Depending on your proximity to the average wholesale retailer selling bulk-sized products, it can be difficult to justify the cost of membership unless you shop them regularly. That was an issue my husband and I wrestled with every year when it came time to renew. We live an hour and a half away from our club, which made it unrealistic to make the most of our membership.
Looking for other options, I came across Boxed.com. They offer many great brand-name products, including Prince & Spring; their own in-house brand of quality essentials. When considering Boxed, I wanted to make sure they sold the items we would typically buy from our regular membership club. Those items include toilet paper, bacon pieces, tissues, items for my husband’s lunches and so on.
The following is my honest review of Boxed.com. This review was not contracted by Boxed in any way.
PRICING
The summary of their pricing is simple – they are competitive with average membership club prices. Most clubs offer items between $7-$10 per bulk-sized food item or set. This is also true of Boxed. They do offer a few lower priced, smaller sized products which are priced well in comparison to the typical grocery store.
When it comes to their in-house brand, Prince & Spring, I found pricing to be comparable to our regular membership club’s in-house brand. Not only did they carry household goods like toilet paper and cleaning products, they also offered Prince & Spring grocery items at a discount.
The best part about their pricing? There is NO membership fee for the shopper who may only utilize the service a few times per year. I can take advantage of shopping bulk sizing, coupons, up to 2 free samples in each order, discounted club pricing and still get free shipping on orders $49+. They do offer a Boxed UP membership for the more frequent shopper, offering Free Shipping (orders of $19.98+), 2% cash back and exclusive discounts. Boxed UP membership is $39 for the first year and $49 for each year after that.
QUALITY
It’s easy to determine the quality when you see leading brands you know well. FritoLay, Oscar Meyer, Hidden Valley, KIND, Dole and Barilla, just to name a few. In addition, Boxed offers quite a few organic and gluten-free products which can prove to be super expensive IF you can find them in your local, small town grocery. On Boxed – you reap the benefits of shopping for products you need at a price you can live with.
Their Prince & Spring products are pretty good too! I purchased their Ultra Strong Toilet Paper (mega roll septic safe / compares well with Charmin Ultra Soft) and Ultra Soft Facial Tissues (with aloe & vitamin E / compares well with Puffs with lotion) specifically to see how they stacked up to our regularly purchased membership brands. I have to say this, I am impressed by how well they compare. Both in price and in quality, I’m sure I will find myself ordering these two gems again.
SHIPPING
Again, shipping rates for NO membership is FREE with a $49+ purchase (additional cost for orders under $49). BoxedUP membership shipping is FREE with a $19.98+ purchase. What I was most curious about was how things were packaged and the condition they would arrive in. With the 10 items I purchased (plus 2 freebies) I was sure it would be a slight challenge. After all, I ordered fragile chips and a heavy 100 pack of Tall Kitchen Garbage Bags.
The LARGE box arrived in good condition and upon opening I found adequate air packaging to cushion contents. Overall, there were very few issues except for some mild “squishing” of the FritoLay snack chip box and damage caused on the Hidden Valley Dipping Cups box courtesy of a leaky Lysol Wipes container. To Boxed’s credit, there was tape holding the top closed on the Lysol Wipes which came complete with an inner seal as part of Lysol’s typical packaging. As for the leak, I can only blame that on Lysol. In the end, nothing was ruined – very minor cosmetic damage.
OVERALL
I have to say that I’m delightfully pleased with the cost savings and variety of items sold on Boxed.com. The FREE samples were an exciting addition to my order and it was nice to choose which ones I wanted. I received a full-sized “sample” of Honest Earth Homestyle Mashed Sweet Potatoes!
Perhaps the biggest and most welcome part of my Boxed experience (besides the fact that I didn’t have to spend money on a membership) was the fact their in-house brand was such good quality. To have them delivered right to my door and in good condition was just the cherry on top. If I were you, I’d not hesitate to check out Boxed.com and try the service for yourself.
PS. Don’t forget to check out their SALE items, promo codes and coupons you can clip to save even more on the products you want to buy!
#LifeOn25Acres
Dirt On My Plate 