Ordering from Thrive Market – Is It Worth It?
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If you’ve seen blog posts and videos about Thrive Market and have wondered whether or not ordering from them is worth it, this blog post is for you!
Ordering from Thrive Market – Is It Worth It?
I’ve seen so many blog posts and videos about Thrive Market that I finally decided I needed to try it out for myself and see if it was worth it or not.
We regularly buy natural foods and some organics when we can afford them. We own our own bulk foods coop, and I occasionally order from both Vitacost and Azure Standard. We have very little affordable natural/organic foods where we live so ordering them from another source is something that we have to do.
If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you also know that we usually buy things in bulk and I typically buy one ingredient items (oats, grains, rice, etc), mostly for frugality’s sake but also to protect our family from our food allergens.
But this month I decided to test out Thrive Market since I’d seen so much about it and since it looked similar to what I already order from. I wanted to post my thoughts here so that you might be able to decide better if it’s worth it or not for you.
The Basics of Thrive Market
Thrive Market charges an annual or a monthly membership fee. You will need to purchase a membership to be able to view their products available on their website. The yearly membership is $5 per month ($60 for the year paid up front).
Once you’ve purchased a membership, you can create and place an order all online. They offer free shipping over $49.
Things You Should Know About Thrive Market
They have a wide selection of boxed, canned, and packaged products with much of it being organic. They also have a small selection of frozen items. They also offer home and body products.
They regularly offer sales or specials on their products.
Thrive Market offers bundle deals on several products for better pricing per item if you plan to buy multiples. They also have discounts (which vary) on items if you set them up for a subscribe and save type of service.
They offer Thrive Market brand products for many of the basics which are at a lower price point than the national brands.
My Personal Thoughts
I purchased the annual membership since it was the only membership that offered a guarantee if you didn’t like their service. Since I wasn’t sure what I would be able to buy, I felt like this was my safest option. When I signed up I was offered a free gift and a discount on my first purchase.
While scrolling through the options available, I found many things to be similar with what I get from Vitacost with the exception of the frozen products. We aren’t able to afford organic meats at this time, but if you buy all organic meats and frozen products, this might be a good option for you, especially since they ship it directly to your door.
My order was shipped out quickly (although there was a weather delay) and I was happy with how well everything was packaged. I’ve found that some companies just toss items in a box and pray that they don’t get squished in transit (and they always do).
One thing to note is that they automatically sign you up for the autoship with any purchases you make. It’s not hard to cancel this but it’s something to be aware of.
I was able to find products that I cannot find anywhere else for a better price than I’d seen before. This was helpful for a family that can only do certain foods because of allergies!
There were also plenty of things I wouldn’t buy, or don’t buy on a regular basis just because of how we shop. While I like to have a few “convenience” foods on hand in the pantry, it does not make up the majority of our grocery shopping.
My Conclusion
I hope that these notes will give you some idea on what the service is about so that you can come to your own conclusion on whether or not a membership to Thrive Market will be worth it for your family.
For now, we’ve decided to keep the one year membership and will use their store to scan for sales and deals that we just can’t find anywhere else. It won’t be replacing my regular bulk buying or even my regular grocery shopping, however, some of the items that they offer will be really nice to have in our pantry.
Want to see what I ordered from Thrive Market and more thoughts on the company? Check out my “Thrive Market Haul” video below!
If you do decide you’d be interested in checking out Thrive Market for yourself, use this link —-> THRIVE MARKET —– to get 40% off your first order and a free gift with your first purchase.
What are your thoughts? Have you ordered from Thrive Market before? What items do you have a hard time finding to buy?
I had a membership with Thrive for several years. Then, when our cities were burning in those “mostly peaceful” protests headed up by Antifa and BLM, Thrive sent out emails to members, stating ho proud they were to support BLM. They also were happy and proud to say how much money they had donated to BLM. I dropped my membership at that time. It’s one thing to have a mutual financial relationship with a company and another thing altogether to have them sinuate their wokie politics into our relationship. That is a bridge too far for me.
Wow, that’s something I wasn’t aware of. Thanks for letting me know, I will check into that.
How does donating to an organization mean they are “insinuating ” their “wokie” policies on you? By the way, it’s spelled “woke,” you’re not even able to spell the word you so hatefully use! Thankfully our country is filled with people who do accept other people, regardless of their differences. Your post should be deleted since you are just bashing the company. What’s wonderful is that karma will make you face your prejudices in ways you probably will never imagine. Being “woke” is simply accepting people for who they are. Shame on you for your prejudices!!!
I WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU THAT THRIVE MARKET DOES GIVE OUT FREE MEMBERSHIPS FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES. I AM DISABLED (LOW INCOME) SO I HAVE FREE MEMBERSHIP. MAYBE YOU CAN LET YOUR FOLLOWERS KNOW ABOUT THIS. TIMES ARE REALLY TOUGH AND THIS MIGHT HELP SOMEONE. THANKS AND HAVE A GREAT DAY.
Thank you for sharing that tip with us!
We use Thrive and love them but I’m not sure we use them enough to justify the yearly fee.
I think I may feel that way after this year, but we will see what happens 🙂
I was a Thrive member for 4 or 5 years and I think they saved me quite a bit of money. But I didn’t renew this year because their prices have crept up and I can get most of what I ordered just as cheaply at Vitacost, without paying for a membership. Also I found the auto ship frustrating (that is relatively new) and when I had a problem, customer service wasn’t all that satisfying. They do pack things well, and they often have free gifts with purchase, and occasional sales, so I think that, depending on what you buy regularly, it could be worth the $60 annual fee for some families.
Maybe if they get enough complaints about the autoship thing they will stop that? I’m not a big fan of it for sure. I really like Vitacost too!
Thank you for your review! I signed up for Thrive Market in January with a special rebate code from my bank, and I came to the same conclusions as you. I really like what they have available, and there are regular sales/promos/free gifts with your order.
I DO NOT like that every product you buy turns into an auto ship order. I’ve found as soon as I place an order, I can go into my order history and “turn off” auto ship for each item. It’s a hassle, but I do poorly tracking auto ship orders on any platform, and we can’t afford to end up with products we don’t need.
I’m hoping I continue to find value in the membership!
I agree, not a fan of the autoship thing. At least it’s easy to cancel but still extra work that’s not necessary. Hopefully you can make use of the membership though while you have it 🙂
I did order and found the prices to be higher than my local outlets where I lived. However, I lived in a larger city at the time. Now that we are out in a rural community I am sure that the prices would reflect our local area or possibly be less. However, I hope they have improved in the customer service area. When I canceled my membership I was told, I would not be able to purchase or join again. Not a very good business model. The needs of families change and where they shop will change. In my humble opinion.
Wow, that’s crazy that they said that! No, for sure not a good business model if that’s what they are doing. Have you tried joining again recently? (Or with a different email address?)
How do they ship? Where I live is remote here in Texas. UPS comes 5 days a week to deliver. USPS delivers 6 days a week. However, FedEx only comes out here one day a week. If they don’t want to come that day (Saturday), then they delay it for one to two additional weeks (Saturdays). Ask me how I know! I would be interested because for me to go to a real grocery store such as HEB or Lowes grocery I have to travel between 90 to 100 miles depending on which direction I travel. Porters grocery store is about 113 miles from where I live. USPS use to be a nightmare because our contract worker for USPS had Alzheimer or dementia. He got to the point he could not remember who we were and messed up the mail for over two years. We all liked him because he had been delivering mail out here for over 44 years. However my packages from Vitacost were often damaged. The USPS got so many complaints that they finally had to let him go. Now the mail is being delivered correctly.
Hi Mette, I just double checked and it looked like they delivered mine through Fedex. I’m not sure though if they offer more than that one option? I feel your pain….we can’t get many deliveries in the winter from fedex or ups because our road is so bad. It’s nice to not have to go to the store though!
I asked them about shipping to find out for sure and this was the response I got:
“Currently we ship with FedEx, Lasership, OnTrac and USPS (via FedEx Smartpost). You may have more than one carrier if your order contains more than one shipment.
Your carrier depends on geographic location and whether or not your order contains meat, seafood, frozen meals, or wine. We are not able to honor requests for specific carriers before or after shipment.”
Thank you for the unpacking video (I don’t usually watch videos but I was interested in seeing what you got/costs). As we don’t have the allergies/intolerances your family does, I would be interested in opinions on if Thrive is a good or better option vs other bulk sites. It seems you got deals on quite a few items catering to your family’s needs!
I don’t believe Thrive is a good place to stock up on bulk items but seems to be a good place for specialty items. 🙂
I’ve been a Thrive member since 2016, and because my family is low-income, we qualify for the “free” membership. I don’t order groceries from them too often, but the sales and deals are def worth keeping an eye on. Thrive was also a great option for us in 2020 when lockdowns were in place and we couldn’t always get to a store.
I just canceled my Thrive membership. The few things I bought regularly I found cheaper on Amazon or at Whole Foods. I will say that they have very good customer service – a couple of times a box arrived with a broken jar and they refunded my money with zero hassles.
I bought from Thrive Market for several years until they showed me who they really are. During the BLM rallies, they sent out several emails to members bragging about how much money they individually donated to BLM. This was as our cities were being burned by those Godless thugs. I quit Thrive Market then and there. They do not have values that are compatible to mine.