Unclutterer

1. Posted by Steph - 04/11/2008

   Is super saver shipping not an option with Amazon Grocery? It seems to be with the coffee you linked (good choice, btw). Almost any grocery order is going to be more than $25 since you’re buying in bulk.

2. Posted by Pat - 04/11/2008

   Have you had any issues with “weird” charges to you credit card when you order from Amazon. I had an issue about a year ago in that every time I ordered from Amazon I got a charge on my credit card for about $7.95 from some outfit called “Funtime” or something similar. It has been a while and I don’t remember the details but it was very annoying and took several phone calls to get the charges removed.

3. Posted by Eric Hanneken - 04/11/2008

   I just checked Amazon’s cereal prices, and they seem high to me. $28.61 for seven 25.5 oz boxes of Kellog’s Raisin Bran? That’s $4.09 per box. Subscribing brings the unit cost down to $3.47, but that’s still no bargain compared to what grocery stores charge around here, and they don’t make you buy seven at a time. Maybe Californians are used to those prices, but I’m not.

4. Posted by Meredith - 04/11/2008

   Hey, let’s not forget about Tuscan Whole Milk.

   I’m sorry. I had to.

5. Posted by Kate - 04/11/2008

   I agree with Eric.

   I did a price check on a few of the cereals and they were very expensive – not worth it IMHO

6. Posted by mac - 04/11/2008

   Is there any environmental issue here? Where are these products shipped from? If we’re wasting fuel to ship toilet paper across state lines, I say forget it. Better to shlep a mile in your car and deal with the grocery store (or better yet, walk!)

7. Posted by Shalin - 04/11/2008

   Awesome idea! Now…I wonder if I can have a subscription for the ingredients for my homemade chocolates…

   Best,
   Shalin

8. Posted by Jessica T - 04/11/2008

   I’m with mac — there IS an environmental issue here. Obviously making ONE TRIP to the store to buy all of these things is more efficient than having several individual deliveries to your house.

   There is a high cost to planet & the rest of us on it for subscribers to save that 15%!

9. Posted by Kate - 04/11/2008

   I spotchecked the laundry detergent and paper goods that I usually buy – Amazon’s price for my HE Tide detergent is $5/jug more than my local grocery’s, the Scott paper towel 12-pack is $6/pack more, and my household uses toilet paper twice as fast if it’s Seventh Generation rather than Charmin Ultra Strong.

   I was excited by Subscribe & Save because I’m an Amazon Prime member, but the mark-up is absolutely not worth the convenience.

10. Posted by Jennifer D - 04/11/2008

    It might actually be better for the environment to have something delivered by a truck making a route of stops every half mile or so, rather than making a 2-mile round trip to the store yourself.
    There was a British study that it was (because of local livestock feeding practices) four times better for the environment for Brits to buy lamb shipped from New Zealand than local lamb from just down the street:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08.....=permalink
    Real environmental impacts can be completely counter-intuitive.

11. Posted by Steph - 04/11/2008

    Mac and Jessica – how do you think those products get to the store?

12. Posted by Steven - 04/11/2008

    It sounds nice, and it might save money, but at the expense of your local economy. All that money you would have spent at the store down the road is now leaving the state, and in lot’s of cases you don’t even have to pay sales tax on Amazon, which means even more money lost for your state and community.

13. Posted by Wendy - 04/11/2008

    What about the excess packaging? Amazon seems to over-pack most of the stuff I order, so I would tend to avoid getting single item orders just so I would have to worry about reusing or recycling the packaging.

14. Posted by Mom of 4 - 04/11/2008

    Danger, Will Robinson! Amazon’s prices, even with the 15% discount, are at least 30% higher that the warehouse club on several items I investigated. You’re paying a very high premium for convenience! Besides, aren’t you still going to make a trip to the warehouse club anyway, for perishables?

15. Posted by Erin Doland - 04/11/2008

    @Steven — I would agree that Jerry is in favor of helping locally owned businesses, but I can’t name a single grocery store in the DC area that isn’t part of a national chain (Kroger, Safeway, Harris Teeter, etc.). Even many of our ethnic grocers are owned by large chains (GrandMart, Super H Mart, etc.). It’s not like New York or small towns that have mom and pop stores.

