Blew $60 on a sketchbook subscription box and got 3 months of junk

I signed up for this curated art supply box thing back in April because the ads made it look like you'd get these premium notebooks and exclusive tools. First month came with this tiny spiral pad that had weird toothy paper that tore if you looked at it wrong, plus a set of markers that dried out after like 2 sketches. Second month was worse - a bunch of sticky post-it style paper that wouldn't even hold to my wall and some pencils that snapped at the tip every time I sharpened them. I kept thinking maybe the next box would be better, like I was just unlucky, but by month three I had a pile of unusable garbage taking up space on my desk. Total waste of $60 over 3 months when I could have just walked into Blick and picked out exactly what I needed for half that. Anyone else fall for those subscription trap boxes or am I the only sucker here?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_walker5711d ago

oh man that reminds me of the time I bought one of those "mystery grab bags" from a craft store and got a bag of weird shaped beads that were all sticky and smelled like old glue lmao. subscription boxes are basically gambling at this point.

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riley5811d ago

Yeah the "basically gambling" thing is spot on but I think people are missing the bigger picture with these. It's not just that you're rolling dice on what you get, it's that these companies are literally banking on sunk cost psychology. Once you sign up for a 3 or 6 month commitment, you feel like you have to stick with it even if the first box is garbage. And the really shady part nobody talks about is how they use those first "curated" boxes to get you hooked, then slowly replace the good stuff with overstock junk nobody wanted. I'd bet half these companies are just repackaging returns and clearance items from other stores.