Recently I ran out of chocolate.
In the short term, this was devastating. Biddy had to sit on me for while to ease the pain.
During the chocolate outage (which lasted somewhere between 8 hours and 17 years, depending on your perspective) I decided to make the perfectly logical decision to go online to find ways to obtain chocolate on a more consistent basis so this tragedy wouldn’t happen again.
It was during this search that I stumbled upon several novelty snack subscription services. You sign up for a monthly service, and every 30 days a box of treats magically appears on your doorstep.
I had to try this.
Most of them were quite expensive. Like, so expensive that I could just take an Uber Black to the fancy grocery store once a month to buy $10 chocolate bars instead.
But a few were more reasonably priced. I settled on Treatsie because they offered one month free if you signed up, and I could cancel at any time (after one paid month) if I didn’t like it.
Here’s what I got in the mail today:
The overall packaging was very nice. Easy to open, nice touch of sealed tissue paper to tear open before revealing the goodies inside.
Here’s the big reveal! I was hoping for some chocolate, naturally, but it’s the middle of summer–I understand that they probably avoid shipping items that can melt when it’s 100 degrees outside.
I pulled out the items one by one like a kid examining his Halloween loot. And then, as any proper journalist should, I ate a few bites of each one.
I was pleasantly surprised by all of them. The highlight was the Tennessee Toffee, which is essentially trailmix stuck together by toffee. SO good.
The cookies were tasty too. There were two flavors: salted caramel and margarita. The margarita actually tasted quite like a margarita.
The last item was perhaps the one I was least excited about, but it turned out to be quite good: real fruit licorice. They actually don’t taste like licorice at all (that was my concern). Rather, they taste like the best gummy bear ever.
Here’s the bottom line, though: Are these treats worth $17?
In terms of actual cost, sure, the price makes sense. If I bought these things at the fancy grocery store, they would add up to $17. Would I pay $17 for these items at the grocery store, though? No. Definitely not. I like treats, but not that much.
However, I think the coolest thing about Treatsie (and maybe a lost opportunity, or maybe not) is that all of the items in the box–and many, many more–are listed for separate purchase on their website. So if I, say, want to fill my pantry with Tennessee Toffee now that I’ve been introduce to it, I can buy it through Treatsie.
The problem, though, is that I didn’t need to spend $17 to whet my appetite. I just need a few bites of each to determine if I like it or not. And then it certainly would be nice to get a small discount if I proceeded to buy the item directly from Treatsie.
For now I’ll just enjoy my current Treatsie box and eagerly await the next one (the free one). I guess in a way I’m really just spending $8.50 per box for these first two.
What do you think about this concept?
I like the appeal of subscription boxes because it’s always fun seeing what mystery items were sent. I tried NatureBox a few months ago because they had an option to order a free sample box and just pay a couple of dollars shipping. The snacks they sent were good, but when I weighed out the subscription price ($19.99 for 5 snacks), it just didn’t make sense because to spend that much on snacks I may not really enjoy– their system is a little different because you add snacks you want to receive to a “pantry” and then once you’ve selected 5 or more they ship out a box based on the shipping frequency schedule you’ve selected. I decided that if I really wanted a fancy snack, I could just visit the fancy grocery store and only have to buy one thing instead of 5.
The only subscription box service that I use now is BirchBox, which is a company that sends out at least 5 high-quality beauty samples and sometimes full size products for $10/month. Each item you review gives you points that translate into gift cards at their online store, and I’ve had fun trying out new shampoos, skincare, and makeup stuff. (They have a men’s line too, which I think is a little more per box.)
That’s true–there is something fun about opening the box (and getting surprises in the mail is always great).
Yeah, it was the Birchbox model I was thinking of at the end. It seems like the perfect match for novelty sweets and treats.
I’m too frugal to try something like this but I think its viable.
For one, its a treat. You spend more on it and its novel, not just something out of a vending machine at work.
For two, its a package, so you expect to pay more and get something different than by going to straubs.
cool concept and now I know how much you like chocolate.
You? Out of chocolate!? Haha, I don’t believe you! You are like make out of chocolate.
Would I spend money on Treatsie boxes? Probably not since it takes me months to finish a bag of chocolate. A box like that months to a year. Would I spend money on a product of two? Yes! That bag of chocolate espresso cookies looks delicious. And that grasshopper pie chocolate bar. Oh, and those hazelnut dragee. *Drool*