16. Posted by Steven - 04/11/2008

    I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, and now I live Brooklyn, so I’m fond of mom and pop stores and I try to avoid chains. However, even if you shop at a chain your sales taxes are going to your state and your community. So, if you live in one of the states where Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax your community is losing money. But, if you do pay sales tax on your Amazon purchases subscribe away, and support the independent stores in other ways.

17. Posted by jgodsey - 04/11/2008

    the prices aren’t always better.
    Scott Toilet tissue in the store is 65-75 cents a roll for 20 roll packs.
    from Amazon it is over a dollar each for the 20 roll packs

18. Posted by Allison - 04/11/2008

    I agree that the prices don’t look like too much of a bargain. And I agree with the environmental comments – especially since it looks like your subscription gets you a case of smaller packages (the 7th gen toilet paper looks like each roll comes individually wrapped!), rather than bulk, plastic-saving packaging.

    However, if anyone is going to try the subscription, they are having a promotion this month for “earth-friendly” products. You can save an extra $20 on $99 of items: http://tinyurl.com/6o3xt2

19. Posted by ShopLittleGifts - 04/11/2008

    Genius. I’m definitely doing this. It’s just not very fun going to the grocery store to pick up all the boring stuff. Great idea!

20. Posted by Jesse - 04/11/2008

    In my area there are two grocery store chains that offer online shopping now. It works very similar to Amazon’s service, but you have the choice to go pick up your waiting order or have it delivered for a small fee. In the end, you save time by not walking around for an hour inside the physcial store.

    The two grocery chains are both in Oklahoma, and you can check them out at these websites: http://www.mypyramidonline.com/ and http://reasors.com/

    I haven’t tried them yet since both services are fairly new, but I plan to check them out soon. Maybe one of your local grocers offers a similar service.

21. Posted by angela - 04/11/2008

    At first I thought this was worth it for a toilet paper subscription alone, but they don’t carry my brand. I went through to see which of “my brands” they carried and I saw Viva and All Free & Clear right off the bat, so I got excited. But then I did the math, and there is really no savings. I have a Costco membership, so I will stick with that.

22. Posted by Eric Hanneken - 04/11/2008

    Steven, may I suggest a solution? Donate the money you don’t pay in taxes to your local and state governments; I’m sure they’d accept it. Speaking for myself, I can think of worthier causes.

23. Posted by Eric Hanneken - 04/11/2008

    Hm. I think my phrasing was unclear. I should have wrote, “Take the money you don’t pay in taxes and donate it to your local and state governments.”

24. Posted by CM - 04/11/2008

    I do Amazon subscribe and save for diapers — no more constant watching for sales and coupon-clipping. Shipping is free.

25. Posted by Dan N. - 04/11/2008

    We’ve avoided it, not because things are expensive (and they seem to be), but because buying four boxes of breadcrumbs was going to be too much clutter for our pantry. I’m down with the idea, though: sell smaller quantities, get that overhead down, and let me make the most of my $79 Prime subscription.

26. Posted by Kristianna - 04/11/2008

    One thing I found that made my foray into this service less ’scary’ was to subscribe, but underestimate the frequency of delivery. You can always change it — and then you don’t end up forgetting you told them to send you 75 rolls of TP every 45 days. And then you know how often you really need it when you run out and can adjust–since for some of us, it was our first time *having* that much toilet paper at one time (or whatever product).

    The “Prime” membership is a wonderful thing and entirely worth it — more so with the cost of gas these days.

27. Posted by Paul - 04/11/2008

    Hey Eric H, By New York State law, anything you order from out of state by catalog or online you have to pay NYS tax on. There’s a line in the NYS tax forms for catalog/online purchases. Major red flag if left blank or small. Think of it as the government appreciated your donation idea.

28. Posted by Jerry Brito - 04/11/2008

    Regarding price: if you compare product to product between Amazon and your local store, you may indeed find that Amazon charges more. But I suggest you compare product class to product class. If you’re not picky about which brand you use you’ll find good deals.

    Also, its useful to understand that this isn’t all-or-nothing thing. It’s not for everybody, but that doesn’t meant it’s not a good idea for some. It’s also not for every item, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good for some staples.

    @steph You know, since I have Amazon Prime I don’t know if Super Saver Shipping applies to groceries or not, but I imagine it does for some things.

    @pat Nope. Never had any mystery charges.

