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Frankie & Albert
Cost: $49.99/month
Ships To: United States
Coupon Code: N/A
My second month of Frankie & Albert arrived yesterday! I wasn’t thrilled with my first box from them, but I was anxious to see what my second month contained. As a general rule of thumb I give subscriptions three months before I decide if I want to keep it or not. It gives you a good feel for the subscription, what it includes, their shipping practices, etc.
Just in case you aren’t familiar with them (they are still fairly new), Frankie & Albert is a monthly subscription to receive handpicked Thrift store finds. Each month their team will handpick each treasure specifically for you and mail it directly to your home. They also offer a digital swap meet section in case you don’t totally love what you receive.
Frankie & Albert ships via USPS Priority Mail. This *should* just take two days to arrive, but it really took about a week. No idea what the delay was, but it seems to be the trend this month.
Frankie & Albert uses a ton of packing materials. They ship a lot of breakables, so in this case it’s a good thing.
This is one box you need to dig through to make sure you get everything out of the box. I could totally see missing something in all the packing materials in there.
Unlike the first box I received from Frankie & Albert, this one didn’t have individual information cards for each of the items. Instead the items had stickers on them with the codes you can use in the swap section. Speaking of the swap section, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to access it. I keep getting errors and it says I don’t have an account (which I obviously do or I wouldn’t be getting these boxes). I need to e-mail them about that. Anyway, here is what my March 2015 Frankie & Albert box contained:
~Ceramic (Porcelain?) Rooster Bell: Believe it or not, a ceramic rooster bell is one item I don’t own. Well, until now. And I love it! It reminds me of my Grandma. I feel like this is something she may have had in her china cabinet. So I am going to put this one in mine ;).
~Glass Bowl: I don’t know I will use this glass bowl for, but I’ll do something with it. It’s very pretty and I love the gold trim. Maybe I will use it to store jewelry in?
~Scenic Soup Bowl: I am assuming this is a soup bowl, but since there isn’t a card with a description I’m not totally sure. I did a search for “In an Old World Garden” and it turns out that this was a very popular line in the 1940’s. And that the colors were quite vivid on this originally. This one has faded a ton, but I can see why people liked this.
Since these are Thrift Store finds I couldn’t do a cost breakdown on this box. I received three items which works out to just under $17 per item. I liked this box better than last months, however, I think it’d be much more fun if this box had a price tag of $29.99 instead of $49.99.
Have you tried Frankie & Albert? What do you think? If you are interested in checking them out you can head here and see what they are all about! And I will make sure I update this when I figure out what’s going on with their swap site.
This is such a fun idea but I feel like poorly executed for the price. You are so right — for $29.99 this would be fun. For $49.99 I feel the value isn’t there. Especially given that you can find Sandland dishes in better condition on Etsy for less than that soup plate essentially cost you.
This company is definitely making a huge profit as I see stuff like this at my local goodwill and salvation army all the time! Usually for under $5.00.
That’s what I was thinking… next thought- I gotta go to the Goodwill to find some cute vintage dishes & plates. Oh, the curse of being a ‘gatherer’.
I just received my second month’s box too – included two tea cups and a creamer dish – a glass plate much like your glass bowl here, and two cloth napkins – those did not have item numbers on them. I can’t find the $50 value either – and their customer service isn’t the best. I’ve had an issue with something if it’s from a broken item, to purchasing swap points, to getting my item mailed to me from the swap website. They’re very slow – and don’t seem to be too apologetic. I love the concept of this subscription box … but won’t continue after my third month I’m sure unless they start sending some vintage items that make my $50 a box worth it.
Totally agree that 49.99 is too much for this subscription! I had to comment because I actually have that bowl. It must have been a popular pattern. I hate to tell you this, but I bought it at a thrift store for around 3.00. It is really pretty though! I think this subscription has a lot of potential, but for me the hunt through the thrift store is half the fun. 🙂
I’ve been tracking your reviews on this box because I seriously considered subscribing when it first came out. Needless to say, I am disappointed. I think the idea for the box is a great one but the products leave a lot to be desired, especially at that price point. I don’t think I’ll be subscribing to this box!
Are you kidding me! Every month at lease one thing was was broken or more. My Daughter and my friend had the same problem. They never had enough packing materials thats why everything was broken. I email Frankie & Albert several times about not enough packing material I think they are trying to keep the cost down. They did give me points for the broken item BUT the stuff I got with the points were BROKEN! I findly got all of my money back. The idea is great but needs work. Way over price, most of its junk, needs to use bubble wrap and bigger box’s I do far better at my Sunday market. That comment saying we use lots of packing material really makes me mad!