4 ms·

In the last big Blue Apron thread I participated in, I found it a bit suspicious how many people were just rabid about the company, the product, and the service

by mmmpop 9y ago

In the last big Blue Apron thread I participated in, I found it a bit suspicious how many people were just rabid about the company, the product, and the service and how it was "simply gourmet and such better food than [insert fast casual chain]" and "how dare you compare the quality!", etc. I'm not so paranoid to think that the whole crowd were interested/biased parties, but I can't help wonder if they've convinced themselves that the absurd cost is actually worth it. I've tried it and I don't find the quality to even as good than that of say, Modern Market or some other slightly-upscale eatery.

nilkn 9y ago
Blue Apron seems to inspire surprisingly passionate discussions here. Detractors tend to be very negative and even a bit hostile, and I suspect that maybe puts fans of the service on the defensive or makes them feel like they have to praise it more than it really deserves. So far this thread is very civil though. I've tried it and enjoyed it. I found it to be a high-quality service. Negative points were (1) trash; (2) I didn't like most of the vegetarian meals, and I'm trending towards a more vegetarian diet; (3) I prefer to cook simple meals at home that generate leftovers (so that I don't have to cook every night), but BA meals tend to be complex, messy to prepare, and do not create any leftovers. These three points were easily sufficient to stop me from using it long-term. (1) is a topic of a lot of argument. Some insist BA creates mass amounts of waste compared to normal grocery shopping. Others contend the difference is much smaller or even nonexistent when looking at "average" grocery shoppers. I'm in the middle. I think the waste is exaggerated, but still greater than what the average shopper would produce.
- sokoloff 9y ago
  We used it for about 6 months (or maybe a little more) a few years ago. I got it for my wife who enjoys cooking and enjoyed the "semi-forced" variety. Several of the meals (or close variants) are now in our regular rotation at home. I'd say we were glad on balance that we tried it. Cons: Incredibly expensive for what you get. (Obviously; they're paying a large amount for shipping and a large amount for marketing.) Ingredients were generally acceptable quality, the chicken was quite good but the beef was pretty uniformly terrible. (I often thought back to Rodney Dangerfield's quote in Caddyshack: "this steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it!") After a few months, the variety/novelty factor wears off and then it just becomes an incredibly expensive way to get a small amount of groceries delivered. I don't want to seem like I'm grinding an axe, but it also annoyed me greatly that there's no web UX accessible way to cancel your account online. (You have to call and talk to a human.) Solution: google for the hidden cancellation page or just remember every few weeks to google "blue apron" or "plated" and click on a paid ad to bring you to the site and cancel the deliveries for the next six weeks. :) That makes their churn numbers look lower, but their SEM expenses higher...
  - freehunter 9y ago
    Weird, I canceled Blue Apron twice from their website. Maybe they removed that because it was too easy to cancel.
- Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
  Regarding point (3). I don't want to pay double (for double portions) just to have leftovers. I was doing the 3x dishes (2 portions per dish) for $60. However, if you double the cost to $120 -- it makes way more sense to go the grocery store since prices drop with increased quantity. Their pricing model is messed up. If you want double portions for all three meals, it shouldn't cost twice as much -- it should be, like, 30% more of something comparable to grocery store pricing.
greglindahl 9y ago
Do you think that referring to "absurd cost" is going to result in a good discussion?
- humanrebar 9y ago
  ...and it's not really that absurd, even, compared to eating out or throwing away spoiled groceries because you bought too much or didn't get around to cooking it. You can, and many people do, eat much more cheaply, but many people don't for various reasons.
smackfu 9y ago
When people are very hostile to customers and say they are wasting their money, the customers tend to get very defensive and say they are not.
DrScump 9y ago
They popped up on so many talk radio shows with each host himself voicing first-person experience ads (even John Batchelor), it turned me off right away. Lifelock, Proflowers, and that beet company use the same strategy. That advertising just has a snake-oil feel to it.
- freehunter 9y ago
  Listen to any podcast and you'll hear about Casper, Audible, Harry's Razor, and Blue Apron so much you'll forget what the actual podcast was about. I don't think there are any companies advertising with podcasts beyond those four.
  - rhino369 9y ago
    Don't forget Lootcrate--get cartoon junk sent to your house every week for some reason.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    I wasn't referring to within the podcast; I meant during OTA broadcasting.
    - freehunter 9y ago
      Yeah I was just pointing out another medium where advertising has become a monster with the help of just a small number of companies.
  - DiabloD3 9y ago
    The way these companies advertise is largely why I'll never do business with them (same with Lootcrate). If you have to advertise that much to get me to be a customer, then you're essentially telling me your user experience is shit, and your product/service is shit, and the only way to get customers that you haven't poisoned with a bad experience is to constantly spam. They're literally paying for advertisements to not do business with them. Dunno how that makes sense to do.

