on cats
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [51 favorites]
Also in the mix are subscriptions opportunities for non tangible goods- like John Deere's recurring model for data & analytics
posted by merryum at 2:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by merryum at 2:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I got given a Loot Crate subscription for Christmas last year and was so glad when it finally ended. I'm a giant nerd, and my grand total take from six months of Loot Crate that were things I would have paid money for of my own volition? One t-shirt. Even just appreciating the six months' worth of shirts would have required you to be the sort of nerd whose tastes covered Mario, Power Rangers, Overwatch, Stranger Things, Goonies, and Mr. Robot. If I'd had it for the six months before that, there would have been a couple more things I would have liked--but nowhere close to a 100% hit rate.
I get the appeal of getting Stuff in the mail, whether at regular or irregular intervals, but it seems like what they really are is a way of validating that you fit into some particular subculture that this subscription is aimed at. If you fit in that group, you get cool stuff AND the reassurance that you fit into this group. If you almost-but-don't-quite-fit, they're terrible because you spend six months hoping every month that the reference to X-files in the promo will mean it's an X-files shirt--sorry, no, the X-files stuff in this box consists of some pencils, better luck next month.
posted by Sequence at 2:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
I get the appeal of getting Stuff in the mail, whether at regular or irregular intervals, but it seems like what they really are is a way of validating that you fit into some particular subculture that this subscription is aimed at. If you fit in that group, you get cool stuff AND the reassurance that you fit into this group. If you almost-but-don't-quite-fit, they're terrible because you spend six months hoping every month that the reference to X-files in the promo will mean it's an X-files shirt--sorry, no, the X-files stuff in this box consists of some pencils, better luck next month.
posted by Sequence at 2:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [9 favorites]
I am in the process of starting a farm (apples, strawberries, squash so far), and this conversation has made me want to start a dry bean club. A half pound of a new type of dried beans every month. I could include recipes.
Let me know if you want this since I currently only grow 3 types of dry beans.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [44 favorites]
Let me know if you want this since I currently only grow 3 types of dry beans.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [44 favorites]
HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I THINK YOU SHOULD GROW MORE TYPES OF BEANS.
posted by zachlipton at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [84 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 2:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [84 favorites]
MCY is the yarn drama that came to my mind when I read jacquilynne's post too!
Last summer for my birthday, I received a 3 month subscription to the ArtSnacks box. It was pretty freakin' awesome. Fun stuff in the mail! New art supplies! Try out that new paint or pen everyone is raving about! Online community to join and unboxing videos if that's your thing! Find out you really hate Yupo without having to buy a whole pad!
Most of the supplies from ArtSnacks are ephemeral (can be used up), which suits me very well, but they did send a really nice mechanical pencil I'm quite fond of.
I enjoyed it. I might ask for that as a gift again for Christmas this year maybe.
posted by Squeak Attack at 2:36 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Last summer for my birthday, I received a 3 month subscription to the ArtSnacks box. It was pretty freakin' awesome. Fun stuff in the mail! New art supplies! Try out that new paint or pen everyone is raving about! Online community to join and unboxing videos if that's your thing! Find out you really hate Yupo without having to buy a whole pad!
Most of the supplies from ArtSnacks are ephemeral (can be used up), which suits me very well, but they did send a really nice mechanical pencil I'm quite fond of.
I enjoyed it. I might ask for that as a gift again for Christmas this year maybe.
posted by Squeak Attack at 2:36 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also in the mix are subscriptions opportunities for non tangible goods- like John Deere's recurring model for data & analytics
The transition from product revenue to services revenue is part of how every large business grows. Managing it properly may be the differentiating factor between large business that live or die.
But I don't think subscription boxes are really a service like hiring a consultant. It's high-end opt-in marketing.
posted by GuyZero at 2:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
The transition from product revenue to services revenue is part of how every large business grows. Managing it properly may be the differentiating factor between large business that live or die.
But I don't think subscription boxes are really a service like hiring a consultant. It's high-end opt-in marketing.
posted by GuyZero at 2:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
I subscribed to cat litter on Amazon.
Life changing. For all three of us.
posted by carsonb at 2:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [11 favorites]
Life changing. For all three of us.
posted by carsonb at 2:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [11 favorites]
I bought my partner a 6-month subscription to BoxyCharm, which is a makeup box that uses full-size products (most services use samples). She liked it! But at the end of the 6 months I added it up and I mean ... if I'd just given her the money (or a Sephora gift card or whatever) she would have ended up with a lot more stuff she actually wants or will use.
Is the surprise element, the "gifty" experience of receiving a mystery in the mail and the chance of discovering something you might like, worth the overhead, the lost value on the stuff you don't like? Obviously it is for a lot of people. These companies are attracting significant amounts of investor money betting on their models. But for people like me ... I don't know. The amount of money I have to spend on luxury goods, on fun stuff, is limited. I'd rather target it with specificity, and get exactly what I want (or give someone else exactly what they want). If $x/month didn't matter to me as much, if I didn't feel that expense as much, I might feel otherwise.
posted by penduluum at 2:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Is the surprise element, the "gifty" experience of receiving a mystery in the mail and the chance of discovering something you might like, worth the overhead, the lost value on the stuff you don't like? Obviously it is for a lot of people. These companies are attracting significant amounts of investor money betting on their models. But for people like me ... I don't know. The amount of money I have to spend on luxury goods, on fun stuff, is limited. I'd rather target it with specificity, and get exactly what I want (or give someone else exactly what they want). If $x/month didn't matter to me as much, if I didn't feel that expense as much, I might feel otherwise.
posted by penduluum at 2:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Just wait till the video game industry gets in on this. Digital subscription box.
Ahem.
(To be fair, HumbleBundle does pretty good stuff and the only reason I don't subscribe to this is that I like the treasure-hunt aspect of bargain game buying, often more than I like the games themselves.)
posted by suetanvil at 2:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Ahem.
(To be fair, HumbleBundle does pretty good stuff and the only reason I don't subscribe to this is that I like the treasure-hunt aspect of bargain game buying, often more than I like the games themselves.)
posted by suetanvil at 2:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Oh wow the Goth Socks story is so sad! I guess I was expecting funny. I hope she is ok.
Anyway a cautionary tale for me and my beans.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:47 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Anyway a cautionary tale for me and my beans.
posted by Emmy Rae at 2:47 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
The only time these services bother me is when the drunken VC gambling floods enough money into a bomb that it can do damage to pre-existing responsible businesses before the inevitable demise.
We need more examples of modest businesses which aren't going to change the world but will profitably create jobs and satisfied customers to balance out all of the startup lotto mythology.
posted by adamsc at 2:50 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
We need more examples of modest businesses which aren't going to change the world but will profitably create jobs and satisfied customers to balance out all of the startup lotto mythology.
posted by adamsc at 2:50 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I don't think it's that these are necessarily bad business models, only that they can be wildly overvalued. Is Blue Apron really worth billions of dollars? Not to mention the horrible working conditions.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
A half pound of a new type of dried beans every month. I could include recipes.
Forget beans, I know a lot of people who would like the inside track on whatever is going to be the next Quinoa.
posted by biffa at 2:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Forget beans, I know a lot of people who would like the inside track on whatever is going to be the next Quinoa.
posted by biffa at 2:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mayyyyyybe the dog collars aren't all being used on, y'know...dogs?
Oddly enough, when I saw the headline my initial thought was it meant dog collars worn by vicars.
Maybe it still does.
posted by biffa at 2:55 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oddly enough, when I saw the headline my initial thought was it meant dog collars worn by vicars.
