Subscription services have become pretty popular in recent years. People are realising that having your favourite high-quality products delivered straight to your door is way more convenient and cost-effective then traipsing down to the shops every time you need to stock up.
Nowadays, you don’t even have to think about whether you need new razors, toothpaste or snacks — your subscription service will sort it all out for you, while you go about your busy life.
Subscription services are nothing new. For as long as anybody can remember, we've had newspapers and magazines delivered to our doors.
But as the demand for convenience has grown, new businesses have cropped up, delivering everything from coffee to vaping e-liquids. From the daily essentials, such as razor blades to the more niche products (*cough* adult toys *cough*), you can have everything you need dropped at your door.
Here are some of our favourite subscription services.
Ordo
Did you know that, on average, electric-toothbrush owners replace their toothbrush heads only every nine months? Pretty grim, right? But replacing your toothbrush head is one of those things that can easily pass you by.
Before you know it, you’re subjecting your teeth to a frayed and splayed brush head. Ordo have set out to counter this issue by providing a subscription service for toothbrush heads and toothpaste.
All about dental hygiene, Ordo toothbrushes and oral hygiene products have been designed by dental experts to ensure that you can keep your pearly whites strong and healthy.
Not only is it better for your teeth, it’s also super convenient, as subscribers get new brush heads, paste and batteries delivered to their door (with free delivery). No longer will you have to think about purchasing a new brush head — Ordo does all the remembering for you.
There are a few different subscription options on offer. If you want everything delivered — brush heads, toothpaste, travel toothpaste — choose the Ordo starter pack option. You’ll pay an upfront cost of £30 and receive Ordo’s own-brand aluminium electric toothbrush, a portable silicone stand, teeth whitening toothpaste (both regular and travel tubes), and AAA batteries.
After that, every two months you pay £10 and receive replacement brush heads, toothpaste, and batteries. Ordo offer other options for couples and a more basic package — this includes replacement brush heads, but not toothpaste, delivered to you every two months.
Japan Centre
We all know and love snack subscription boxes like Graze. But how about something a bit different?
Japan-lovers, you’re in luck! Now you can get some of your favourite Japanese treats and necessities delivered straight to your door. Regional specialities like snacks, tea and sake aren’t always easy to find in your average British supermarket, so the Japan Centre subscription box offers you the chance to try exciting new products.
The Japan Centre offers four different subscriptions. There’s the snack subscription package, which is filled with both savoury and sweet snacks — some you may know, some you may not.
These come in three sizes: mini (£15/m), standard (£25/m) and premium (£40/m). Choose your size dependent on how many snacks you think you’ll get through in a month. It’s not just snacks, though. Fancy a drink that’s a bit different? Japan Centre offer a sake subscription box. Costing £24.99/m, you receive a different bottle of sake every month, with a selection of snacks that are designed to complement the bottle.
For a Japanese drinks subscription box that’s less boozy, check out Japan Centre’s tea subscription box. This package is super customisable, so you can have a service that suits you.
First off, you pick which teas you want to be delivered. They have a great selection, from senchas, which have a smoother, mellow flavour, to matchas, which give off a deeper tang. Once you’ve decided which teas you want, you can then decide on the frequency of the deliveries. You have a choice between every two weeks, four weeks or six weeks — all depending on how much you love tea.
While Japanese snacks and sake are — arguably — non-essentials, Japan Centre also offers a subscription to one of the staple foods of life: rice. Everybody needs rice in their life, and imagine how convenient it is to have it delivered straight to you door on a frequent basis, rather than having to lug it home from the supermarket.
The Japanese rice on offer here is of the highest quality. Whether you want to make sushi or warm meals, you can pick and choose the best rice for you. Like the tea selection, you pick your favourite rice and choose the frequency of the subscription — either four weeks or eight weeks.
Love Honey
This one is probably not for everyone, but the kinkier of you out there may want to have your love bedroom antics livened up on the regular. Adult retailer Love Honey now offer a subscription service.
Yes, that’s right. Every three months, you can receive a box of new toys delivered. Despite only costing £50 per three months, you receive boxes with contents that are worth over £100. The first box you receive includes two toys, a blindfold, cleaning and safety equipment, and an advice booklet to make sure you make the most out of your new items.
