I Tried Thrive Market Meal Delivery Service For A Month? Here’s My Unbiased Opinion
If you’re thinking about trying a meal delivery service that saves time our review of Thrive Market will help you. Thrive market claims that you can save up to $1,536 a year based on once a week shopping but how true are these claims?
This meal delivery service is one of the oldest meal kit services trending in 2024, but is it actually worth it? And how much does it really cost? We’ve been giving it a try for the past year, so we’ve got all the info you need.
Thrive Market: What Is It
Thrive Market is like an online grocery store owned by Nick Green, Gunnar Lovelace, Kate Mulling, and Sasha Siddhartha that delivers food to your door. They say they have low prices because you pay a membership fee, and they promise to give you really good ingredients. Plus, they make it super easy to shop online, way easier than going to a regular store.
They have categories like “Meat & Seafood” and “Pantry,” as well as special Thrive categories like “Thrive Market Goods” and “Exclusives.” They also offer wine, personal care items, household goods, and pet supplies.
What To Expect When You Sign Up
Once you’re a member, you get access to everything on the website for easy shopping. The site asks you some quick questions about your grocery habits and preferences. Based on your answers, it will now suggest items for your first shopping cart. Thrive has over 100 lists to help you find what you need.
Thrive Market offers two memberships:
Monthly: $12 Yearly: $60 The yearly plan saves you about $5 per month and includes perks like a free gift (up to $60 value) and a risk-free cancellation policy within 30 days for a full refund.
My Thrive Market Experience
LMNT is my favorite buy, an electrolyte powder drink with salt, potassium, and magnesium. Thrive Market offers the best price for it, especially for repeat orders. Today, I snagged another batch of LMNT because of a $30 free product deal if I spent $50! But this is my second time ordering, and last time, some items arrived broken. They refunded me with store credit, but I didn’t trust using it for the same items, fearing they’d arrive damaged again. So, to use up my credit, I had to spend extra money I hadn’t planned on spending.
The website is a pain to use. Once you search for something, it sticks around and makes it hard to go back to the main search. Why should customers have to cover the costs that should be covered by the company for its employees? It’s frustrating and doesn’t seem right.
Shipping And Cost
- Grocery: Free shipping for orders over $49, or $5.95 for orders under that.
- Frozen: Free shipping for orders over $120, or $19.95 for orders under that (with a $65 minimum for frozen foods).
- Wine: Free shipping for orders over $79, or $13.95 for orders under that.
Should You Buy From Thrive Market: What You Must Know
Some customers have had a tough time canceling their membership with Thrive Market. They charge your credit card without giving you a heads-up.
First of all, they lure you in with a free trial to check out their prices. But when you sign up, they make you fill out a survey. While you’re busy with that, they quietly fill up your cart with items, even though you never asked for them. And if you just leave the site without buying anything, you might still end up getting charged for those unwanted items days later. A customer on Reddit said:
I canceled my membership at Thrivemarket before the trial was over and realized after 4 years they’ve been charging me without my permission. I actually cancelled twice which they later acknowledged when I reached out years later when I saw the charges. Beware of giving them your credit card, they will use it as they please. There was several charges although I had not been on their site for years.
Reasons To Buy
- They have a lot of meals to choose from
- Easy to keep favorites and look at past orders.
- There are slways new foods to try
Reasons Not To Buy
- Their meals are over priced
- You are automatically enrolled into a subscription
- The website is not easy to navigate
- It costs $60 a year for a membership.
Why I Won’t Be Buying Again
Thrive Market’s prices aren’t as discounted as they claim. I found the same products cheaper on other sites without a membership fee. I got suspicious when I found a product I bought on Thrive for much less on Amazon.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt at first, but when I compared prices with other sites like VitaCost and Amazon, I was shocked. Most of what I bought on Thrive was cheaper elsewhere—like, 70% of it!
Lastly, Thrive promotes their own brand, claiming it’s cheaper, but the quality isn’t always there. Their coconut milk, for example, isn’t real coconut milk—it’s just water and something called “coconut extract.” Their other house brand products might have weird ingredients lists too, so you have to be careful.
How Do I Cancel My Membership
To cancel your Thrive Market membership, just use their chat feature and tell the agent you want to cancel. If you’re canceling because of a problem, they’ll try to fix it. But if you just don’t want the membership anymore, they’ll help you cancel it right away.
Final Words
Finally Thrive market lives up the hype but not without faults. I want to start off with saying they have a great variety of products. However I am growing more and more frustrated every time I try to place in order. My first order took me well over 25 attempts to finally get my purchase to go through.
Alternatively try: HelloFresh Meal Delivery Service