Maybe it still does.
posted by biffa at 2:55 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
The yarn-dyer stories have an eerie similarity to doomed Kickstarters: a project gets way, way bigger and more popular than intended, and the production and fulfillment processes aren't able to keep up. The drama comes from their disastrously poor handling of this mistake, mostly.
(The same failing is something which gets discussed a fair bit in the homebrewer community, and probably all other sorts of homecrafting groups. Whenever someone suggests that someone else — or worse yet themselves — has talent that needs to transition from small-time homebrewing into profitable craft-brew, some realist always needs to come forward with the warning that industrial-scale production and distribution, even small-time industrial-scale, is an entirely different beast, both logistically and financially, than even a very active hobby. Which is not to say the transition's not possible, but there's a lot more to it than "do the same things, just bigger and faster".)
posted by jackbishop at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
(The same failing is something which gets discussed a fair bit in the homebrewer community, and probably all other sorts of homecrafting groups. Whenever someone suggests that someone else — or worse yet themselves — has talent that needs to transition from small-time homebrewing into profitable craft-brew, some realist always needs to come forward with the warning that industrial-scale production and distribution, even small-time industrial-scale, is an entirely different beast, both logistically and financially, than even a very active hobby. Which is not to say the transition's not possible, but there's a lot more to it than "do the same things, just bigger and faster".)
posted by jackbishop at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
@biffa Have lentils come back yet?
Sorry Emmy, I don't know. I guess I just don't have my finger on the pulse.
posted by biffa at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [40 favorites]
Sorry Emmy, I don't know. I guess I just don't have my finger on the pulse.
posted by biffa at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [40 favorites]
These beans you speak of ... Can one, er, put them on a plate?
posted by chavenet at 3:01 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:01 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
guys, i keep subscribing to these various monthly boxes but the gnawing emptiness in my life isn't being filled; is... i-is it possible that amassing material possessions isn't the path to happiness?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:01 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 3:01 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
Back in the day I mailed in a single penny and I got 11 albums. I could cancel at any time. It wasn't bad. The albums I selected, however ... yeesh.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:04 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:04 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
I imagine most of these startups won't amount to a hill of beenz.
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 3:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Birchbox on mefi projects: it got one comment, and that comment was none too positive.
I gotta admit, I love subscription boxes. I love the surprise aspect and, done well (with types of products that brands are willing to provide cheaply for PR, like beauty samples, or with products like barkbox's that are mostly made in-house, and definitely for products that are consumable or collectible) they aren't a bad value. I just wish I could also easily buy those boxes (and other subscription-only products like blue apron) on a one-time basis if I wanted to, too.
posted by R a c h e l at 3:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [34 favorites]
I gotta admit, I love subscription boxes. I love the surprise aspect and, done well (with types of products that brands are willing to provide cheaply for PR, like beauty samples, or with products like barkbox's that are mostly made in-house, and definitely for products that are consumable or collectible) they aren't a bad value. I just wish I could also easily buy those boxes (and other subscription-only products like blue apron) on a one-time basis if I wanted to, too.
posted by R a c h e l at 3:35 PM on July 19, 2017 [34 favorites]
I just wish I could also easily buy those boxes (and other subscription-only products like blue apron) on a one-time basis if I wanted to, too.
Just as you can subscribe to The Economist for a tiny fraction of buying it on the newsstand, these companies don't care about getting more volume of sample shipped per se - they want more subscribers. It's by getting more subscribers that they get more advertiser interest or bigger buying discounts. So offering one-off boxes totally goes against their actual business model.
posted by GuyZero at 3:39 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Just as you can subscribe to The Economist for a tiny fraction of buying it on the newsstand, these companies don't care about getting more volume of sample shipped per se - they want more subscribers. It's by getting more subscribers that they get more advertiser interest or bigger buying discounts. So offering one-off boxes totally goes against their actual business model.
posted by GuyZero at 3:39 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Birchbox on mefi projects: it got one comment, and that comment was none too positive.
Also: amazing find. That's some peak Metafilter right there.
posted by GuyZero at 3:40 PM on July 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
Also: amazing find. That's some peak Metafilter right there.
posted by GuyZero at 3:40 PM on July 19, 2017 [14 favorites]
TuTu Royal is a monthly delivery of princess dresses, tutu’s, tiaras and tools of STEM empowerment.
Um, one of these things is not like the others
posted by mudpuppie at 3:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Um, one of these things is not like the others
posted by mudpuppie at 3:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Yeah, the point is the recurring charge because some people will just forgot to cancel their subscription (when my grandmother died in 2013 or so we found she'd been paying for a random AOL account since 1999) and that's a stream of basically-free money coming in for sending out a box of random crap.
And things like this are why I think the movie Her is so prescient even if it gets lost in a haze of Manic Pixie Dream Computer: offer people a simulacrum of actual human interaction (mom sends me care packages but nobody nags me about having kids!) without the pesky friction of actual human interaction and people will eat it up.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:47 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
And things like this are why I think the movie Her is so prescient even if it gets lost in a haze of Manic Pixie Dream Computer: offer people a simulacrum of actual human interaction (mom sends me care packages but nobody nags me about having kids!) without the pesky friction of actual human interaction and people will eat it up.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:47 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
Is there a trend/image subscription service for people who want to stay ahead of the pack but don't otherwise have the energy or access to keep their images burnished?
The subscription service could ask you how you see yourself. Questionnaires. Personal inventories. Maybe you see yourself as a street philosopher, a sexy fashion trendsetter, whatever. You are really telling the subscription service how you want others to think of you.
Then every month, you get a box of stuff to help you show others what you're really like. Maybe there's a new book that all the cool kids are reading, a cool old book that will look great on your shelves, some wearable fashion accessory, a USB stick with some interesting media to consume, a printed copy of an academic journal all the smart kids are carrying, a trade journal, an old vinyl record you have to own and learn, some sciency thing you can build or fiddle with to make you feel as if you're smarter that way, something you can put on a wall or shelf or desk to show how smart you are in the particular way you want to be seen as smart, some foreign stuff to at least make you feel a little more cosmopolitan, etc. Print an vinyl stuff could all be used or shopworn -- you want everything to look owned and read.
And you get a pile of advertisements for stuff a person like you is likely to buy, maybe with some stuff in the catalogs actually circled by your own image coach. "Buy this to keep up your image," they're telling you.
They would need trend spotters and stuff buyers and customer-stuff matchers. And they would have to randomize some of the stuff in each box, so people weren't all getting exactly the same things their image-conscious friends got in their own boxes. You get one old vinyl record and your friend gets another, for example.
posted by pracowity at 3:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
The subscription service could ask you how you see yourself. Questionnaires. Personal inventories. Maybe you see yourself as a street philosopher, a sexy fashion trendsetter, whatever. You are really telling the subscription service how you want others to think of you.
Then every month, you get a box of stuff to help you show others what you're really like. Maybe there's a new book that all the cool kids are reading, a cool old book that will look great on your shelves, some wearable fashion accessory, a USB stick with some interesting media to consume, a printed copy of an academic journal all the smart kids are carrying, a trade journal, an old vinyl record you have to own and learn, some sciency thing you can build or fiddle with to make you feel as if you're smarter that way, something you can put on a wall or shelf or desk to show how smart you are in the particular way you want to be seen as smart, some foreign stuff to at least make you feel a little more cosmopolitan, etc. Print an vinyl stuff could all be used or shopworn -- you want everything to look owned and read.
And you get a pile of advertisements for stuff a person like you is likely to buy, maybe with some stuff in the catalogs actually circled by your own image coach. "Buy this to keep up your image," they're telling you.
