Oh gosh, Tobe, I'd not bash anyone for something like that. Part of the reason I posted was to watch us all think out loud about how good / not so good this deal is.
I'd not order the membership alone because $35 + $8.50 is pretty spendy. For that, you get the instant gratification of a $13 candle + $10 - $12 in tarts, so $23 - $25 of stuff (shipping for that alone would normally be $8.50, so that's a wash) for $35. You'd have to be sure you ordered another 2 at-least-$10 orders to get the free $10-$12 tarts each time, and get your money's worth. I really hate paying shipping (don't we all) so try to make an order maximize the bang-for-my-buck.
I placed a LOL order last Friday and have asked if I can add on a membership - or better yet, add a membership and a couple of apothecary jars and just get the free shipping deal. I just emailed Allison this morning, so haven't heard back yet. If she says yes, I'll sign up now.
I do like LOL, so it may be a good deal for me. It would seem that I might need to place more frequent, smaller orders to make best use of the free 6-pack. I'd likely place $20 orders to keep the shipping down to $5 (the jump from $5 - $8.50 is just a psych barrier for me - don't know why) since frequent $100 orders would only happen if I win the lottery or managed to snag a generous benefactor.
![[smilie=th_lol22]](http://candlefind.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/th_lol22.gif)
Like *that* would happen.
$20 would get me an apothecary jar, which is the style I like best anyway (though they're discontinuing those in favor of a different 10oz jar soon), or 10 popp tarts, so planning on spending $25 ($20 + $5 postage) maybe 5x a year plus a big $100 order would be $25 in postage, vs 2 $100 orders which is no postage.
I'd get 6 "free" 6 packs of tarts with those, a value of around $60 (I'm using the $10 option to figure the math 'cos otherwise my head is going to start spinning). Two out of the 6 would go toward my "break even" point on the membership, leaving me 4 "free" 6 packs. That would cost $40 normally, but I'm also paying $25 I'd not usually spend in postage, so I'm ahead about $15.
Then there's the unknown quantity of exclusive sales discounts which would factor in. But overall, it seems like an OK deal for my buying habits.
What's likely to change: I'll have to buy smaller / more frequently. This fits in with managing wax stash, so that works. It also means I'll likely spend less in experimenting with smaller vendors since I'll want to maximize my club membership with LOL. There's only so much money to go around, and I don't see cutting my CBV orders because I want what I want from there and that doesn't change. She's my #1 for jars anyway. I don't think it'll cut into my Spotted Hog budget because I tend to favor her for Fall stuff (the Perfect Pumpkin Pie is indeed, perfect). I'm kind of at a point where I'm not needing to experiment as much as when I first started getting melts, so I think the sacrifice of experimenting with vendors would be worth it. I can still try new places - just much smaller orders. I can stick a toe in the water, I don't need to dive. LOL reliably has good scents and strong throws so I'm not too worried about committing to something I won't like.
OK... I did all this math, now somebody else needs to crunch some numbers!