Dollar Shave Club

Friday, May 25th, 2012

I'm officially a fan-boy.

For those of you who don't know me, I require a lot of razor blades. I shave my head, and if I could get a job growing beards, I'd be among the highest paid members of my profession. Think: "I just saw you last week. Where the hell did you get that four-inch goatee?"

In case you haven't noticed, razor blades are not cheap. They're also not good.

I've been a Schick Quattro guy for a few years now. I pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 for 8 replacement blades, and I go through about 2 a week. If I decide to go 10 days or so without shaving, I'll burn an extra one or two on top of that. Seriously. I should have gone into radio. Or poetry. You know, something where I'm not in front of people and pretty shaggy totally isn't an issue as long as you don't stink.

Then I learned about Dollar Shave Club back in late February. For the price, I couldn't say no to trying it. I joined their $9 a month plan, which includes a handle at sign-up and then three 5-blade razors a month.

And then I got this email:

Last week the Internet came to visit, and as a result, we're unable to fulfill your order right now.

Yes, we think this sucks too. But we're giving you options.

Those options were take your money back now, no harm, no foul, or wait it out and we'll ship in May.

It's embarrassing not to be able to fulfill first orders. It's also a pretty awesome problem to have way exceeded your initial expectations.

I decided to wait it out. I mean, it's still the same amount of money, and it's still way cheaper than I've been paying.

They said they'd ship on the 15th, so I haven't actually shaved in a week, anticipating the arrival of my new razor. It came today, and it took care of a week's worth of growth cleanly. No razor burn (what?!), no cuts, no dulling. The blades are pretty freakin' amazing. And they're half the price of what I've been paying.

Good customer service recovery, and a great product. I get a free month if you use my link. Please do. Here it is.

25.05.2012 Cool stuff, Customer service 2 Comments

Celebrating the Arts with the Future Fund

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

I know, I know, I haven't posted anywhere in a while. Not here, not 365 walks, not anywhere.

But I have to tell you about this event happening next Thursday, May 17.

Back in September, I let you know why I'm working with the Future Fund. The Future Fund is a giving circle – in more cutting edge terms, it's crowd-sourced funding for local projects.

The group gives a $5,000 grant every year to a local organization. Members, who donate $100 to the fund, pick the focus area in September (this year we picked The Arts), and an open call for letters of intent goes out to non-profits throughout Central New York. The grants committee offers feedback on the letters and lets the applicant organizations know if their project sounds like a potential match. Applicants then send their full proposal to the fund, and members sit around a table and discuss the projects, then vote to get it down to three finalists. Site visits are scheduled for all finalists so members can see the project first-hand, and then votes are tallied for a single grant recipient.

Voting is still open (I'll mention the finalists in a minute), but the event next Thursday is a two-fold thing. We're writing out the award check, and unveiling a new tagline (which was voted upon by members). The event happens at Benjamin's on Franklin (the former Ohm and Styleen's), and is catered by Kitty Hoynes. Tickets are $20 for members, $25 for non-members and available here. We're also getting a performance from the Nottingham High Jazz Band, a presentation from the 40 Below Public Arts Task Force, and some sort of presentation from the grant recipient.

The finalists are (and this is the first time I've actually had to think about who I was voting for, because they're all really good projects this year):

- The Media Unit, which gets inner-city youth writing and performing about issues affecting inner-city youth, and they give dozens of performances for inner-city youth every summer.
- The YMCA's Y Arts Program, which is looking to provide scholarships for inner city youth to attend arts camp.
- ARC of Onondaga's Arts Outreach program, in which they'll work with a performing arts organization to have adults with developmental disabilities learn to act and to perform in a professional production locally.

Voting closes tomorrow night, so there is actually still time to join and vote if you want, but even without being a member, you're definitely welcome at the event next week.

10.05.2012 Charity, Urban life No Comments