They would need trend spotters and stuff buyers and customer-stuff matchers. And they would have to randomize some of the stuff in each box, so people weren't all getting exactly the same things their image-conscious friends got in their own boxes. You get one old vinyl record and your friend gets another, for example.
posted by pracowity at 3:56 PM on July 19, 2017 [8 favorites]
Mayyyyyybe the dog collars aren't all being used on, y'know...dogs?
Okay but how many slaves do you need, really? Three, four? More than that and it starts to become unmanageable.
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Okay but how many slaves do you need, really? Three, four? More than that and it starts to become unmanageable.
posted by dephlogisticated at 4:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Is there a subscription service for subscription services yet? Because it seems like there are a lot of subscription services and not everyone has the energy or access to keep track of them all. So you'd subscribe and they'd just send you stuff from a different subscription service every month. If you liked what you got, you could go subscribe to that service too.
posted by zachlipton at 4:06 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by zachlipton at 4:06 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
R a c h e l: Birchbox on mefi projects: it got one comment, and that comment was none too positive.
Metafilter: "Ehn, here's two votes. Too pink."
Venture capitalists: "Here's $90 million! Love the pink!"
posted by clawsoon at 4:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
Metafilter: "Ehn, here's two votes. Too pink."
Venture capitalists: "Here's $90 million! Love the pink!"
posted by clawsoon at 4:07 PM on July 19, 2017 [10 favorites]
snickerdoodle of Birchbox is still an active poster here. This thread totally deserves a "told you so."
posted by clawsoon at 4:10 PM on July 19, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 4:10 PM on July 19, 2017 [19 favorites]
Okay but how many slaves do you need, really? Three, four? More than that and it starts to become unmanageable.
You don't have to be a slave to wear a collar. Maybe these individuals are into the furry lifestyle and it's for their cosplay/fandom.
posted by Fizz at 4:12 PM on July 19, 2017
You don't have to be a slave to wear a collar. Maybe these individuals are into the furry lifestyle and it's for their cosplay/fandom.
posted by Fizz at 4:12 PM on July 19, 2017
I'm in tech, but not in Tech, so help me out here: somewhere along the line, don't any of these guys with millions of VC dollars ask the question, "but will it make any money?" Like, didn't that used to be a feature? How many of these pointless companies actually do?
posted by klanawa at 4:29 PM on July 19, 2017
posted by klanawa at 4:29 PM on July 19, 2017
"Tools of STEM Empowerment" is my new band name.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:31 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
"but will it make any money?" Like, didn't that used to be a feature? How many of these pointless companies actually do?
Of course these people have plans to make money. But the VC model is also based on not every bet being a winner. It's based on most bets not being winners. So the money-making plans don't need to be that great. And mid-tier VCs make their own money based on how much LP money they manage and have goals for a certain amount of companies funded per year so they may not even have financial incentive to pick winners. They just need to pick *someone*.
posted by GuyZero at 4:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Of course these people have plans to make money. But the VC model is also based on not every bet being a winner. It's based on most bets not being winners. So the money-making plans don't need to be that great. And mid-tier VCs make their own money based on how much LP money they manage and have goals for a certain amount of companies funded per year so they may not even have financial incentive to pick winners. They just need to pick *someone*.
posted by GuyZero at 4:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Has anybody done CraftBeerBox yet?
It would run into all sorts of legal issues, but I'm sure they could be disrupted around.
posted by clawsoon at 4:47 PM on July 19, 2017
It would run into all sorts of legal issues, but I'm sure they could be disrupted around.
posted by clawsoon at 4:47 PM on July 19, 2017
http://www.beermonthclub.com/ - Microbrewed craft beers.
And although it's pretty bougie, tons of people belong to wine clubs. I may be one of them.
posted by GuyZero at 4:50 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
And although it's pretty bougie, tons of people belong to wine clubs. I may be one of them.
posted by GuyZero at 4:50 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Rancho Gordo beans are so good that they leave me with excess interest in good this-years' dried bean varieties, so take heart, Emmy Rae! Would lentils de Puy do well for you? You can't call them that if you aren't in Puy, so -- marketing opportunity.
Maybe specialize in a winter CSA of beans and all the glorious hardshell squashes Carol Deppe talks about. If you can figure out how to ship the squashes in reasonably sized sections...
My household doesn't even subscribe to Rancho Gordo now that we live in Washington, but we eat so much of the chickpeas and wheat grown by a specific Eastern Washington farm that we arrange parking-lot buys when they're driving through our city. Cash on the 25# buckethead. Practically illicit. Perhaps another marketing opportunity.
posted by clew at 4:54 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Maybe specialize in a winter CSA of beans and all the glorious hardshell squashes Carol Deppe talks about. If you can figure out how to ship the squashes in reasonably sized sections...
My household doesn't even subscribe to Rancho Gordo now that we live in Washington, but we eat so much of the chickpeas and wheat grown by a specific Eastern Washington farm that we arrange parking-lot buys when they're driving through our city. Cash on the 25# buckethead. Practically illicit. Perhaps another marketing opportunity.
posted by clew at 4:54 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I THINK YOU SHOULD GROW MORE TYPES OF BEANS.
Only if you include a plate.
posted by rough ashlar at 4:54 PM on July 19, 2017
Only if you include a plate.
posted by rough ashlar at 4:54 PM on July 19, 2017
The plate is a separate subscription service, obviously.
posted by Emmy Rae at 4:58 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 4:58 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
Clearly Facebook is watching me comment in this thread since I just got an ad for a chemistry-experiment-of-the-month-club.
posted by GuyZero at 5:04 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by GuyZero at 5:04 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I subscribed to Birchbox for a while, and I actually kind of loved it. I like beauty products but am amazingly lazy about seeking out new ones, and I found some good stuff through Birchbox. Plus, it's fun to get a surprise in the mail every month.
There are obviously a lot of dumb boxes, but I think the basic model is sound, mostly because they make good gifts. It's exactly the same principle as the whatever-of-the-month club, and those are really appealing gifts for people who don't really need anything and have random interests or hobbies. I think that as long as there are dads who need holiday gifts, people are going to buy subscriptions to things, although maybe not toothbrushes or dog collars.
And knitting drama is nuts, you guys.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:17 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
There are obviously a lot of dumb boxes, but I think the basic model is sound, mostly because they make good gifts. It's exactly the same principle as the whatever-of-the-month club, and those are really appealing gifts for people who don't really need anything and have random interests or hobbies. I think that as long as there are dads who need holiday gifts, people are going to buy subscriptions to things, although maybe not toothbrushes or dog collars.
And knitting drama is nuts, you guys.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:17 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
Literally every small business is a tech startup these days.
This. TBH this is a more interesting observation than the article itself; subscription boxes are a sort of fad right now, both among consumers and investors, and will probably contract down to some level below what they are currently at when the novelty wears off.
But when that does, it will still almost certainly be true that it's nearly impossible to start up a new business of significant size and capital requirements without it looking suspiciously like a "tech" company. Even when the "tech" is seemingly ancillary to the core problem being solved.
In part this is probably due to a certain unhealthy fascination with technology on the part of US business culture, which in turn drives investment and access to large-scale capital. But it may also be due to fundamentals: it's basically impossible to compete unless, in addition to understanding your core business problem, you also understand technology well enough to use it in the service of solving that problem. Perhaps because, if you don't, someone with that understanding will come along and add only that, and edge you out.
I'm not sure when we'll stop seeing them as "tech startups" just because they take a credit card over the Internet, but I don't think that the requirement to take that credit card over the Internet will go away when it does. That is probably here to stay, making the understanding and application of technology a really fundamental business skill that needs to be taught, if you want to encourage entrepreneurship.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:42 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
This. TBH this is a more interesting observation than the article itself; subscription boxes are a sort of fad right now, both among consumers and investors, and will probably contract down to some level below what they are currently at when the novelty wears off.
