My guilty pleasure is TEMU. I order a bunch of stuff at least a couple times a month. It’s not always grade A quality, but some items are gems enough to make up for the occasional clinker.
Subscription boxes aren’t just food, though. They make them for all sorts of interests.
I subscribed to Bark Box years ago, but eventually we found ourselves with too many dog toys so I unsubscribed. Recently my gf resubscribed and our first box was Thanksgiving inspired. The dogs loved the toys and treats. Simi is now obsessed with the cranberry sauce can. It is a plushy can (SlobberSpray instead of OceanSpray) with a red wad of cranberry sauce stuffed into the can.
The dog works at getting the ball of cranberry sauce out of the can and it’s not easy. Once it is out (it takes 10 minutes of concentrated effort) Simi brings it to us to put it back in the “can”.
Very cute! After 10 minutes, our dog would have reduced this toy into it’s component parts, and each part would have been disassembled into 5-10 separate little shreds.
Heh, Loki eventually destroys toys. Simi actually “plays” as the manufacturer intended. Kizzy becomes obsessed with a single toy and keeps it near her at all times.
My family still gets magazines. I read Reader’s Digest, and my husband reads Analog, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
I gave recent babies in my family connection subscription to Babybug magazine, which they enjoy.
I’ve published stories and poems in Highlights for Children and its sister magazines for younger kids, Highlights High Five and Highlights Hello.
Good one.
Yes, Virgina, there are still magazines.
Or you can get in on one of the zillions of box of the month clubs. I have heard good things about Bespoke Post, but other than getting a harry and david monthly fruit box as a gift (which was nice), I have never tried any.
Food, wine, knives, books, survival gear, whatever.
I get paper book catalogues from Daedalus, Labyrinth, and several university presses. Always something to consider buying/reading. If my community didn’t have paper recycling, I’d stop the physical catalogues. Meanwhile, I see a package from a publishing house in my Informed Delivery. I didn’t order it and don’t know if it’s a holiday gift or a request to review a book, so that’s a fun mystery to be resolved tomorrow or Monday.
Dang, I haven’t heard – or even thought – of Synanon in a long time.
The main surprises I get are weird ads and stuff that apparently the previous owner subscribed to. Apparently there’s this “university” that tries to get the owner to go on cruises and other stuff to hear about how LGBT and woke stuff is destroying the country. I find it funny because there’s no way anyone around here could afford that. I got a school schedule, which makes sense, but it was a surprise because I was trying to figure out the proper colors for the Wikipedia page, and that helped immensely, seeing it in person. I got a letter from our ISP to me, specifically, telling me all about how I should get Internet with them. Our old bank sent a flyer to my mom, under a misspelled name, to an address she never lived at, which tickled dad.
Today, we got a flyer advertising phone company service–for businesses. I guess they were afraid only sending it to businesses would mean it would get thrown away, so they sent it to residents, hoping the owners would see it.
Back at the other house, the Epoch Times apparently found us–look that up to find out why I think that’s funny. We’d also somehow get signed up for magazines we’d never subscribed to, some actually decent. But they seem not to have followed us, nor is their stuff getting forwarded.
I get occasional flyers for river cruises and excursions into the outback with graduates if my small midwestern college.
Sadly, Divine Travels, which sponsored the notorious Conspira-Seas cruise a few years ago, has nothing comparable on its schedule. But in January you can take a “Pristine Journey Into the Blue”, 10 days cruising Polynesian islands with some kind of mystic who has this warning message.
Dear Friends,
We are coming to an end of time - meaning that the script that was written for you is coming to an end… and how the rest of your script will continue is now up to you to choose.
I have said that the time is running out as the purity wave is approaching shore… a lot of people are not going to make the crossover beyond the other side of time…
I’m inviting you to abandon the encapsulation you have created and recreated for the past 6000 years which contains the sorrow and devastation of our combined human existence… and to see what you can create for yourselves which is beyond anything you can possibly imagine.
Please join me for a pristine journey into the blue…as I take your heart and soul to the edge of an ocean of infinite possibilities… to help you determine what will be written into the script of your next chapter in time.
Be Limitless,
Mas Sajady
Amenities for the soul don’t sound bad.
“The Grand Dining Room offers superb Continental cuisine, Toscana serves authentic Tuscan fare, Polo Grill is the consummate classic steakhouse, while Terrace Cafe and Waves Grill offer exceptional dining in a more casual atmosphere. Enjoy the Aquamar Spa & Vitality Center, gorgeous pool area with pool and two whirlpools. Take in a live classical concert under the stars, or dance the night away at Horizons lounge.”
And there’s a $300 credit which can be used towards booze. Yowza!
Send yourself a postcard from Timbuktu. But be patient, as the political situation is tenuous and it can take time for mail to get out of the country.
I still get one magazine. I miss all of the catalogs that I used to get. I’ve been thinking of going to the websites that I’ve ordered from and looking for a catalog signup.
My favorite idea so far! The website is hilarious.
What do you get? My last magazine was Entertainment Weekly, which went way downhill to the point of me not renewing it. It started as a magazine about movies, tv, and books. When sales dipped, it became People Magazine.
It’s gone now except online.
I love this, too. I recently read Tahir Shah’s Timbuctoo, so it resonates with me.
I have a couple of Tahir Shah’s books–I need to dig out and read those electrons.
I’m a fan.
Real Simple - more of a women’s mag
I have ordered a card from Timbuktu. Let’s see how long it takes.