    @erin Nope. I don’t care about helping local anything. I’m interested in convenience and price — and postponing taxes.

29. Posted by Cole - 04/11/2008

    A note, Paul is right, you are supposed to pay state and local sales tax on all goods bought through the mail. Not just New York, but any state. (Any state I know of anyway) When ordering across state lines like that, it is the consumers duty to pay the tax instead of the stores. Any laws that you have heard about “taxing the internet” are typically about moving the burden of collecting the tax from the buyer to the seller.

    You are essentially cheating on your taxes by not tracking that and paying it. Most people don’t seem to have a problem sleeping at night when they don’t pay them though.

30. Posted by allen - 04/11/2008

    I was going to post that when i did my taxes this year, Turbo Tax asked me if i made any online purchases in my state tax form, reminding me that i owed tht money.

    For me; I live alone, and my condo is relativly small: I don’t have the space for many of their options, and i don’t go through them fast enough even at their twice a year option. That being said, i have bought from them in the past, and would again in the future. Just make sure to do your homework, to know if you’re getting a good deal. That simple.

31. Posted by nina - 04/11/2008

    I like the idea, but the hassle of tying up all those cardboard boxes with twine and lugging them to the curb seems worse than a trip to the store to me.

32. Posted by Karen H - 04/11/2008

    Another vote for prices much higher (in some cases double) then my regional chain grocery and yes I know that the items are trucked in to that store. However, I have to go to that store anyway to buy perishable items and items not available from Amazon. The only convenience to me is shaving a few steps off my regular shopping trip. Then there’s storing the large quantities of product and disposing of all the packaging. More of a hassle than a convenience for me. Maybe there are some people for whom this works, but not for me.

33. Posted by Bull - 04/11/2008

    You don’t need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber. Check this out from the FAQ, with emphasis on the last sentence:

    What is Subscribe & Save?

    Subscribe & Save is a feature that allows you to set up automatic reorders of products you use frequently, on a schedule convenient for you, and at a discount on Amazon.com’s everyday low price. All Subscribe & Save orders are shipped for free using standard shipping.

    http://tinyurl.com/55xkfj

34. Posted by Bill - 04/11/2008

    PS– I think that just might be the first time I’ve misspelled my own first name.

35. Posted by LEC - 04/11/2008

    Yikes. Loved the idea, and wanted it to work…but jeez, their prices are through the roof! I kept thinking that maybe it was just one item, and so checked the prices of others. Nope. Amazon’s grocery shopping feature is uniformly more expensive than my local supermarket or Costco warehouse store. I think I’ll just buy locally and forgo another opportunity to waste hard earned cash, and hard to come by resources (like the fuel that gets that toilet paper across the country to my bathroom). And don’t even get me started on the ultimate rip-off: the Amazon Prime membership that Uncluttered is hawking at the end of this post. My experience with Amazon Prime is that the lure of “free 2-day shipping” had me ordering books by the score, but the promised 2-day shipping was rarely kept on Amazon’s part. On the whole, this post seems out of place on this site: less about minimizing and uncluttering, and more about the continued american quest for greater and faster acquisition. You know, the problem that brought us all to this site in the first place?

36. Posted by Dean - 04/11/2008

    I love this idea! I already get my coffee and spices (yes, spices!) online, so why not my cereal? Although, I agree with the comments above that there doesn’t appear to be a substantial savings on cereal or some of the other staples. So, I’d probably just do it out of convenience to avoid lugging certain things home from the grocery store each time I go.

37. Posted by Kathy - 04/12/2008

    Hi, I just stumbled into your blog via finslippy…peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite too.

38. Posted by Alex Fayle - 04/12/2008

    I’m almost always against bulk purchases. But then again I also advocate against having a lot of space. Unless you are a very disciplined self-organizer (or have the money to hired someone) lots of available space and bulk purchases often create clutter and forgotten purchases.

    And of course, the larger the home, the more energy you use – buy in smaller portions and keep the cost of storage in one central place.

    Do you really need your home to be stocked like a army’s quartermaster’s stores?

    Cheers,
    Alex

39. Posted by purlyshell - 04/12/2008

    Certainly not much of an uncluttering practice for me because much of it is in bulk. I have no idea where I’d put 18 boxes of Kleenex in our 525 sq. ft. condo. On hubby’s side of the bed, I guess. Good idea for those with the space, like those with Midwestern-sized houses, but not practical for urban dwellers, even those without a car. For now, we’ll continue to take the Zipcar to Target once a month.