But when that does, it will still almost certainly be true that it's nearly impossible to start up a new business of significant size and capital requirements without it looking suspiciously like a "tech" company. Even when the "tech" is seemingly ancillary to the core problem being solved.
In part this is probably due to a certain unhealthy fascination with technology on the part of US business culture, which in turn drives investment and access to large-scale capital. But it may also be due to fundamentals: it's basically impossible to compete unless, in addition to understanding your core business problem, you also understand technology well enough to use it in the service of solving that problem. Perhaps because, if you don't, someone with that understanding will come along and add only that, and edge you out.
I'm not sure when we'll stop seeing them as "tech startups" just because they take a credit card over the Internet, but I don't think that the requirement to take that credit card over the Internet will go away when it does. That is probably here to stay, making the understanding and application of technology a really fundamental business skill that needs to be taught, if you want to encourage entrepreneurship.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:42 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
welp now I have the burning desire to start a subscription box for vintage craft supplies and ephemera, thanks guys
posted by nonasuch at 5:57 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by nonasuch at 5:57 PM on July 19, 2017 [6 favorites]
How much would you pay for a random monthly selection of something from the house of the artist that was posted the other day?
posted by clawsoon at 6:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 6:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
The current tech bubble is less about the web and the internet and more about a set of tools and management styles that started about 10-15 years ago and dramatically improved the productivity of software developers-- public cloud, cicd systems, configuration management tools, agile development, docker, and new programming languages like go.
All of those things dramatically increased the value of coders and blew up salaries and profits for a certain segment of the industry, while leaving companies who didn't adapt them behind.
If you're looking at individual industries, you're going to be looking at trees instead of the forest. Companies like Amazon and Netflix and blue apron are laying waste to competitors not because they have great products but because they can move faster than anyone else.
If you're trying to evaluate a tech company, look at their development practices at least as much as their product. Because even if you have the best product in the world today, if you're not moving as fast as amazon, you'll be a dinosaur in 3 years.
posted by empath at 6:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
All of those things dramatically increased the value of coders and blew up salaries and profits for a certain segment of the industry, while leaving companies who didn't adapt them behind.
If you're looking at individual industries, you're going to be looking at trees instead of the forest. Companies like Amazon and Netflix and blue apron are laying waste to competitors not because they have great products but because they can move faster than anyone else.
If you're trying to evaluate a tech company, look at their development practices at least as much as their product. Because even if you have the best product in the world today, if you're not moving as fast as amazon, you'll be a dinosaur in 3 years.
posted by empath at 6:02 PM on July 19, 2017 [7 favorites]
Clearly Facebook is watching me comment in this thread since I just got an ad for a chemistry-experiment-of-the-month-club.
Wait, that actually looks really awesome. I wish I could come up with a good reason to buy this, but $50 a month is kind of expensive, especially since I have access to a lab which has most if not all of this stuff. And also, the instructions are free! But if I had kids I would totally buy this for them/me. What a great idea!
Also, a lot of these don't seem so terrible. If you have a parrot, why is a parrot subscription box any different from those bark boxes or whatever the dog version is called? And I actually think the GoLocal idea is really neat. It would be fun to have a version like that but for a different city/town/region each month.
Of course, I know better than to ever get a subscription box service, because I have hoarding tendencies, it would just mean more crap that I can't bring myself to part with.
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:07 PM on July 19, 2017
Wait, that actually looks really awesome. I wish I could come up with a good reason to buy this, but $50 a month is kind of expensive, especially since I have access to a lab which has most if not all of this stuff. And also, the instructions are free! But if I had kids I would totally buy this for them/me. What a great idea!
Also, a lot of these don't seem so terrible. If you have a parrot, why is a parrot subscription box any different from those bark boxes or whatever the dog version is called? And I actually think the GoLocal idea is really neat. It would be fun to have a version like that but for a different city/town/region each month.
Of course, I know better than to ever get a subscription box service, because I have hoarding tendencies, it would just mean more crap that I can't bring myself to part with.
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:07 PM on July 19, 2017
I have to admire the transparency of that chemistry experiment subscription. They list all the experiments, the instructions, etc... on their website so you know exactly what it is. So many subscription boxes just run on the "trust us, we're sure you'll like it model," but these folks are super open about what they're offering.
posted by zachlipton at 6:12 PM on July 19, 2017
posted by zachlipton at 6:12 PM on July 19, 2017
@GSElevator: "If Amazon is in your line of business: Sell now. If Amazon is not in your line of business: Sell now; your business sucks."
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:23 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:23 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
welp now I have the burning desire to start a subscription box for vintage craft supplies and ephemera, thanks guys
And as a mixed media dabbler, my head is cocked, all intrigued-puppy style.
posted by Squeak Attack at 6:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
And as a mixed media dabbler, my head is cocked, all intrigued-puppy style.
posted by Squeak Attack at 6:32 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also, a lot of these don't seem so terrible. If you have a parrot, why is a parrot subscription box any different from those bark boxes or whatever the dog version is called?
If you have a parrot, it's not. As a business idea, there are 69 million dogs in 43 million households in the United States. There are 8 million birds in 3 million households (according to some hasty googling). A lot of those households aren't going to have $50 a month just to blow on random pet crap; even among the ones that do, probably the vast majority of your customers will subscribe for a year or so and then cancel. Parrot box may or may not be viable as a small niche business; it's definitely not a great venture investment.
That's the thing I think; everybody's right that these services aren't really tech per se, except inasmuch as they're attempting to ride on the coat tails of the logistics/infrastructure revolution being driven by online commerce. IOW, everybody gets everything delivered now, even their useless random crap. There's a kinship there will all the other quasi-tech retail start-ups, the ones attempting to leverage the same infrastructure to disrupt profitable cartel industries like eyeglasses and mattresses (Dollar Shave Club nearly hybridises both).
posted by Diablevert at 6:34 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
If you have a parrot, it's not. As a business idea, there are 69 million dogs in 43 million households in the United States. There are 8 million birds in 3 million households (according to some hasty googling). A lot of those households aren't going to have $50 a month just to blow on random pet crap; even among the ones that do, probably the vast majority of your customers will subscribe for a year or so and then cancel. Parrot box may or may not be viable as a small niche business; it's definitely not a great venture investment.
That's the thing I think; everybody's right that these services aren't really tech per se, except inasmuch as they're attempting to ride on the coat tails of the logistics/infrastructure revolution being driven by online commerce. IOW, everybody gets everything delivered now, even their useless random crap. There's a kinship there will all the other quasi-tech retail start-ups, the ones attempting to leverage the same infrastructure to disrupt profitable cartel industries like eyeglasses and mattresses (Dollar Shave Club nearly hybridises both).
posted by Diablevert at 6:34 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
And as a mixed media dabbler, my head is cocked, all intrigued-puppy style.
