Shaving on the Cheap with Dollar Shave Club

I hate paying more money than I have to, and this goes doubly so for products I feel I must purchase and have no choice on the cost.  Specifically, I'm referring to the obscene markups in male shavers and shaving products.  A quick search on Amazon brings up the following prices: $18.49 for 8 mach 3 razors (or $2.31/blade).  This also doesn't include the cost of shipping, or the handle that comes with it.  I picked the Mach 3, because I think it's a pretty standard shaver that everyone is familiar with.  If you are gifted with a perpetual 5 o'clock shadow such as myself, you can understand how I go through one of these blades a week.  Over the course of a year, my razor expense is about $600/year.  There has to be a better way.

Along came Dollar Shave Club with their cheeky Youtube video and business model.  I thought to myself that this was definitely something worth the effort.  On their website, you are presented with 3 blade options; the humble twin (a simple twin bladed shaver), the 4x, and the Executive which is a whopping 6 bladed razor.  How the program works is determined by which blade you decide.  If you want to go with the simple twin, you pay $1 per month which is automatically charged the same day each month to your credit card, and receive a handle along with 5 blades.  You heard me right, $1 per month which includes shipping and handling!  At the time when I ordered from Dollar Shave Club, the simple twin was out of stock (something to do about communist dolphins hijacking their shipment) however, I decided to splurge a little and purchase the 4X.  I was not disappointed. The 4X came in a little paper envelope along with 4 blades and some merchandise advertising.  You can see the layout in the image below.

My Dollar Shave Club Package

The price came out to $6 per month which translates to $72/year, a net saving of $528 for me.  If you decide to go up to the Executive, you will only receive 3 blades per month at a cost of $9, but you are buying a 6 bladed razor!

Dollar Shave Club's business model is sound: provide simple cheap razors with good quality and people will buy them.  They also have a funny marketing department and seem to have a generally happy time in their jobs.  There is no locking in contracts, and you can cancel, upgrade, or downgrade your razor at any time.  They even have a pretty sweet referral process.  If you refer someone as a customer, you get a free month of shaving.  Do this enough, and you'll never have to pay for razors again.  That said, if you feel that my blog has been helpful to you at all and want to contribute in some small way, purchasing your razors at Dollar Shave Club through this link will help me greatly!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the actual shaving experience was a delight as well.  Women, be warned though.  My wife tried out one of the 4X blades and did not enjoy the experience...if only Dollar Shave Club offered a female version!

Take advantage of all the consumer opportunities available to you today and never pay for razors more than you need to again!

Wonderful Moment of the Day - Playing with my kitties!