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I started using DSC early on because their marketing video was hilarious, and I was always forgetting to buy razors when I needed them. Now they've expanded out into a whole range of bathroom products, most of which are about the same price as they would be in a store, which makes it an easy choice.

When I put my account on hold, they don't spam me, begging me to come back. When I switched to every other month on razors, there was no dramatic emails or price changes. When I switched versions of the razor, they just shipped me a new handle. They've been doing this razor thing for ~7 years, and in that they haven't given me a single reason to complain. Its nice to have a transaction with a "startup" that does exactly what it says it's going to do.

Their other products are 3 to 4 times more expensive than perfectly reasonable options available at any megastore.

Eh, I don't think Dollar Shave Club fits in with the article's examples. The value created is that many people want to spend more money and less of their time with consistent results. The company doesn't try to ratchet up margin with unnecessary tech, it just satisfies a legitimate customer demand. That might be a customer demand you don't identify with, or which you believe shouldn't exist; it's still a legitimate demand.

The article is mainly talking about companies that augment existing products with shallow improvements for the sake of large margin increases. Dollar Shave Club is novel in that it adds a service to abstract away the thinking portion of buying a razor. It makes no attempt to increase profits with shitty tech.

Just like the "legitimate demand" for heroin or cigarettes!

While we're at it can we get rid of the FDA so we can go back to a world filled with the "legitimate demand" for laudnum sold as a miracle cure for consumption, hysterics and gout?

Neoliberalism, by mixing ethical relativism with social Darwinism, allows for some rent seeking asshat to sleep well at night because they authorised a marketing campaign featuring a black woman.

Good job, Team Progress! All we need are just a few more empty words and a few more empty products... We're almost there!

Yeah, no. Heroin and tobacco are products, and I am in agreement that products with crappy value propositions and high margins are unethical. But I don't know why you chose those extremes. They paint a false dichotomy of the danger inherent to liberty of consumption.

If we have to use extreme analogies, I would rather use prostitution, because it is a service. Just like Dollar Shave Club, I think there is legitimate customer demand and it shouldn't be illegal. I also am not going to judge someone for partaking of it even though there exist easier or cheaper options for getting the product - sex. So that just brings us full circle to my original point, which appears to still stand.

Yes, please, FDA isn't doing anyone any favors right now. Throw it out and build something more reasonable like they have in basically every other nation on earth.

I have gout, which is well controlled by not eating too much meat at a sitting and occasional "doses" of tart cherry juice. FDA would prefer I spend hundreds of dollars a year on drugs. I'm not sure what to recommend for your hysterics, however.

> FDA would prefer I spend hundreds of dollars a year on drugs.

Would you elaborate on this? It leads me to think that the FDA is either recommending against you handling your gout as you see fit through diet, or strongly encouraging you to use the medication you'd rather not spend money on. The FDA may approve drugs for specific treatments, but that doesn't mean you have to use them, does it?

I think it's the pharmaceutical industry that would prefer you give them money, not the FDA which is government funded.

Admittedly some in the FDA are probably protecting the pharma industry.

"More than a quarter of the Food and Drug Administration employees who approved cancer and hematology drugs from 2001 through 2010 left the agency and now work or consult for pharmaceutical companies..." [0]

Of course some naive person might demand some sort of smoking-gun admission of collusion or whatever...

[0] http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/28/49569455...

Ah I see your point.

While I agree DSC seems insane, you are looking at it from the wrong end: most customers were used to paying crazy prices at the grocery store. DSC is cheap by comparison, even if you can get the same blades for less elsewhere. Dorco could have run the same business, but DSC figured out how to market it.

You can point directly to marketing for Dollar Shave Club's success, and nothing more. They emerged at around the same time as things like Amazon's subscription service, which offers the same or even greater value (the selection is much greater), with a company that people are already familiar with. But DSC paid for podcast and TV advertisement, so instead of people going from grocery store to finding their own cheaper alternative, they went straight to DSC.

From a business standpoint it's a great strategy executed at the right time, even if it does feel icky.

Personally I use a stainless steel safety razor for $30 that will last forever, and blades that I got from Amazon at $12 for 100, each lasting about two weeks of every other day shaves as I have fine facial hair. DSC can't beat $12/year.

Bald guy here. Currently using DSC. Can you link that safety razor you bought?

Thanks.

Can't speak for the parent, but here is the one I use: https://www.amazon.com/Merkur-HD-34C-Chrome-Plated/dp/B001LY...

You'll want to try a few different brands of blade with it, as there's no one "silver bullet" blade that works best for everybody. Lots of vendors sell sample packs on Amazon containing a few blades each from a bunch of different brands. Here's an example: https://www.amazon.com/Double-Edge-Razor-Blade-Sample/dp/B01...

If you want to really nerd out on this subject, the place to be is the Badger & Blade forums: https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/

I use the basic safety razor from Maggards: https://www.maggardrazors.com/product/maggard-razors-basic-s...

If you don't need new, you can get perfectly fine vintage razors from eBay for ~$20. I have a Gillette SuperSpeed from the 60's that's served me well for eight years now.

I think the other commenters have answered this question better than I could at this point. I originally bought mine through a "The Art Of Shaving" retail store on a whim when I saw one at a mall. They're overpriced and I wouldn't necessarily buy from them again.

It's very late, but I'm here with another recommendation. I use Astra brand safety razors. I get a pack of 100 for less than ten dollars. They always seem to last much longer than any of those disposable blades I used to buy (e.g. Mach 3). A lot longer.