I have a genuinely absurd hoard of vintage paper, fabric and trims, jewelrymaking bits, and so on, and now I am consulting google about the best way to set this up. Will post further developments to Projects, I guess?
posted by nonasuch at 6:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I have a genuinely absurd hoard of vintage paper, fabric and trims, jewelrymaking bits, and so on, and now I am consulting google about the best way to set this up. Will post further developments to Projects, I guess?
posted by nonasuch at 6:52 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I looked into Dollar Shave. It's not worth it. I'm a guy who shaves pretty regularly and has a heavy beard, but no way in hell would I ever need to replace a razor that often. I ended up buying one big order of Dorco brand (yes, that's the name) from Korea. It's essentially Gilette-type razors branded for the Korean market. They're super cheap and years later I still haven't run out of them. Plus, who wants all the shave packaging every month... it just doesn't make any sense.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 7:15 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 7:15 PM on July 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
It does seem to be a way for a consumer-driven economy to get people to consume more. My house is already full of stuff, so the idea of random extra stuff is not appealing. Except at Quonsmas, when a box of personalized, individually curated stuff will be sent by a random imaginary friend from the Internet. It would make me sad if that were monetized.
posted by theora55 at 7:18 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 7:18 PM on July 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
So after reading this thread, I jump to Amazon to check a delivery date, and I see a humongous banner for a food subscription service, something I've never seen Amazon advertise before.
There are no words.
posted by Beholder at 7:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
There are no words.
posted by Beholder at 7:30 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Would you like to buy some words? I have some extra ones I could sell you on subscription.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:39 PM on July 19, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:39 PM on July 19, 2017 [11 favorites]
Those are extremely brand new from Amazon. That's not some kind of clever targeted advertising because you read this thread; they're just completely new and being promoted.
posted by zachlipton at 7:41 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 7:41 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]
Plinth. Sebaceous. Tertiary. Perfectly good words. Bicuspid. These could all be yours! But wait, there's Moor.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [19 favorites]
Those are extremely brand new from Amazon. That's not some kind of clever targeted advertising because you read this thread; they're just completely new and being promoted.
I'm old. The internet is duct tape, rubber tubes, and leprechaun farts for all I know.
posted by Beholder at 7:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm old. The internet is duct tape, rubber tubes, and leprechaun farts for all I know.
posted by Beholder at 7:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I mean, it depends on the subscription box, but I think one part of it is trying things you wouldn't try on your own. I got my partner Skoshbox for a while, which they really enjoyed, and we just bought their mom Simple Loose Leaf. They're both people that don't tend to go out of their way to try new things, but do tend to appreciate new things when they come their way. They're also bad at convincing themselves to spend money on even stuff they KNOW they want, much less stuff they're unsure about. So a part of it is kind of pushing you out of your bubble. The experience of trying something new and different is just as exciting as getting something surprising in the mail.
Even if it's more expensive than buying the products themselves, I think the push is worth a couple extra dollars. That and the curation. Not that I think people are putting hours of dedication into finding the best products--far from it--but just the fact that they find stuff I would not have come across otherwise because I simply don't look for it. I've run into a similar phenomenon with movies, lately. We've started going to the Family Video near our house even though we can get tons of movies through Netflix and other online services. Why? Because we keep finding good movies we never would have heard of otherwise, and we're willing to pay a couple of dollars to them for helping us find them.
posted by brook horse at 7:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Even if it's more expensive than buying the products themselves, I think the push is worth a couple extra dollars. That and the curation. Not that I think people are putting hours of dedication into finding the best products--far from it--but just the fact that they find stuff I would not have come across otherwise because I simply don't look for it. I've run into a similar phenomenon with movies, lately. We've started going to the Family Video near our house even though we can get tons of movies through Netflix and other online services. Why? Because we keep finding good movies we never would have heard of otherwise, and we're willing to pay a couple of dollars to them for helping us find them.
posted by brook horse at 7:46 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
NOT THAT I'M BITTER but speaking as someone who has failed to raise VC money for a singificant (real) technology development startup, what I have learned:
VC money flows when all they have to do is help you build your customer base and grow. If you are using "technology" to do that, then that's great. Because developers are used to create lots of interesting front end and back end support for these businesses, as far as VCs are concerned, it's tech. So, Teespring is a tech company. StitchFix is a tech company. Uber is a tech company. I agree completely that they are actually T-shirt printing, stylist service, and taxi companies, but VCs like it because they use tech but they don't actually need to pay for tech development (that's done by two people on a couch on YCombinator funding for a summer). The VC money scales up the operational side of it, but not the development.
If you have to develop big things that in and of themselves are technology, like robotic systems or renewable energy or telecommunications stuff or biotech or whatever, you're often SOL for investment in the actual development. That has to come from the government (DARPA, DoE, etc), or corporate R&D money/strategic investment, or some rich dude deciding it's his hobby (Bezos and space flight for example). Unfortunately things like DoE funding are drying up (thanks Trump!) and there's really not actually a mechanism for the private sector to take on technology development risk this way because it adds too much to the timeline that VCs work on for returns. So I am nervous to see how *actual* tech startups go in the next several years - either the government needs to step up again, or VCs need to redefine the sorts of risks they're willing to take on.
But stuff like this? It's easy for VCs. They can excuse it as tech when it's really just any old retail or mail-order business. Because there are algorithms and databases and front ends and all that. And it doesn't cost them a penny in actual development dollars.
posted by olinerd at 7:49 PM on July 19, 2017 [16 favorites]
VC money flows when all they have to do is help you build your customer base and grow. If you are using "technology" to do that, then that's great. Because developers are used to create lots of interesting front end and back end support for these businesses, as far as VCs are concerned, it's tech. So, Teespring is a tech company. StitchFix is a tech company. Uber is a tech company. I agree completely that they are actually T-shirt printing, stylist service, and taxi companies, but VCs like it because they use tech but they don't actually need to pay for tech development (that's done by two people on a couch on YCombinator funding for a summer). The VC money scales up the operational side of it, but not the development.
If you have to develop big things that in and of themselves are technology, like robotic systems or renewable energy or telecommunications stuff or biotech or whatever, you're often SOL for investment in the actual development. That has to come from the government (DARPA, DoE, etc), or corporate R&D money/strategic investment, or some rich dude deciding it's his hobby (Bezos and space flight for example). Unfortunately things like DoE funding are drying up (thanks Trump!) and there's really not actually a mechanism for the private sector to take on technology development risk this way because it adds too much to the timeline that VCs work on for returns. So I am nervous to see how *actual* tech startups go in the next several years - either the government needs to step up again, or VCs need to redefine the sorts of risks they're willing to take on.
But stuff like this? It's easy for VCs. They can excuse it as tech when it's really just any old retail or mail-order business. Because there are algorithms and databases and front ends and all that. And it doesn't cost them a penny in actual development dollars.
posted by olinerd at 7:49 PM on July 19, 2017 [16 favorites]
"I suspect, but I do not know, that the manufacturers either provides their products at a deep discount, for free or possibly even pay to play as some of these subscription services are basically marketing channels for their products."
So there are a few models at work! Birchbox is pretty upfront that they get their samples free or at low cost, and send them to subscribers, to try to convert subscribers to purchasers of those products. It's a good deal for beauty companies, who get access to beauty product lovers, and for subscribers, who get free samples of a range of products. (And for Birchbox, who get money.) Many cosmetic subscriptions are similar. See also Runnerbox (and Cyclebox and Tribox) which send a mix of samples, promos, and new flavors/market research flavors to subscribers -- these are boxes for runners/cyclists/triathletes that are primarily protein powders and trail mix and energy gels and so on, with some brand promo items and useful doodads thrown in. They want you to be like, "Oooh, these are tasty! I'll definitely switch to GooGel brand energy gel!" or like "Huh, macadamia-kiwi energy bars, interesting, I'll probably buy this."
There are others who get a pretty minor, retail-level discount -- book boxes are often like this -- where you're paying for the curation and the fun of getting a box in the mail, and usually some low-cost extras like stickers or bookmarks or candles or some shit like that. There are others that have basically no discount and you pay for branding and/or curation.
And then there are still others, like Kiwi Crate, where you are essentially paying for a desired packaged good that arrives monthly, and this is not particularly different from older-style "quilt block of the month" or "cheese of the month" or whatever.
