I’ve ordered them on and off for my stepson. He’s a gamer geek in a small northern ontario town, so for him he gets cool stuff he would never see in any store near him. I like sending him cool stuff that fits his interests, but they can get it, package it and ship it for a lot cheaper than I can. He really appreciates it. (He is 24.)
I don’t subscribe to Loot Crate, but I did have a Canadian snack box -type subscription for 1 whole month.
Bought a year’s subscription as a gift for my wife and shortly after the first box arrived, I got an email stating that the company had been bought by Nature Box in the US and they would no longer be honoring existing subscriptions. BUT, I could buy a NEW subscription from Nature Box, in US dollars, and for about 20% more because “ooo shipping to canada is expensive! Our couriers have to fight Polar bears every inch to your door!”
Thanks, dicks. Had to go out any buy the wife another birthday gift, about a month and a half after her actual birthday.
I bought a friend a Pipe Carving Kit from Man Crate. He seemed to enjoy it. They have other (manly) project kits, along with other, manly stuff like jerky, tools, bar stuff, hot sauce, sports stuff, etc.
I like them as convenient one-stop gift shopping, but I doubt I’d ever buy one for myself.
My range of geeky interest is too narrow for a bunch of random tchotchkes but I can see where it’d appeal to some people. Adding to the stack is Humble Monthly where, for $12 a month, you get an assortment six of PC video games. At least there they “tease” the main title so you can decide if you want to go in on it or not. The one coming out now has a game I want to play anyway (SOMA) with a $30 base price so I’m already happy without even knowing the hidden titles yet.
I don’t do the total Loot Crate, but they did have a special one-time-only Mass Effect themed one. Since Mass Efffect is my favorite game(s) ever I jumped at the chance for it.
It was awesome and I loved everything about it.
So if you can find one that’s right up your alley as a nerd…go for it!
Ooh, I bet my video-game-obsessed 12-year-old would love this. It’s going on the Christmas present list. Cheap compared to the loot boxes too!
Superherostuff also does hero-specific boxes.
20 years ago I might have been all over Lootcrate. Now it’s more like “What in the world would I do with a monthly shipment of Dalek bobbleheads and Bioshock mini=posters?”
I have considered some of the food-related ones, though. JapanCrate sends a monthly batch of strange (to most US people) food from Japan, and Graze Box sends sets of small, healthy (or at least healthier) snacks.
I’ve had a Lootcrate subscription for about 3 years. I’m thinking about cancelling it because there’s only been one crate in 2016 that I’ve really liked. The quality/interestingness of their regular crates went down when they began offering more than one type of subscription.
Services like this sponsor many Podcasts I listen to and I have been tempted but I already have lots of crap around my house I could stand to get rid of and I suspect everything I get from a Loot Crate will turn into something I look at six moths later and say “Why don’t I get rid of this?”
Even though some of them do ship to Australia, international shipping isn’t free and that no longer makes it economically viable for me.
I wonder if there are any local ones.
International shipping really is outrageous to Australia. Makes a lot of great ideas like LootCrate largely impractical for us; you’re probably better off buying what you want from ThinkGeek or Amazon.
Of course, the huge spike in shipping costs generally when you put “Australia” on the address label is probably better left for another thread, possibly in The Pit. 
Here is one: https://boxes.hellosubscription.com/
Hmm, maybe my nieces and nephews might like this?
$30 Canadian for allegedly $60 worth of stuff… I have my doubts. :eek:
Christmas 2013 I shopped really well and at factory outlets and clearance stores. Shipping from Vancouver BC to northern ontario was over 90 dollars for 3 boxes, one of the boxes was 40 for what cost me about 35 dollars. (I did really well on those gifts) Since then, family in Ontario get gift cards in their christmas cards, and the only one I send tangible things to is my stepson. Loot Crate works really well that way, and because my stepson lives so far from any cool stores it gives him a lot of conversation pieces. He has one t shirt in particular that he calls his “bat signal” to meet others with similar interests. (He used to be very shy)
This has been extensively parodied
I subscribed to BirchBox for about a year, then realized I never even tried most of the samples, and cancelled.
I might do that Kawaii Box thing for my daughter, though.
No, but we get Bark box for the dog. She seems to enjoy shredding whatever comes in it every month…