The Lure of The Big Box
By AnjaP
@Rollo1 (16676)
Boston, Massachusetts
October 20, 2015 7:31am CST
I am not a fan of big box stores. Once in a while I end up going to one of these club stores with my brother or sister, and somehow they rope me into buying something. There's a certain attraction to the thought of buying enough ________________(fill in the blank) to last you a year. Except, you forget that you will still be going to regular supermarkets to buy all the rest of the stuff you normally need, so it really doesn't save you time. I am not even sure it saves money.
Amazon sells things in bulk, too. Today they sent me the usual email about their great deals for the day. Today I decided to look. One item that interested me was a big box of Kleenex. Big box full of little boxes of facial tissues. The perfect gift for Sneezy, if you happen to need to buy gifts for Snow White's little friends. A big box with 12 boxes of facial tissues. The price comes out to be $1.43 per box. Not a terrible price, but you can pick up a box of store brand tissues or even buy these at Walmart for the same or less.
What I find really amazing is that there are 220 reviews. 220 people not only bought a big box of tissues but took the time to review them. And some even had pictures. Because you wouldn't buy facial tissues if they didn't show you photos and explain how to use them, right?
I did see some reviews that expressed buyer's regret. Well, yeah. You paid too much for really small boxes of industrial grade white tissues in plain boxes and found out it didn't do much to change your life for the better. It's all a lie. It's the lure of the big box. Tomorrow, you will still have to go to the store to buy milk and eggs. You haven't improved your life at all.
As for me. Two years after going to a big box store, I still have 3/4 of the big bottle of dry ranch seasoning and dressing powder mix that I paid $8 for. It sounded like such a good deal. Well, at least I will have something to leave to my children in my will.
Do you succumb to the lure of the Big Box? What do you normally buy there? Any buyer's regret over buying something you will never use up in your lifetime?
13 people like this
12 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Oct 15
We used to shop at Sam's Club because our previous dog ate Alpo canned food and buy a case there was cheaper than the grocery store. Once we lost her and now feed the current dog dry cereal we don't shop there and it's too far away now.Those stores give me anxiety!
3 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
20 Oct 15
@Rollo1 We do keep a freezer stocked and Sam's used to have decent meats, but like I siad, it's too far to go.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91129)
• United States
20 Oct 15
@Rollo1 I've considered buying at Prime Pantry but can't seem to find enough to fill a box and pay for shipping
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (54715)
• United States
20 Oct 15
I do like to stock up on toilet paper, dish soap, detergent and such.
2 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
20 Oct 15
I actually do stock up like that. I want enough stuff in my home that if some disaster happened, we could go a month or two on what we have here, so stuff like shampoo and such, I have a stack of bottles, soap, nuts, granola bars etc etc. I just buy 2 of things when I would normally get one. I still have to run to the store for fresh stuff, but the household items I have a stash. My only real concern is water, but we have a stream and I plan on getting us life straws (I have some water cleaning tablets in the stash already)
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
20 Oct 15
I keep a jug of water in the freezer, and I keep a stock of canned goods, flour, sugar, oats, etc. But if we have a disaster, I will worry about being able to eat and not so much about shampooing. But I imagine that there's enough of that for some level of cleanliness. I think the life straws are a good investment.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
20 Oct 15
@Rollo1 Food I had already been working on, beans, rice, staples, etc. I do need to put aside some pans that can handle direct heat too
@Fleura (35062)
• United Kingdom
20 Oct 15
We were tempted by a website that sold short-dated products very cheap. Delivery was by weight so you had to be careful not to buy too many heavy things, but for packets of stuff it was useful. We did go a bit overboard on some things though, we ate packets of Polish 'white borscht' soup for about 3 years and we haven't quite finished the chicken stock cubes yet.
2 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (91129)
• United States
20 Oct 15
I don't shop in the big box stores because there aren't any close to where I live. When my daughter comes to visit I have her bring me coffee because it's so much cheaper to buy at the big box rather than the supermarket. As for tissues, I buy mine at the Dollar Store and they are just as good as those you can get anywhere else. I haven't tried Amazon pantry
2 people like this
@sherryeb (580)
• Duncan, Arizona
21 Oct 15
Oh yeah...I was lured into the big box deals years ago. I, like you found that even though I purchased the case of this or that, then I did not have enough money to buy what I really wanted at the grocery store.TP was about the only real savings, because ya always gotta have it!
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
22 Oct 15
My brother has a membership for Sam's club in the next city over. I went there this year with them as family was in town visiting. I didn't think it was all that great actually. I don't buy in bulk for the reasons you state. As for kleenex my family all use different ones. My one daughter an my self like Puffs with lotion, while my husband will take the store brand or kleenex. No point in buying them in larger quantities though, we'd probably forget to use them or something dumb.
I just wrote something about reviews, and find it funny that you mention it here. I'm guessing not all of that amount of 220 folks actually bought that many kleenex at once time.
@rahulvsmokiee (3110)
• Thiruvananthapuram, India
20 Oct 15
I too searched that at here and i found that its just a bit lower than market price. I hope you are enjoying your day my friend.
1 person likes this