I am not a huge makeup person but I subscribed to Birchbox for about 18 months and I LOVED it. I LOVED getting high-quality hair and skin samples (and I did end up buying a few after testing them and discovering that, yes, this expensive product actual does miracles compared to my drugstore product), and I LOVED getting makeup samples because I hardly ever wear makeup so the samples were more than enough to keep me in makeup for the entire time I subscribed. (Whereas before subscribing I'd have to go to a wedding or some shit and end up discovering all my makeup was expired and having to go to Sephora and buy a bunch of new makeup to wear once. Sample sizes are perfect!) I gave away the stuff that I didn't like to friends or to friends' daughters. (Very garish pink lipstick samples = perfect for preteens with dance recitals.)
KiwiCrate is a huge highlight in our house. They're well-planned, well-executed, with good curriculum included. It's always a big deal when they arrive and we always enjoy doing them. (In 18 months I think we've had two that were a bit meh, and several that were like WHOA AWESOME.) My sister gets BarkBox, which is a dog treat sampler, which primarily trained her dog that every box is potentially full of dog treats and she should definitely freak out every time an Amazon box arrives. One of my kids has been getting "Space Scouts" which is definitely more towards the "you are overpaying to have this mailed" end but it is a HUGE HIGHLIGHT for my space-crazy child every month when it comes in the mail and we sit together and do all the activities and then he tells me the facts for the whole month. In my mind it's not that different from subscribing to Ranger Rick.
Both Kiwi Crate and Space Scouts come from grandma who is so thrilled to buy a birthday present that keeps coming all year and is very wanted. And they want to tell her every month what they got/did that month. I originally got Birchbox as a gift (tho later subscribed myself); I got my husband CycleBox for a year. Really the fun is getting a surprise in the mail and getting to open it and see all the stuff. It's pretty great. I might get my husband a "snacks around the world" box next (there are several). They're really good gifts for people who are hard to shop for.
I kind-of love reading subscription box review pages, and clearly some of these boxes are very terrible, and some are run by very scammy companies, although I have not run into that -- it's always been dead easy to cancel. But plenty of them are a lot of fun, if you like getting a surprise in the mail and you like whatever you're subscribing to!
(And if you have kids, Kiwi Crate is so legit, it is so fantastic, I was suspicious but I wish we'd subscribed sooner, I love it so much, A++++ would Kiwi Crate again.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2017 [15 favorites]
So there are a few models at work! Birchbox is pretty upfront that they get their samples free or at low cost, and send them to subscribers, to try to convert subscribers to purchasers of those products. It's a good deal for beauty companies, who get access to beauty product lovers, and for subscribers, who get free samples of a range of products. (And for Birchbox, who get money.) Many cosmetic subscriptions are similar. See also Runnerbox (and Cyclebox and Tribox) which send a mix of samples, promos, and new flavors/market research flavors to subscribers -- these are boxes for runners/cyclists/triathletes that are primarily protein powders and trail mix and energy gels and so on, with some brand promo items and useful doodads thrown in. They want you to be like, "Oooh, these are tasty! I'll definitely switch to GooGel brand energy gel!" or like "Huh, macadamia-kiwi energy bars, interesting, I'll probably buy this."
There are others who get a pretty minor, retail-level discount -- book boxes are often like this -- where you're paying for the curation and the fun of getting a box in the mail, and usually some low-cost extras like stickers or bookmarks or candles or some shit like that. There are others that have basically no discount and you pay for branding and/or curation.
And then there are still others, like Kiwi Crate, where you are essentially paying for a desired packaged good that arrives monthly, and this is not particularly different from older-style "quilt block of the month" or "cheese of the month" or whatever.
I am not a huge makeup person but I subscribed to Birchbox for about 18 months and I LOVED it. I LOVED getting high-quality hair and skin samples (and I did end up buying a few after testing them and discovering that, yes, this expensive product actual does miracles compared to my drugstore product), and I LOVED getting makeup samples because I hardly ever wear makeup so the samples were more than enough to keep me in makeup for the entire time I subscribed. (Whereas before subscribing I'd have to go to a wedding or some shit and end up discovering all my makeup was expired and having to go to Sephora and buy a bunch of new makeup to wear once. Sample sizes are perfect!) I gave away the stuff that I didn't like to friends or to friends' daughters. (Very garish pink lipstick samples = perfect for preteens with dance recitals.)
KiwiCrate is a huge highlight in our house. They're well-planned, well-executed, with good curriculum included. It's always a big deal when they arrive and we always enjoy doing them. (In 18 months I think we've had two that were a bit meh, and several that were like WHOA AWESOME.) My sister gets BarkBox, which is a dog treat sampler, which primarily trained her dog that every box is potentially full of dog treats and she should definitely freak out every time an Amazon box arrives. One of my kids has been getting "Space Scouts" which is definitely more towards the "you are overpaying to have this mailed" end but it is a HUGE HIGHLIGHT for my space-crazy child every month when it comes in the mail and we sit together and do all the activities and then he tells me the facts for the whole month. In my mind it's not that different from subscribing to Ranger Rick.
Both Kiwi Crate and Space Scouts come from grandma who is so thrilled to buy a birthday present that keeps coming all year and is very wanted. And they want to tell her every month what they got/did that month. I originally got Birchbox as a gift (tho later subscribed myself); I got my husband CycleBox for a year. Really the fun is getting a surprise in the mail and getting to open it and see all the stuff. It's pretty great. I might get my husband a "snacks around the world" box next (there are several). They're really good gifts for people who are hard to shop for.
I kind-of love reading subscription box review pages, and clearly some of these boxes are very terrible, and some are run by very scammy companies, although I have not run into that -- it's always been dead easy to cancel. But plenty of them are a lot of fun, if you like getting a surprise in the mail and you like whatever you're subscribing to!
(And if you have kids, Kiwi Crate is so legit, it is so fantastic, I was suspicious but I wish we'd subscribed sooner, I love it so much, A++++ would Kiwi Crate again.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2017 [15 favorites]
Oh god, I was skimming the front page of MeFi and I had a great fear that it was some startup bro or vc asking someone "how many dog collars do you want to buy in a year" as some sort of prelude to weird harassment.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
How are subscription boxes part of a "tech" industry?
Because... internet.
Besides, they have computers, right?
Also, I want a sub service that gives me a random selection from a curated list of sub services, in artisanally handcrafted packaging. All monthly.
posted by Samizdata at 8:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Because... internet.
Besides, they have computers, right?
Also, I want a sub service that gives me a random selection from a curated list of sub services, in artisanally handcrafted packaging. All monthly.
posted by Samizdata at 8:45 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
How are subscription boxes part of a “tech” industry?
Because website.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:02 PM on July 19, 2017
Because website.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:02 PM on July 19, 2017
Ooooh, ooooh, I know the answer to this one!
The reason they get so much funding from VCs is because they can prove Monthly Recurring Revenue. With a subscription model it's easy to explain - X number of subscribers times $Y = MRR. If you can show that your MRR is trending positively and quickly upward then you can get investors to believe that your growth may eventually lead them to get back 100x their investment or more.
SAAS (software as a service) companies also often operate off an MRR model.
posted by rednikki at 10:25 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
The reason they get so much funding from VCs is because they can prove Monthly Recurring Revenue. With a subscription model it's easy to explain - X number of subscribers times $Y = MRR. If you can show that your MRR is trending positively and quickly upward then you can get investors to believe that your growth may eventually lead them to get back 100x their investment or more.
