Are You a Member of the Fruit of the Month Club?

I can’t figure out who’s buying all that delicious-but-heinously-expensive fruit in the Harry and David catalog – there’s no way a sane middle-class person can afford $300 for 12 shipments of fruit (at roughly 4-5 lbs ea).

On the other hand, rich people are cheap. No way they’re gonna lay out $4/pear. Not when any old schmuck can order this stuff, it’s not an exclusive club or anything - we get their catalogs all the time.

Now, their pepper & onion relish, that’s another matter entirely, and I WILL pay $4 for a 9-oz jar (I think that’s what it costs), because it is too delicious for words.

Just curious - who are their customers?

Lawyers love Fruit of the Month Club. They like giving it and like getting it. Give it to each other on Christmas, give it to a judge’s chambers, give it to your clients, give it to that law firm across the street that’s giving you referrals. Get it from wherever you can for tasty gargantuan fruit. I polished off a box of awesome juicy pears this week, rarrrr.

The fruit is never bruised because it’s packed in that foam that keeps it safe, so I don’t have to do a bruise removal inspection. FotM is awesome.

Yes, I’m a member of the Fruit of the Month Club. But it has nothing to do with things that grow on trees.

We did that one year with their second-string stuff, which is slightly blemished. Problem is, they keep running out of what is supposed to be sent and keep sending you either apples or pears. When they substituted yet again for the cherries, I cancelled.

Do they also arrive bruise-free every month?

I’ve only ever seen it as a corporate gift. I worked in a office a few years back that received it faithfully from a business associate. The fruit was very good quality, you had to move fast to snag your share of the monthly fruit.

Is that somthing like EHarmony for the gay crowd?

I just wanted to send a crate of some locally grown oranges (I’m in FL) to a friend for the holidays. Didn’t realize I’d have to go into debt and promise my firstborn for some citrus. It’s ridiculous the prices they charge. I figured I’d get a discount here at the source, but it seems it doesn’t work that way.

Maybe I’ll just send her a case of OJ, instead.

You know, they got me thinking within their business model. You buy it at their Fruit farm and they ship it anywhere in the country at a marked up price. I can probably get a nice bag of the blemished oranges and Grapefruit at their farm and send it myself at probably half the price. :smack: Those second quality oranges are just as good as the pretty ones… ain’t a damn bit of difference on the inside where it counts.

I’d happily pay $300 a year for a nice basket of fruit each month. The problem is that the stuff I’ve seen from most places is not all that different than what I can buy at the grocery store for much less. If they were sending me really high quality numliscious fruit every month I’d be all over it.

It’s not quite the same thing, but last year Cook’s Illustrated magazine sampled mail-order fruit baskets from Harry and David’s, 1-800-Flowers, Ruma’s, The Fruit Co., Delightful Deliveries, and Cherry Moon Farm.

The result was that they were all far too expensive and the fruit was mostly what you could buy yourself at the local grocery store. They didn’t recommend any of them.

Wine of the Month Club is a much better bargain. But I’ll grant you a tad inappropriate in a business setting. :smiley:

Honeybell Tangelos are coming into seasonand I know you can’t get those many places. They are a really good citrus from what I remember (Haven’t had one in years). I think I know what I’m going to send my friend. Thanks for putting me in the fruit mode, OP.

Their pears are excellent. We bought a membership for my boss this year–and found out later she’d done the same thing for her boss, har. I wouldn’t buy it for my own family, but as a gift it works well. I resent them including apples one of the months, because we can get exellent apples at local stores. That feels like a waste. But their other fruit is nice.