There’s no need to worry that your postman or neighbours will know what you get up to behind closed doors. With Love Honey, discretion is key. Your package has the look and feel of any normal parcel — a brown cardboard box. Open it and — surprise! — a kinky pink box, filled with high-quality toys is revealed.
This should keep your bedroom lives kicking for the next three months. After then, another package arrives, with different toys and extra bits.
If this kind of thing is not for you, but you may know somebody who’d love it, you can gift the box to somebody else. Once you pay for the subscription, you can send it to any address in the UK.
Pact Coffee
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons”, wrote T.S. Eliot. The English poet knew the importance of coffee in life, and so do Pact.
Pact Coffee subscription is great for both offices and homelife, and it allows you to easily customise your order. You choose how you want your coffee — either in the form of espresso, filter or pods — then decide from a range of delicious types. Pact has a vast selection of different coffees from around the world, with both caffeinated and decaf options.
If you’re after a strong, dark coffee, consider the Planalto. Originating from Brazil, this bean has rich chocolate and malt taste notes. After something a little lighter? Try the Ubumwe Kigoma, from Rwanda. It has light hints of blackcurrant syrup.
Once you choose a type of coffee, you’re not stuck with it. You can easily change it for the next order, and Pact are always updating their menu, so you can keep things fresh and exciting.
There are three different subscriptions you can go for, with prices dependent on the quality of the coffee. The basic subscription, House, costs roughly 46p per cup of coffee, and delivers consistently good coffee from Central and South America. The Select subscription is one up from that, and it offers some of the finest coffees from around the world, and costs circa 53p a cup. The premium subscription, the Micro Lot, delivers the best of the best coffee, from award-winning farms worldwide. It costs around 66p per cup.
Coffee can be a tricky business when it comes to fair trade and the development of the societies that produce it. Many coffee farms do not profit as much as they should from their own produce.
Pact is combating this by paying the coffee farms a fair amount. For the Micro Lot coffee subscription, for example, they pay the farmers 25-125% more than Fairtrade prices. This way, you can enjoy your coffee with a clear conscience, safe in the knowledge it’s been ethically sourced and paid for.
My Vape Box
Vaping has really taken off over the last few years as an increasing number of people have sought out a lower-risk alternative to smoking. But whereas cigarettes and tobacco are readily accessible from supermarkets and newsagents, you normally have to go to specific stores to find the vaping equipment that suits you best.
My Vape Box are tackling this issue by allowing you to choose from their wide variety of vape devices, e-liquids and coils, and having it sent directly to your door. This way you won’t have to remember to stock up on liquids every now and again — My Vape Box sorts that for you.
Not only does the service save you time, as you won’t have to spend your free time seeking out your favourite vape liquids, but it’s also considerably cheaper when you subscribe. You’ll get 33% off all vape liquids, saving you roughly 35% off your vape products every month. Not sure if you want to subscribe or not? That’s okay.
My Vape Box allows new users to try the service for free. Just head to the site (through Quidco, so you can get cashback), select try for free and then choose up to four e-liquid flavours. Super simple.
My Vape Box has over 20 great e-liquid flavours, ranging from classic tobacco to exciting new flavours like rhubarb and custard. Once you’ve tried one flavour, it’s easy to change your subscription box.
Dollar shave club
Men, rejoice. Gone are the days of going into the office unshaven because you’ve run out of razors.
Dollar Shave Club offer a shaving subscription service, where you can have high-quality razor handles, razors and shave butter, regularly turn up on your doorstep. For such a necessary item, razors are pretty expensive — plus you need to head to the shop to pick them up.
With Dollar Shave Club, you get a lot more value for money. For just £5, you can receive the classic shave starter set. This includes a weighty handle, 6-blade razors and an 88ml tube of Dr Carver’s Shave Butter. After your first delivery, you’ll receive a pack of four 6-blade razors month on month, which will cost you £8/m.
A common qualm with subscription services is that once you're in, you have to jump through a thousand hoops to get out.
Not with this service. Dollar Shave Club allows you to easily cancel your subscription any time with just a few clicks. So, if you don’t like the service or if you’ve decided to start sporting a beard, you can easily stop having razors delivered.
