Saving Time & Money Shopping for Essentials (Amazon.com Subscribe & Save)

I don’t know about you but I do not like shopping, even for essentials such as food and toiletries. I try to shop at one store and to do it as quick as possible. For groceries, Trader Joe’s is where I buy almost everything I eat. For toiletries and other household items I usually go to Target as needed, although it is out of the way of my daily commute.

I live on my own so I do not go through toiletries  very quickly. And, although I cook for almost every meal, I cannot buy a lot of food at once since it will spoil. This leaves me stopping to buy groceries usually twice a week in order to have fresh vegetables, fruit and meat in my fridge. While not a huge inconvenience I rather spend my time doing something else.

Delivery to your home.

I’ve considered using PeaPod.com (by Stop & Shop) to order my groceries and other household items online and have them delivered on a regular basis but decided against it for the following reasons:

• Poor selection available

• Average prices at best

• High delivery fee ($6 if the order >$100, otherwise it’s $10 – last I checked anyway)

Using PeaPod would most likely not save me time or money. With their shortened selection, I feel I will have to stop for additional items they do not carry anyway. This might result in a small time savings, if any. While their prices are average, the delivery fee is a deal breaker for me. Feeding only myself and wanting to have fresh produce and meat on hand will result in a delivery of once a week for me, at a minimum. I also will not spend the spend the $100 order minimum in order to receive the reduced delivery charge, which will also increase my cost.

Amazon.com Subscribe & Save

While surfing the web yesterday looking for a deal on body wash and other tolietries, my first stop was Amazon.com (as it usually is). I found a good deal on a 2-pack of Dove body wash (with a free travel size bottle as well). When I went to “Add to Cart” the item, I noticed they have a new option available called “Subscribe & Save.” I immediately investigated this new feature and decided to use it within minutes. It is located on the right side of the page under the “Add to Cart” button for items which qualify.

Basically it works as follows: you select an item, the quantity you would like, and how often you would like it delivered automatically to you (1, 2, 3 or 6 month intervals). In return for subscribing to automatic delivery of this item you receive 15% off the price as well as free shipping! There are no strings attached and you can cancel at any time. You also have the option to skip a shipment or receive a shipment earlier if you are over/understocked on an item. Each item you subscribe to is listed, billed and shipped separately. Upon reading up on it a little more, Amazon says that as time goes on they will ship items together when possible to reduce costs.

I subscribed to the body wash on a monthly basis and to a 90-pack of vitamins I take daily on 3 month schedule. As I deplete my store of household items at home (razor blades, shampoo, deodorant, paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc) I will be adding them to the Subscribe & Save service.

For me, this is exactly what I’m looking for in terms of easy shopping. They have a wide array of products (diapers and baby food for all you parents!) and nonperishable items such as coffee, snack bars, etc. I am hoping that over time they will be able to provide fresh groceries as well via a local market much as PeaPod does, but with a better selection, cheaper prices and free shipping.

Note from editor DK: Anyone else using this?