I did the same! Spent $60 on a nice mercer(?) stainless razor and maybe $20 in the past 5 years for Astra platinum (?) blades. Feels amazing. If only nice shaving cream was as cheap!

It's merkur solingen

I've recently discovered Amazon's subscription service (shopping for cat litter of all things) and since I'm already paying for Prime as well... why not?

I can imagine partly for the reasons you just listed, larger established players will ultimately push the DSCs out of the market. Probably Amazon single handedly.

I have yet to pull the trigger on any Amazon subscription purchases myself. Seems perfect for something like cat litter where you kinda know you're definitely going to use x amount everyday, but for most things I feel like I don't have a definite daily usage and subscribing to them will end up with too much coming too soon, or not enough coming too late.

But that's a knock on me, not the subscription service. If I kept better track and knew for sure that I use 1/60th of a 12 ounce bottle of shampoo everyday, or whatever, then I'd be more inclined to subscribe to that once every two months.

Yeah I drink a consistent amount of Monster every day, and I work out very regularly. I have subscriptions for Monster and for my particular brand of whey. I can't think of anything else -- though cat litter is a perfect example, too -- that I'd sign up for a subscription for. Even my deodorant seems to be used at different rates.

>DSC figured out how to market it.

Viral absurdist ads à la Old Spice.

You must not be aware that Dorco actually has started a business just like DSC, for less, selling its own hardware.

A service like DSC that I thought was brilliant is that one that does air conditioning filters. I forgot its name, but I always forget to change my filter, and you're only supposed to do it every 6 months. Then because it's been so long, I invariably forget what size I need, buy the wrong one, have to go back... Ship me a filter every 6 months? Awesome! THAT'S a company I see as "adding value".

No affiliation, not even a subscriber -- just had a "duh" moment when I saw their ad.

I made a recurring google calendar alert to solve this problem...

I just let my thermostat alert me, based on run time. It worked with my old programmable, it works with my Nest (yeah, I know). And since I buy 3-packs of the filters, when I get down to the last one, I just add "16x20x1 filters" to my shopping list. When I'm at Wallyworld or Home Despot/Blowes, I'm there for a reason, open my shopping list, and see the filters listed...

I signed up for Amazon's repeat delivery, which not only reminds me to change it (oh look a filter showed up time to change!) but it saved me money too. It's way cheaper than that subscription program (I looked at that too).

My life is much better when I optimize for convenience instead of saving money when the money is in the "handful of dollars" range. And yes, never again having to think about having to buy a routine item is convenient. It seems patently obvious that a subscription is more convenient than having to remember to buy something on a regular basis; I can't believe there's even debate about that. You can certainly debate whether the additional cost is worth the convenience, but I don't see how you can claim that there is no difference in convenience.

but your talking about something that doesn't spoil. why not just buy a ton once and be good for several years?

The DSC is basically paying for a reminder to change your razor, not shave with it till it's awful.

The same could be accomplished by a calendar notification of course.

Dollar Shave Club seems like an obscenely over-engineered solution when safety razor blades cost $0.12 each, and a pack of 100 blades easily lasts for 1-2 years and fits anywhere.

Shaving is not a new problem.

Or if you don't shave every day, and have a wimpy beard to begin with, that box of 100 might last (lemmee see...carry the one...) about 5 years. I think that's when I bought that box for $30 off Amazon.

In other words, I, too, do not think about buying razor blades. At least more than every five years or so. And when I reach into that long cardboard tube only to find it empty of fresh blades, Amazon will have another five year supply at my door in two days. Six bucks a year: I'll bet it costs DSC more than that just in postage.

Dollar Shave Club is a marketing engine, Dorco is not. Few people order from Dorco because few people know they exist.

so what % of the margins on "subscription box" services comes from people forgetting / being too lazy to cancel? all of it? perishables and other time sensitive stuff notwithstanding, there is no reason getting something shipped monthly is going to be a better deal than buying in bulk. these people are obviously just trying to make a buck. they are full of shit if they say they are trying to create value, but they aren't really hurting anyone i guess. its mostly on the consumers for buying it.

Amazon Subscribe and Save gives you 15% off on your order if you schedule 6 or more items.

Economies of scale to drive prices down by 15% over what you would normally pay do exist. E.g. Amazon can save money individual per-unit shipping costs by sending the entire shipment over in one go every month. The promise (and likelihood) of continual recurring revenue means the net margin made per transaction can be lower yet still sustainable for Amazon, while benefitting the consumer.

I like DSC. I know I could get razors cheaper in bulk but I prefer the convenience and it's still much cheaper than buying $15+ packs at the store.

Nitpick: DSC is headquartered in Los Angeles, not Silicon Valley.

I bought a medium sized package of Schick Injector razor blades about five years ago. At this rate, that might be a lifetime supply - they don't really get dull, and you can use them almost forever.

Granted, I like my beard and don't shave daily, but even when I was keeping up the same routine and using Gilette-style cartridge razor blades, I was burning through them much faster.

I'm a very happy injector user, nice close shave, minimal plastic waste. My only complaint is that the blades are expensive compared to double-edges (still cheap compared to cartridge razors)

Why convenience? So people can go 'do what they love'? Or in reality, so people can spend more time on vapid social apps and feel like they're on top of trends?

Groundbreaking innovations do not happen every day. Small, slow incremental change (repackaging old stuff) moves us forward as well.

To refute his point, You can subscribe to receive razors every 1-6 months on Amazon.

The only value I see him creating is value for his company haha.

I don't use DSC but the value they provide is that you always have a razor. A lot of people have to shave for work and forgetting to buy razors at the store sucks. It means you have to shave with an old, dull razor. They charge you to avoid that situation.