They're cute, they're fun, they're the epitome of millennial consumption. These days, you can get a subscription box for so many different product categories - food, razors, beauty products, organic pantry items, wines - and even just for states of being, like the "single people's box" and the "mother box".
I'm all about 'treat yo'self', and I subscribed to a box like this for a long time, so I totally get the appeal. It's like someone is sending you a surprise present every month. Who wouldn't want that? The issue is - like most things in life - there's a trade off.
Pro: All that stuff I just mentioned. Fun, amazing, great, surprise, treat.
Pro: Great way to try out new products without committing to the full size. The box I subscribed to was organic beauty/sustainable living products. A sample of a shiny expensive eye serum that is normally $500000 is a great way to see if you it before you splurge.
Con: There's no way on god's green earth that I'm going to splurge on that overpriced eye serum anyway, so what was the point of the sample? Also I swear I will never say splurge again.
Con: It's a lot of packaging. A LOT. The box itself, the little card that tells you about all the products, then the products themselves. They're more often than not packaged in plastic or aluminium foil packets that can't be recycled. No self-respecting #zerowaster could have one of these subscription boxes and still use the hashtag.
Con: You don't get to choose what's in there. I realise that's half the point, but it also means that you now have 45 lipstick samples in your drawer that you're never going to use because you don't wear lipstick. What's the point in having a konjac and activated charcoal face sponge if you don't actually want or need a konjac and activated charcoal face sponge? It's like the antichrist of minimalism.
Pro: I'll be honest, you do get some cool things in there. In the last box I got before I cancelled, I got a set of 3 produce bags for waste-free grocery shopping. And I've used them every grocery shop since.
Con: Those produce bags were something I was looking at buying anyway. So it saved me time, and potentially some money, but it's not like I discovered a life-changing product that I never would have found otherwise.
Overall?
A win for indulgence/excitement/trying expensive products you cant otherwise afford - but a loss for the environment/minimalism/my desperate attempts to sever my internal links between material acquisition and happiness.
Go figure ;)
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