Quarterly Co. Subscription Box Review

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Quarertly Co., Subscription box, Tina Roth Eisenburg, letters

Longtime readers by now have cottoned on to the fact that I am absolutely fascinated with the idea of subscription boxes. This feeling is catching; my family has slowly become more interested in these too. So much so, in fact, that my mother requested a subscription for her birthday back in March. We got her a box from Quarterly Co.

Quarterly Co. is a subscription box company where boxes are sent out quarterly (wonder where they got the name of their company?!). A person pays to subscribe to boxes that are "curated" by different poeple who are generally considered arbiters of taste and pop culture. You can see all the different contributors who curate boxes on their site, as well as blips about what type of items they pick and what was in past boxes.

My mother felt that boxes from Tina Roth Eisenburg of  Swissmiss fame, were intriguing. She sends a lot of desk/office supply items. Each box is twenty-five dollars. For that price this is what my mother got:


  • A Pocket Wall-Organizer Strip ( a narrow, long metal shelf. Several magnets were also included)
  • One (1) Embossed Thank You Note and envelope
  • One letter from Tina Roth Eisenburg describing why items were chosen (see below image)

Because of the shape of the organizer, it came in an intriguingly long, narrow box. And, as with all Quarterly Co. Boxes, it had a hash-tag so one could track the progress of the curation process and see what others thought of the box on twitter or instagram.

Quarertly Co., Subscription box, Tina Roth Eisenburg, letters


The best news? My mother loved it.

The organizer is visually appealing, and very useful. The one thing we noticed that was a disappointment was the back of the organizer is not magnetic while the rest of the strip is. It will need to be screwed into a wall rather than magnetize to a fridge or the like.

The Thank You Note is very beautiful and understated. My only complaint is that there was only one. The wall organizers retail at $19.99. That means this one card and envelope had to be worth at least $5.00 to make the box even pay for itself. This seems high for a single Thank you note, but then, Hallmark cards are expensive too and the paper of the Thank You Note is decadent to touch.

My last encounter with the Quarterly Co. Company left me with very mixed feelings, but this was a strong showing from the subcription company this time around. Even better? My mother still has nother box coming from the company, this time from a different curator. Can't wait to see what's in it.

What about you? Do any of you subscribe to Quarterly Co? And if not, which box contributor would you choose? Or, do you get boxes from other subscription companies?



P.S. More subscription Boxes: Quarterly Co. Review (curated by Gretchen Rubin) | Bespoke Post | Barkbox | Popbasic | Subscription Boxes | Subscription Boxes Redux

15 comments

  1. This is a totally different spin from a Birchbox! It's quite a unique idea, and though I adore cards and this kind of stuff...I agree with you, it seems like you got a very decadent card (that hopefully cost $5?) I love cards but can never bring myself to spend that much on them!

    perfectly priya

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    1. I like these kind of boxes better than Birchbox, but only because I know nothing about make-up and the like!

      It can be hard to spend that much on cards, especially thank you cards because I'd much rather get a whole set of thank you cards at once. Still, it was pretty.

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  2. Subscription boxes have slowly made their entrance in Europe as well! We have very high-quality beauty boxes, but I'm still waiting for our version of ShoeMint! That site is heaven. Anyway, The idea of office supplies is fun too, but I'd be a little scared by it. What if the items inside wouldn't match my color scheme? x

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    1. I've never gotten on ShoeMint. Too tempting! But they are neat ways to shop, right?

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  3. I really want to try one of these subscription boxes! I can never seem to find one that seems to be worth the risk, though. I love beauty products, but I have sensitive skin, so those are out! I'd be tempted by an office supply or decor one though!

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    1. You might like the stuff from Quarterly Co then, they definitely have a wide selection of types of things in their boxes!

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  4. I've always liked the idea of subscription boxes but I always feel like the items are lackluster. I really like the idea behind this currated one- and the little note she included, describing what the pieces were about. It was cute to think of her in Switzerland, being scolded by her mom to write a note, haha. But still, there was only one card which I'd be totally disappointed in. But I guess with shipping in everything it's still a good price. It's a fun idea for a present too, because the gifts just keep a-coming, haha!

    Also, thanks for your sweet words about my hair cut :) And you are SO lucky that The Boy isn't into decorating. It's been a month since we've been living together so I think we both kind of got over the whole decorating bit. That and we don't really have any extra funds to buy new things, haha. But his style is I guess Southwest? That or Medieval, hahah. I can totally get down with the whole Southwest look, but since we were shopping at Goodwill we kind of had to make do with *their* selection and that's where we started butting heads. I wanted fun vintage pieces, and he wanted anything beige or brown -___-

    xo Marlen
    Messages on a Napkin

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    1. I'm sure things will get home-ier after more living in a place, for sure. Our home is definitely taking time like that too.

      Sadly, a lot of boxes seem to be a bit lackluster. My favorite one is for boys- it has great stuff but it is all very manly. lol. (Bespoke Post).

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  5. I love subscription boxes, and this one sounds very interesting!

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  6. Thanks so much for the kinds words! You have amazing style! Lovely blog! xoxo

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  7. I really like these posts. It makes me want to give these things a try. I see a lot of them that get debbie cakes and weird things, but you seem to always have the best ones!

    Also welcome back from Paris! All of your photos on Facebook were so cute. I can't wait to hear about your entire experience!

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    1. There are definitely some odd ones out there for sure!

      Thanks! So excited to share about our time in Paris and about the wedding too :)

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  8. I love the idea behind Quarterly Co. and have been wanting to try one for some time now. I am never able to decide on which box I want to try and the ones I am most interested in are of course $100 and up! Maybe I will splurge one day. Not sure I feel about the shelf though. I would like to see at least one more item in this box to really round things out.

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    1. That was hontestly my reaction too Amanda. I like to see several items in a subscription box- not just one or two, even if price-wise it makes sense to do just one or two.

      I'd love to see what you thought of a Quarterly box. What are your favorite subscriptions (I just noticed you are the Subscription Maven so am excited to go check your blog now.)

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