Quarterly: Bill Nye Box aka THE WORST BOX OF 2014

Hi friends,

I have some bad news for you. I have discovered the absolute worst box of all time.

Let that sink in.

Over the course of this blog and my life, I have received some doozies but nothing quite like the awfulness that was…

The Quarterly Bill Nye curated box.

What made this even worse is that I ordered this box special for Matt. He isn’t so much interested in the Man Grooming products or the other Man Boxes out there but we found this box that is curated by Bill Nye and thought this could be neat and Science-y. For $50 a quarter, you will receive a box of fun, Science-y Bill Nye things. That price is pretty steep, more than I would normally pay for a box, but this was for Matt and it was also Bill Nye. If Bill Nye approves of something, who am I to argue?

I initially thought this box was supposed to arrive in November. I’m not sure if that was just a mistake on my part or they were just extremely slow in shipping but we didn’t receive this box til late December. We were busy so I held onto the box for a few days until Matt had a chance to open it. I was so excited for him. Matt’s First Box! I might have even taken a picture for the record books. What if this is the box that helps Matt understand my obsession? I was tittering with anticipation as Matt opened the box…

And that is when we first glimpsed the terrible contents:

1. A bow tie with DNA designs on it in a putrid green that no one could or would ever wear.
2. One coaster. (Yes, just one. Apparently if you order the Bill Nye box, you are sad and alone and only deserve one coaster for your one drink that you drink by yourself because you are alone.)
3. A cardboard cutout of a DNA strand.

My first problem with the whole box is the number of items included for $50. My second problem was the actual items themselves that were included for $50. I receive so many fun things every month in my POPSUGAR Must Have box for $40 and the price is always worth it.

This was… disappointing to say the least. It was also heartbreaking to watch Matt look through his 3 items and sadly assess his ugly bow tie, his one lonely coaster, and his new cardboard. I didn’t want to say anything at first because what if Matt liked these things? He did not. I quickly started to look at Quarterly’s return policy. Their website was kind of confusing. Maybe it was just because of my rage but I could not find a customer service email anywhere. I could only find a Twitter handle. Umm, ok. If you would like me to handle my displeasure so publicly, I will. After a few tweets about how horrible this box is and how I can’t believe anyone would charge this much money for this crap, I received a tweet with an email. After that, I was able to email them and ask for a full refund, which they were happy to provide. They even sent me a free shipping label so I wouldn’t be out a penny. So while this box was full of garbage, I can at least vouch for the Quarterly customer service.

Final Grade: F

I would grade this lower than an F if possible. This is getting a Z. Or a letter that is not even made up yet.

Apparently you are supposed to have subscribed to ALL (the potentially terrible?)  Bill Nye boxes so at the end of the year you would receive a full set of coasters. Um, no thanks. Coasters are not that hard to find. I think it’s terrible that you have to subscribe to the whole year in order to receive the benefits. This doesn’t make sense for people who just discover the boxes. I also think the value of these products was completely dismal. That bow tie is SO ugly and I don’t think would even sell at a thrift store unless someone was trying to get a costume for a weird, out of touch, blind scientist. And can we talk about receiving an actual piece of cardboard? Seriously, that is actual garbage.

I also refuse to link to the site where you could buy this box for yourself because I think it’s a travesty and I don’t think anyone should own this box. (If you really do want it, I’m sure it’s a fairly easy google search.)

I’m rating this box the worst box of 2014, with no real competitors. This is an easy Do Not Buy.

However, with that said… Thanks for reading our blog this year! We loved starting this blog and it’s definitely more fun with readers! We appreciate you all and have a wonderful New Year!