SAAS (software as a service) companies also often operate off an MRR model.
posted by rednikki at 10:25 PM on July 19, 2017 [5 favorites]
I LOVED getting high-quality hair and skin samples
Wait, what?
posted by FJT at 10:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
Wait, what?
posted by FJT at 10:43 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
Yeah there's a lot more necromancy than you'd think.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:09 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:09 PM on July 19, 2017 [17 favorites]
mudpuppie: "
Well they could be.
: "Okay but how many slaves do you need, really? Three, four? More than that and it starts to become unmanageable."
Well you don't wear the same outfit every day of the year do you? (OK maybe _you_ do but that is far from the norm); why should, uh, Fluffy be subjected to any less variety.
posted by Mitheral at 11:14 PM on July 19, 2017
TuTu Royal is a monthly delivery of princess dresses, tutu’s, tiaras and tools of STEM empowerment.Um, one of these things is not like the others"
Well they could be.
: "Okay but how many slaves do you need, really? Three, four? More than that and it starts to become unmanageable."
Well you don't wear the same outfit every day of the year do you? (OK maybe _you_ do but that is far from the norm); why should, uh, Fluffy be subjected to any less variety.
posted by Mitheral at 11:14 PM on July 19, 2017
GuyZero: "Clearly Facebook is watching me comment in this thread since I just got an ad for a chemistry-experiment-of-the-month-club."
Awe, only ships to the US, UK and ?Russia?.
posted by Mitheral at 11:20 PM on July 19, 2017
Awe, only ships to the US, UK and ?Russia?.
posted by Mitheral at 11:20 PM on July 19, 2017
Right now -
If you like a thing, and that thing can be posted at reasonable rates internationally, and that thing also can be purchased in bulk and resold at a profit, chances are high there is a subscription box service for it.
I decided to pick something I'm always wanting more of and actually suffer choice paralysis from buying in person. A small thing. A fairly niche thing - I would have thought - until I checked and realised there are at least FOUR different companies offering subscription service for it.
Stickers.
Behold
The Sticker
Cornacopia
They start at $9.00 per month, and go up to $20.00 which is $108 / $240 a year!
I love stickers but ... those prices [ £83.20 and £184.90 in British pound sterling at time of writing] are ridiculous!
::sigh::
posted by Faintdreams at 2:22 AM on July 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you like a thing, and that thing can be posted at reasonable rates internationally, and that thing also can be purchased in bulk and resold at a profit, chances are high there is a subscription box service for it.
I decided to pick something I'm always wanting more of and actually suffer choice paralysis from buying in person. A small thing. A fairly niche thing - I would have thought - until I checked and realised there are at least FOUR different companies offering subscription service for it.
Stickers.
Behold
The Sticker
Cornacopia
They start at $9.00 per month, and go up to $20.00 which is $108 / $240 a year!
I love stickers but ... those prices [ £83.20 and £184.90 in British pound sterling at time of writing] are ridiculous!
::sigh::
posted by Faintdreams at 2:22 AM on July 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
my monthly box of nesting dolls
I'm listening. So, is this like a different set of dolls each month, or every month they mail a slightly larger one? I mean I am in either way, just curious.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:00 AM on July 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
I'm listening. So, is this like a different set of dolls each month, or every month they mail a slightly larger one? I mean I am in either way, just curious.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:00 AM on July 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
We gave one of my kids a subscription to OwlCrate, which is a young adult novels (skewed toward fantasy) year before last, and they loved it. We were also impressed with the quality of the box and of the included items, and everything was right in their wheelhouse. I subscribed briefly to iPenBox, which didn't convert us all to pen connoisseurs but which we enjoyed opening and exploring every month. We enjoyed getting to learn about fountain pens.
I'd give all the kids subscription boxes as Christmas gifts except that they are pretty cost-prohibitive. But getting packages is fun, and when they're good quality and a good fit for the receiver, it can be worth it.
Also, we have parrots, so the author of the article suggesting that SquawkBox was a prima facie bad idea got my hackles up. Do you know how quickly parrots destroy things? How smart they are, and how much they enjoy new things? Likewise, our next door neighbors are professional dog trainers who have eight dogs, all involved in various dog sports, and they love fancy dog collars. They're always getting new ones. I mean, just because you can't see the value or the fun in something, doesn't mean it's not there for someone else.
posted by Orlop at 4:01 AM on July 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'd give all the kids subscription boxes as Christmas gifts except that they are pretty cost-prohibitive. But getting packages is fun, and when they're good quality and a good fit for the receiver, it can be worth it.
Also, we have parrots, so the author of the article suggesting that SquawkBox was a prima facie bad idea got my hackles up. Do you know how quickly parrots destroy things? How smart they are, and how much they enjoy new things? Likewise, our next door neighbors are professional dog trainers who have eight dogs, all involved in various dog sports, and they love fancy dog collars. They're always getting new ones. I mean, just because you can't see the value or the fun in something, doesn't mean it's not there for someone else.
posted by Orlop at 4:01 AM on July 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
So having done a little bit of research, it now makes sliiiiightly more sense that VCs are so into the subscription box model. My guess is that they're more interested in stuff like Cratejoy, which is basically trying to be Etsy for subscription boxes-- it aggregates a ton of them through a single front end, and you can list your subscription box through them for like $40 a month plus some transaction fees. It looks like they currently have about 500 different boxes on offer, and I'm sure there's other services that are similar. So, okay, that's more fairly called a tech company than any individually-run box, sure, and then anything that gets as big as Birchbox gets VC attention just by growing fast and being popular.
(and yes i still want to do the vintage craft box, but will probably just run it through Etsy or something.)
posted by nonasuch at 6:35 AM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
(and yes i still want to do the vintage craft box, but will probably just run it through Etsy or something.)
posted by nonasuch at 6:35 AM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that the author handwaves away the need to explain the self-evident awfulness of the named boxes says a lot about how seriously they took this assignment.
Also:
I subscribed to cat litter on Amazon.
Life changing. For all three of us.
As a daily cat-litter-dealer-with, I eagerly request you explain the above statement.
posted by mediareport at 7:34 AM on July 20, 2017
Also:
I subscribed to cat litter on Amazon.
Life changing. For all three of us.
As a daily cat-litter-dealer-with, I eagerly request you explain the above statement.
posted by mediareport at 7:34 AM on July 20, 2017
My house is already full of stuff, so the idea of random extra stuff is not appealing.
So, so, so much this. These things are like a nightmare for me. Stuff I didn't explicitly want! I practically get hives at Christmas because I don't want more things and especially not things that I haven't personally selected. Gift-giving and -receiving are already baffling to me, and subscription boxes are like gift-receiving from complete strangers who have cutesy stock photos of smiling people enjoying their crap.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:27 AM on July 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
So, so, so much this. These things are like a nightmare for me. Stuff I didn't explicitly want! I practically get hives at Christmas because I don't want more things and especially not things that I haven't personally selected. Gift-giving and -receiving are already baffling to me, and subscription boxes are like gift-receiving from complete strangers who have cutesy stock photos of smiling people enjoying their crap.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:27 AM on July 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
See also Runnerbox (and Cyclebox and Tribox)
And...I've just found something new to subscribe to. I'm a sucker for being able to try out different kinds of workout/race nutrition without buying a whole case of it. So a non-sarcastic thank you, Eyebrows McGee!
posted by Salieri at 9:36 AM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
And...I've just found something new to subscribe to. I'm a sucker for being able to try out different kinds of workout/race nutrition without buying a whole case of it. So a non-sarcastic thank you, Eyebrows McGee!
posted by Salieri at 9:36 AM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Is there one to give a teacher? It could be a bunch of grade-appropriate stuff for the kids plus whisky or wine for the teacher.
