Blade subscription from Above the Tie.

[Above The Tie]

We at Above the Tie are considering a subscription blade service. Here is how it would work. You would select a brand of blades from our website. We would ship these blades at a predetermined interval. There would be no need for you to reorder. For example, we could automatically send you two packs of Derbys once a month. This would save you time and eliminate one more task from your busy schedule. Please let me know what you think of this potential service. If enough interest is present, we will seek to offer this service.
Thanks for your input.
Stan
www.abovethetie.com

 

[dcobranchi]

People buy blades a pack or two at a time? Really? Judging by what's posted around here I thought the minimum was 600 blades or so.

 

[RF1963]

A carton of 100 blades would last me nearly two years so buying blades isn't a major "task in (my) busy schedule". I know which blades I like and hold a decent stockpile of them. I think both these statements are applicable to many members here. I see no advantage in this scheme. I've seen a similar proposal for malt whisky where annual subscription results in a different bottle sent out every couple of months (the level of subscription determining frequency of posting and a guide value for the bottle). I'm not sure that I want to try a new blade every couple of months, though I'd happily try a different bottle of malt whisky every couple of months!

 

[TheVez2]

That doesn't really sound like a useful concept to me. One thing that does sound interesting is a blade of the month subscription. Each month they get 15 blades of a new and different brand shipped to them.

 

[Lexbomb]

wouldn't the postage be more than the blades on a monthly basis? I mean before I went to straights a loved feathers and sharks, so i bought 100 of each. I now have about 75 of each but thats not the point. Buying 2 packs a month just doesn't seem worth it to me. I hated the fact that once a month I had to go to the supermarket and spend $8583.43 on 3 Gillette mach 4 ultra turbo cold fusion mega AAA hyper 9 blade super shaves. Now I never have to do that again. But a pack a month. maybe 10 packs a year...I don't think that will work. sorry

I just checked postage on your website. Now I'm from that strange place with kangaroos and koalas (they aren't bears)...we do have drop bears though.
So I check postage for [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Phoenix Arizona 85001. On your site 2 packs of derby's are $6 and postage is $5 so we would be paying almost the same price on postage...so thats $132 per year on 120 blades. so $1.1 a blade. Or on horrible eBay I can get 100 blade and a free stick of arko for $9.95 (pretty much 10 cents a blade) posted all the way from America to Australia (I couldn't work out how to get a shipping quote to Phoenix with an Australian ebay account but free postage is free postage.) Or for $25 I can get 200 with free postage OR FOR 1000 I can get them for $87 with free postage and thats just with a simple eBay search.

I hope that this post doesn't come out as rude because please believe that it wasn't intended that way. It just seems to me that you didn't really think this through. I used to subscribe to a monthly wine list, every month I got a dozen random wines that would always come to around a certain value; the selection was great but because the owner of this business had such a large buying power the savings where huge! I was getting bottles of $25 red for $8. If the same subscription was selling me bottles of red for $40 that I could buy elsewhere for $8 then I wouldn't have ever signed up, unfortunately for you I feel that you are doing the latter. You need to be able to offer us something that we cant get elsewhere.We are all addicted shavers and have no qualms what so ever about buying blades in the 100's

Thanks Alex[/FONT]

 

[insomniac]

That doesn't really sound like a useful concept to me. One thing that does sound interesting is a blade of the month subscription. Each month they get 15 blades of a new and different brand shipped to them.

That would be interesting. Maybe make a "premium" version with relatively expensive blades only (Feathers, 7 o'clock blues, etc.) and a value one (Sharks, Astras, Derbys, etc.)

 

[brucered]

That would be interesting. Maybe make a "premium" version with relatively expensive blades only (Feathers, 7 o'clock blues, etc.) and a value one (Sharks, Astras, Derbys, etc.)

+1 exactly what i was thinking.

and why stop at Blade of the Month, why not Cream/Soap of the month. with Discontinued Blades/offerings to members, to lure people in.

as for the auto-ship of the same blade in 10-20ct, i can't see anyone wanting to do it. you can order 100 feathers for $27 shipped and 100 astras for $15 shipped, why would i want to break that up over the course of a year

 

[kingfisher]

I must be the only one that buys blades in small quantities. The largest blade orders I've ever placed are that I once bought 50 Feathers and I once bought 25 Kais. Other than that, I buy blades 10-20 at a time. Maybe I'm just crazy.

I think the idea of the blade sampler might be interesting. Maybe 5 blades every month? Different types each month?

 

[TheVez2]

I buy my blades 10-20 at a time, but I buy them locally. If I was placing an order and paying shipping, I'd want to order enough that I wouldn't need to do that again for a while.

 

[SteveWY]

If "Above the Tie" is doing marketing research then my vote is... "No, thanks!" Product auto-delivery programs basically are to the benefit of the vendor, rarely the consumer. Negatives: You end up with more than you needed and have to do a "stop delivery" for a time, it limits exploring new products and shopping for better value deals, and as others have said if you have already found your blade then buy in bulk and save at least 50% over small packs. IMO of course.

 

[mcole]

I hated the fact that once a month I had to go to the supermarket and spend $8583.43 on 3 Gillette mach 4 ultra turbo cold fusion mega AAA hyper 9 blade super shaves.

I think they are over $10K now... economy.

 

[Custermustache]

I think the "mystery blade club" would be better, with a package of blades of different types shipped at the user requested interval. It could drive bulk blade sales try it, like it, buy it.