ShopRunner Just Introduced Minimum Spends for Free Shipping

ShopRunner gave away free accounts to people with American Express cards, and I’ve been using it fairly often.

In fact, using ShopRunner has made Drugstore.com a direct competitor to Amazon in my book.  A lot of items that were “add-on” only on Amazon–that is, you could only get free Prime shipping if you hit a spend threshold–were available for free shipping on Drugstore.

But the era of free shipping on Drugstore (and other ShopRunner sites) has come to an end.

I received a letter in the mail letting me know that many stores are moving to a minimum spend threshold–though it didn’t specify which ones.

I knew this already about Drugstore since I shop on it so often.  I went to order some soap and was confused by the minimum spend requirement.

ShopRunner 2 day shipping

 

The benefits of still using ShopRunner is:

1. Free shipping kicks in with $10 less spend than Drugstore’s usual free shipping.

2. Bulky items can be shipped for free with ShopRunner (again, if you hit minimum spend), but not with Drugstore.

This makes ShopRunner a mildly better program, but not really one worth paying for on a yearly basis.  I think these minimum spends are a huge devaluation, especially since a lot of companies now have coupon codes for free spend once you hit a minimum amount.

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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2 comments

  1. They probably listed Drugstore/Beauty.com first cause they’re their biggest partner sites and therefore the first ones to adopt a minimum purchase price. Any partner site can charge a minimum but they aren’t required to do so; non-listers are probably still the best overall deals for SR members.

    ShopRunner’s FAQ has a complete current list of sites who have adopted a minimum:

    Staples, $49.99 minimum purchase amount.
    FragranceNet.com, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    drugstore.com, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Beauty.com, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Bon-Ton, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Bergner’s, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Boston Store, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Carson’s, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Elder-Beerman, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Herberger’s, $25 minimum purchase amount.
    Younkers, $25 minimum purchase amount.

    Hopefully this info will help out other SR members in the future.

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