Smart teachers would make sure all their parents knew about this solution to the supplies shortage. "Woot! 17 bottles of whisky every month! Oh, and some supplies or something."
posted by pracowity at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
Smart teachers would make sure all their parents knew about this solution to the supplies shortage. "Woot! 17 bottles of whisky every month! Oh, and some supplies or something."
posted by pracowity at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's Raining Florence Henderson: ""Tools of STEM Empowerment" is my new band name."
Box of TuTus is a fine name for your band's first album
posted by chavenet at 10:08 AM on July 20, 2017
Box of TuTus is a fine name for your band's first album
posted by chavenet at 10:08 AM on July 20, 2017
So if we're at peak subscription box, is there a reverse-subscription box? Where, every month for a modest fee, you receive a pre-labeled empty box that you put some of your crap, err, favorite stuff off all time to pass on to me.
Just need a blog about minimalism and the evils of clutter to go with it.
posted by fragmede at 3:03 PM on July 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
Just need a blog about minimalism and the evils of clutter to go with it.
posted by fragmede at 3:03 PM on July 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
Where, every month for a modest fee, you receive a pre-labeled empty box that you put some of your crap, err, favorite stuff off all time to pass on to me.
brb setting up pitch meetings
posted by olinerd at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
brb setting up pitch meetings
posted by olinerd at 3:38 PM on July 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
"My house is already full of stuff, so the idea of random extra stuff is not appealing."
I quite rapidly realized that while getting surprise boxes in the mail is fun, I like consumable subscription boxes (cosmetics, food), but find "stuff" subscription boxes extremely stressful, for pretty much exactly this reason!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:18 PM on July 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
I quite rapidly realized that while getting surprise boxes in the mail is fun, I like consumable subscription boxes (cosmetics, food), but find "stuff" subscription boxes extremely stressful, for pretty much exactly this reason!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:18 PM on July 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
So if we're at peak subscription box, is there a reverse-subscription box? Where, every month for a modest fee, you receive a pre-labeled empty box that you put some of your crap, err, favorite stuff off all time to pass on to me.
really, garbage and sewer are the last few things i can think of that provided for by taxes in normal countries (like water, police protection, etc.) that hasn't been successfully turned into a prestige brands by evil idiots for rich idiots
"who does your sewer? the whoosh is just so authentic and satisfying!"
"hmm? oh, thanks. it is a small artisanal outfit i found. everything is painstakingly recycled using traditional methods refined over decades. they're really passionate about it, yknow?"
posted by entropicamericana at 5:10 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
really, garbage and sewer are the last few things i can think of that provided for by taxes in normal countries (like water, police protection, etc.) that hasn't been successfully turned into a prestige brands by evil idiots for rich idiots
"who does your sewer? the whoosh is just so authentic and satisfying!"
"hmm? oh, thanks. it is a small artisanal outfit i found. everything is painstakingly recycled using traditional methods refined over decades. they're really passionate about it, yknow?"
posted by entropicamericana at 5:10 AM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Funny you should say that. I have a place out in rural Maine where there is no municipal trash pickup. You either take your trash to the transfer station yourself (you get a discount if you're a resident of a member town, though) or hire a private waste disposal company to do it for you.
The city does take care of septic pumping, though, so there's that.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:39 AM on July 21, 2017
The city does take care of septic pumping, though, so there's that.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:39 AM on July 21, 2017
As a daily cat-litter-dealer-with, I eagerly request you explain the above statement.
Cat litter is SUPER heavy. Having it brought to your house regularly is a godsend, especially for those of us who use public transit and/or have less mobility.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:39 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Cat litter is SUPER heavy. Having it brought to your house regularly is a godsend, especially for those of us who use public transit and/or have less mobility.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:39 AM on July 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
For cat litter (and heavy food, and other goodies)...Chewy.com is the best. They match amazon prices but aren't amazon (though they're not a small business; I believe they're owned by petsmart now). Top-notch customer service and returns, too. I can't imagine why I would ever buy a heavy bag of dog food at the store and cart it home myself when I can buy it for cheaper with delivery these days.
Also, eyebrows' observation on consumables is spot-on. I wonder what the attrition rate is for the cairns and loot crates of the world...probably much higher than the consumable-based ones which one could conceivably enjoy forever. Personally, I've always wanted to try Try the World which is a food box that focuses on foods from a different country each box.
posted by R a c h e l at 8:07 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, eyebrows' observation on consumables is spot-on. I wonder what the attrition rate is for the cairns and loot crates of the world...probably much higher than the consumable-based ones which one could conceivably enjoy forever. Personally, I've always wanted to try Try the World which is a food box that focuses on foods from a different country each box.
posted by R a c h e l at 8:07 AM on July 21, 2017 [2 favorites]
If there were an option for moderately more expensive trash pick up but would recycle and compost to the N-th degree resulting in my trash not polluting the Earth, in all seriousness I'd do it. The technology to recycle waxy cardboard milk cartons exists; soiled pizza boxes are compostable, but my municipality can't or won't take them.
posted by fragmede at 4:24 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by fragmede at 4:24 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
" I wonder what the attrition rate is for the cairns and loot crates of the world...probably much higher than the consumable-based ones which one could conceivably enjoy forever. "
My experience (from all three boxes we've tried, so not a bazillion like some people!) is that even the consumables are fun for somewhere in the range of 6 to 24 months, before the novelty wears off and you start to feel like, "Eh, I've had enough samples of shampoo/trail mix/socks/whatever." The kid box (Kiwi Crate) has stayed the most interesting the longest, probably because kids are more excited about new stuff and Kiwi Crate is an activity/experience, not just a thing or consumable.
I think something like a wine box subscription would probably stay the most interesting to me the longest, since trying new ones relatively frequently is fun (and even your favorites change every year), plus it's something you regularly consume and changing it up is normal. Whereas constantly switching shampoo to try samples gets annoying after a while. But yeah, I think in most cases, a six-month or one-year subscription as, say, a gift is plenty! And then many people will be like, "Well, I have tried a lot of things, and that was fun, and it was neat to receive boxes in the mail, thank you, done."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:29 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
My experience (from all three boxes we've tried, so not a bazillion like some people!) is that even the consumables are fun for somewhere in the range of 6 to 24 months, before the novelty wears off and you start to feel like, "Eh, I've had enough samples of shampoo/trail mix/socks/whatever." The kid box (Kiwi Crate) has stayed the most interesting the longest, probably because kids are more excited about new stuff and Kiwi Crate is an activity/experience, not just a thing or consumable.
I think something like a wine box subscription would probably stay the most interesting to me the longest, since trying new ones relatively frequently is fun (and even your favorites change every year), plus it's something you regularly consume and changing it up is normal. Whereas constantly switching shampoo to try samples gets annoying after a while. But yeah, I think in most cases, a six-month or one-year subscription as, say, a gift is plenty! And then many people will be like, "Well, I have tried a lot of things, and that was fun, and it was neat to receive boxes in the mail, thank you, done."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:29 PM on July 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
How are subscription boxes part of a “tech” industry?
Because website.
Because beaten!
Any VC want to fund a subscription site where, once a month, I notify you of my clever post up to 48 hours in advance so you can scoop me on it then mock me publically until you are satified? There will even be a titanium founder's level where I will favorite your scoop post to grind in the failure.
posted by Samizdata at 3:08 AM on July 23, 2017
And those are handcrafted, artisanal, and personally curated favorites, BTW.
posted by Samizdata at 3:10 AM on July 23, 2017
posted by Samizdata at 3:10 AM on July 23, 2017
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posted by Diablevert at 1:23 PM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]