My Other Tote Project

Back in March I tried out an e-mail offer from Shutterfly.com for a "free" 15" X 18" canvas tote that I personalized with one of my own photos. To get these offers you need to register an account with them on their web site, and they send you promotional e-mails and offers pretty much every day. I usually take advantage of the "free" 101 4" X 6" prints they regularly offer, and occasionally get a "free" coffee mug or calendar I make with my photos as gifts for the holidays.

Nothing they offer is actually free -- you have to pay tax and shipping -- and my canvas tote cost $9.99 to ship plus $.70 tax,for a total of $10.69. The regular price for the bag is $16.50 plus shipping and tax, so while not free it's a good deal. Now every time they offer the free tote I order it with one of my favorite photos. Eventually I'll have enough that I can use them for my weekly grocery shopping and eliminate using plastic bags altogether. I think they'd also make great gift totes.

I doubt it cost $9.99 to ship these freebies, but the bags are roomy, well-made and sturdy, plus the photo images are nice and clear, so I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

Cute kitty!

The 'free' reminds me of what sellers used to do on eBay until eBay caught on and stopped them. They'd offer an expensive item for $5 and in the small print, the shipping would be $89. I guess enough people who didn't bother looking at the shipping charges finally complained enough that the practice was stopped. I'm all for reason but sometimes...

May 17, 2021 at 3:05 AM

the author said…

Not that I ever got scammed, but I always checking the shipping charge for the exact same reason.

I now have enough free totes to use them for our weekly trip to the grocery store, which will eliminate getting those pesky plastic bags. These totes are washable, too, so I can use them forever.

May 21, 2021 at 10:54 AM

nightsmusic said…

I have some totes I bought at our big sell-all grocery store. They're not branded so that's nice and the have a hard bottom but fold. I go at 6am, open them in my cart, use they're shopping app to scan everything and load it into the bags and then all I do is scan a barcode and everything transfers to the register. I'm a little anal about how I like my things bagged so for me, it works out great. But I cringe if I still have to use a plastic bag. Thankfully, that store also recycles them.

May 21, 2021 at 10:59 AM

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Valerean

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