by mmmpop 9y ago

nilkn 9y ago

Blue Apron seems to inspire surprisingly passionate discussions here. Detractors tend to be very negative and even a bit hostile, and I suspect that maybe puts fans of the service on the defensive or makes them feel like they have to praise it more than it really deserves. So far this thread is very civil though. I've tried it and enjoyed it. I found it to be a high-quality service. Negative points were (1) trash; (2) I didn't like most of the vegetarian meals, and I'm trending towards a more vegetarian diet; (3) I prefer to cook simple meals at home that generate leftovers (so that I don't have to cook every night), but BA meals tend to be complex, messy to prepare, and do not create any leftovers. These three points were easily sufficient to stop me from using it long-term. (1) is a topic of a lot of argument. Some insist BA creates mass amounts of waste compared to normal grocery shopping. Others contend the difference is much smaller or even nonexistent when looking at "average" grocery shoppers. I'm in the middle. I think the waste is exaggerated, but still greater than what the average shopper would produce.

sokoloff 9y ago
We used it for about 6 months (or maybe a little more) a few years ago. I got it for my wife who enjoys cooking and enjoyed the "semi-forced" variety. Several of the meals (or close variants) are now in our regular rotation at home. I'd say we were glad on balance that we tried it. Cons: Incredibly expensive for what you get. (Obviously; they're paying a large amount for shipping and a large amount for marketing.) Ingredients were generally acceptable quality, the chicken was quite good but the beef was pretty uniformly terrible. (I often thought back to Rodney Dangerfield's quote in Caddyshack: "this steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it!") After a few months, the variety/novelty factor wears off and then it just becomes an incredibly expensive way to get a small amount of groceries delivered. I don't want to seem like I'm grinding an axe, but it also annoyed me greatly that there's no web UX accessible way to cancel your account online. (You have to call and talk to a human.) Solution: google for the hidden cancellation page or just remember every few weeks to google "blue apron" or "plated" and click on a paid ad to bring you to the site and cancel the deliveries for the next six weeks. :) That makes their churn numbers look lower, but their SEM expenses higher...
- freehunter 9y ago
  Weird, I canceled Blue Apron twice from their website. Maybe they removed that because it was too easy to cancel.
Y7ZCQtNo39 9y ago
Regarding point (3). I don't want to pay double (for double portions) just to have leftovers. I was doing the 3x dishes (2 portions per dish) for $60. However, if you double the cost to $120 -- it makes way more sense to go the grocery store since prices drop with increased quantity. Their pricing model is messed up. If you want double portions for all three meals, it shouldn't cost twice as much -- it should be, like, 30% more of something comparable to grocery store pricing.

greglindahl 9y ago

Do you think that referring to "absurd cost" is going to result in a good discussion?

humanrebar 9y ago
...and it's not really that absurd, even, compared to eating out or throwing away spoiled groceries because you bought too much or didn't get around to cooking it. You can, and many people do, eat much more cheaply, but many people don't for various reasons.

smackfu 9y ago

When people are very hostile to customers and say they are wasting their money, the customers tend to get very defensive and say they are not.

DrScump 9y ago

They popped up on so many talk radio shows with each host himself voicing first-person experience ads (even John Batchelor), it turned me off right away. Lifelock, Proflowers, and that beet company use the same strategy. That advertising just has a snake-oil feel to it.

freehunter 9y ago
Listen to any podcast and you'll hear about Casper, Audible, Harry's Razor, and Blue Apron so much you'll forget what the actual podcast was about. I don't think there are any companies advertising with podcasts beyond those four.
- rhino369 9y ago
  Don't forget Lootcrate--get cartoon junk sent to your house every week for some reason.
- DrScump 9y ago
  I wasn't referring to within the podcast; I meant during OTA broadcasting.
  - freehunter 9y ago
    Yeah I was just pointing out another medium where advertising has become a monster with the help of just a small number of companies.
- DiabloD3 9y ago
  The way these companies advertise is largely why I'll never do business with them (same with Lootcrate). If you have to advertise that much to get me to be a customer, then you're essentially telling me your user experience is shit, and your product/service is shit, and the only way to get customers that you haven't poisoned with a bad experience is to constantly spam. They're literally paying for advertisements to not do business with them. Dunno how that makes sense to do.