40. Posted by Stephen - 04/12/2008

    Subscribe and save is great feature. I have gone through a few cycles, and everything has worked perfectly. They even send you a reminder notice before it ships, so that if you don’t need it, you can push back or skip the shipment.

    I did find a site that lets you search the Subscribe & save items, which made things a lot easier.

    It is http://www.product-place.net . You can also use this site to search Amazon just for free shipping items.

    While some items are more expensive, some are much cheaper. I do agree the cereal is expensive.

41. Posted by Recovering Food Waster - 04/12/2008

    I can beat their prices handily by shopping sales at my grocery store(the most I ever pay for a box of cereal is $2, and it’s usually more like $1) And since, at least at this point in life, I seem to have more time than money, I’m not going to use Amazon for groceries.

42. Posted by Chris - 04/12/2008

    Ewwww… What about the environmental impact…. Go green… Global Warming… Would you like some wine with that?

    Who the hell cares!? Get over yourselves, you are subscribing (like my use of subscribing?) to the biggest scam ever known to man. Global Warming is not real. Get over it. Step giving everyone extra money just to get green. That saying makes me sick! Green. Good lord people are you all gulible!?

43. Posted by Katharine - 04/12/2008

    This is great for me at this point in my life. With two small kids, time is more important than money. With a large house that I’ve been clearing out, I have plenty of room in storage areas to keep the bulk. Some of the prices are unreasonable, but for some of the items I usually run out of at inopportune times, the prices are comparable to local prices. I agree that cereal (who pays $4.50 for Cheerios!?!?!)and many other items are too high to even consider buying, due maybe to our lower cost of living here. Also, they don’t yet have many of the brands we use in the subscribe option. This is something I started using today after reading the article, and will watch to see if they offer more brands, or cut prices.

44. Posted by winkleperi - 04/12/2008

    This post sounds like an advertising ploy to me; the writer’s language isn’t remotely similar to other posts I’ve read on unclutterer. What gives? This is so environmentally hazardous that I am speechless. All of that packaging is a complete waste, and what clutter! And supporting Amazon over local businesses? I’m pretty shocked at this post.

45. Posted by Jude - 04/12/2008

    I’ve been using Amazon groceries since it started. I don’t subscribe, though. There are many items I simply can’t find in my small town in rural Colorado. There’s an organic grocery store 60 miles away, and they charge much more than Amazon. I inherited a big house, so I have plenty of room to store everything. I’m also agoraphobic. For me, Amazon groceries, used selectively, is a wonderful thing.

46. Posted by Words Within - 04/13/2008

    I agree with most everyone’s comments.

    This is an environmental issue as well as a cost issue. I shop at a deep discount store in my neighborhood and some of thee prices are almost TRIPLE what they charge.

    No thanks – as much as I hate shopping, I’ll do it to save the money anyday.

47. Posted by Sandy - 04/13/2008

    I have had several subscribe and save items with amazon and am down to one now that I’ll cancel soon too. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I inadvertantly ordered 120 cups of Rice Krispies and they arrived in two large boxes. I live alone and storing the things took up most of my kitchen cabinets. I’m only half way through them and am getting really sick of Rice Krispies. It wasn’t until I got them that I realized how wasteful they really were. I do have bowls. The other subscribe and save item was something I couldn’t find in the store anymore. And now it is unavailable. So unless you really need something and can’t find it in the store, it really is better to buy what you need as you need it.

48. Posted by pj - 04/13/2008

    I don’t get this. The prices are really high and the quantity means that you would have to store tons of stuff. Seems to me this is exactly not what unclutterer is all about.

49. Posted by Celeste - 04/14/2008

    The subscription fee would buy an awful lot of groceries. But mainly, I am away from home for a long day and the packages would be sitting outdoors waiting for me to arrive home; I don’t have a covered porch. I don’t want to have to worry about my stuff getting damaged in the weather. Theft is not likely considering my location. Having the packages held for pickup completely defeats the purpose of not going out shopping for them.

    I’m sure it’s a boon to somebody (mostly somebody who is at home and who has mobility/scheduling issues) but I could not make this viable for my situation.

50. Posted by PJ Doland - 04/14/2008

    Doing this also helps curb the impulse purchases you might otherwise make when buying these items in a local brick and mortar store.

51. Posted by Shelly - 04/14/2008

    I share a house with 6 people in downtown San Francisco. We run out of toilet paper or paper towels on an almost weekly basis, and end up paying really high prices at local stores to replace them. This is going to be great for us.

52. Posted by Kim - 04/16/2008

    The value of subscribe and save/amazon grocery varies depending on the product. We set up a subscription for powerbars, which works out to be cheaper than purchasing them individually or by the box at local stores (warehouse stores never carry the specific type/flavor of powerbars we like), even factoring in sale prices. I’ve also found that premium tea is typically cheaper on amazon than the same brand would cost direct from the manufacturer or at specialty stores.

53. Posted by Katharine - 04/17/2008

    Just a follow up…I subscribed to eight items, and promptly received eight boxes. Is there any way to have them ship the items together? The good news-I will never run out of Q-tips again!

54. Posted by lisbet - 04/20/2008

    Hm, I was intrigued (really inconvenient to get to a decent grocery store at my end of the city), but they don’t have my cleaning products yet- the Mrs Meyer’s wipes I use, for example. Or, they stock them but only sell them in large quantities and unfortunately I live in a very small apartment with no storage. I would have nowhere to put 24 bottles of cleaning spray or 48 rolls of TP.

    I’ll have to wait until they add more items/ smaller packs.

55. Posted by Sentient Meat - 04/22/2008

    I do my best to avoid any subscription services of any kind. Cell phone and eMusic, no real choice there. But most other things – I’ll just be less aware that I’m spending the money. I’m going to hit the store anyway for perishables. So why not get my TP or coffee then? And psychologically I feel the sting of buying more, so maybe I’ll spend less elsewhere.

56. Posted by Anne - 05/01/2008

    I currently use Subscribe & Save, and was delighted to see an article about it.

    My two cents is this: compare the size/quantity of the items to what you can get in your local stores, and then decide if it’s worth it. You’re not committing to getting everything you ever use that’s non-perishable, you’re just letting the service help you with a few items!

    There are some products that, in the big city I live in, are totally overpriced in the stores I can get to anyway. So Amazon’s S&S – with the additional 10-15% off for subscribing (& FREE shipping) – is generally cheaper, or about the same. This isn’t true of all items, certainly. But if you’re like me and don’t have a car and have to hike whatever you purchase a mile to your apartment, you appreciate saving the time and trips.

    As for the packaging and shipping – pretty sure the mailman comes each day whether or not I get a package from Amazon… and you can use the boxes for storage, shipping items to friends, etc.

    It’s not a perfect system, but I’m grateful it’s available.

57. Posted by mike - 05/24/2008

    we do for diapers and baby wipes. easy – pretty steady pace of consumption – plus it was cheaper in the end. show up on the from door and up to the closet. suppose when we get potty trained we can move up to toilet paper

58. Posted by Eric - 01/11/2009

    The environmental concern here is actually laughable. Around the world, people drink contaminated water, burn dung for heat, etc. China and India are doing nothing to curb greenhouse emissions and do not intend change that. Yet, people here are concerned about the harm shipping a package might do to the environment. If you are that concerned, do something major – help the third world instead of feeling sanctimonious because you helped the world by not ordering online. Amazing.

59. Posted by James - 04/13/2009

    Got a question about the environmental impact of shipping the items.

    If you think less gas is used by buying stuff from your local store, how does the stuff appear in your local store.

    Magical fairy transport?

60. Posted by Gee No - 05/15/2009

    I like the idea if not the prices. Prices seem a bit high to me. In my area state and local sales taxes add an extra 9% to anything I buy at the store so any time I can buy something online with free shipping at a great price, I’m all over it. Yes, my state does ask me to pay a 4% “consumer’s use tax” on items bought out of state which I calculate on my yearly income taxes. Still saves me 5% the local municipalities gouge me at the local stores. If I thought any form of taxes [state, local, federal, sales] were ever put to their best use, I wouldn’t mind forking out the money. Tremendous amount of waste at all levels. To those municipalities who are losing out on the opportunity to waste more of my tax dollars? I say, “deal”!

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