Public Goods Membership Review 2020 | Is It Worth It? We tried 23 of their products to break it down for you
The Top Line:
Pubic Goods has incredibly clean packaging and an admirable mission of making sustainable and earth friendly products available on one site. Unfortunately, we barely break even when considering the cost of membership against the products we tried and would actually continue to order.
Caveat: if you drink a lot of coffee (more than “1 cup” per day) and insist on fair trade, Public Goods could be an excellent stop: their coffee bags are really affordable at $6.50 for a 12oz bag.
Otherwise, our bottom line recommendation is to load up on some of The Good Ones (Public Goods products we tried and would order again) from the list below, and then set a reminder to cancel the membership before the two-week trial is up. We will continue to try items from Public Goods and update the list below.
[Originally published 27 June 2020; Prices updated as of 2 September 2020]
The Products
The Good Ones (Add to your Cart):
✔ Deodorant $4.25 (Review here)
✔ Bathroom Cleaner Spray (Refillable) $5.75 for 24oz (Review here)
✔ Bathroom Cleaner Refills $2.75 for 1
✔ Public Goods Refillable Moisturizer $2.50 for 3oz (Review here)
✔ Walnut Scrubber Sponge $̶3̶.̶0̶0 $4.75 for 4 sponges (Review here) - Price Jump!
✔ Silk Floss Jar $2.50 and Silk Floss Refill $5.50 for 3 refills (Review here)
✔ Whole Bean or Ground Coffee $6.50 for 12oz*
✔ Spicy Sesame Oil Ramen Noodles $9.75 for 5 pouches - *Note this product jumped $3.00 in price since our original review and it is often sold out.
✔ Blueberry Jam $4.00 for 12oz (Review here)
✔ Shampoo Bar $5.50 for 1 bar (Review here)
The Bad Ones (Skip the Cart):
✗ Recycled Trash Bags $4.50 for 45 bags (Review here)
✗ Tree-Free Paper Towels $6.25 for 2 (Review here)
✗ Bamboo Toothbrush $4.00 for 2 (Review here)
✗ Dishwasher Pods $6.95 for 24 pods (Review here)
✗ Bamboo Panty Liners $3.00 for 25 (Review here)
✗ Organic Peanut Butter $4.75 for for 12oz (Review here)
✗ Tree-Free Tissues $3.00 for 1 box (Review here)
✗ Tomato Soup $9.75 for 3 pouches*
✗ Pesto Sauce $4.25 for 6.35oz*
✗ Seven Grain & Lentil $4.50 for 1 pouch*
✗ Veggie Chips $3.25 for 5oz bag*
✗ Pinto, Kidney, and Black Beans $1.75 for each 15.5oz can*
*Round up of Public Goods Foods Review Here
The Experience
Purchasing & Shipping: The website is cleanly designed and ordering is a straightforward. The free shipping threshold seems a little on the high side at a minimum of $45.
Good to Know: We really like the Public Goods Blog. They post helpful information like where and how their plastic is sourced. Or more generic topics like this one about Roasting Coffee. Or even how to Hold a Wine Glass.
Coupons: $10 off your first order with ‘BLOG10’
The Details
We have an easy time ordering from Public Goods’ website. The website and designs are clean and easy. And it feels like we save money. But more often than not, that’s not true.
Most of the no’s stem from the fact that prices are actually higher than grocery stores for similar products, especially the food items. The food items were further disappointing because we thought the membership would have paid for itself via these kinds of recurring items.
On the positive side, we enjoy the clean packaging and design. We also appreciate their commitment to try to balance between convenience and and sustainable.
The Money Report
So is it worth the $59 membership? Maybe. The items we picked are generally cheaper than other items on the market. With that, the more you shop per year, the quicker membership pays for itself. This might make sense for larger households.
If you stock up on everything we recommend, you break even over the year, assuming you don’t pay extra for shipping.
Our Recommendation:
Try out Public Goods for the 2 week trial with some of our picks from above (thumbnails + reviews below). Order maybe one more time before trial is up (shipping is pretty fast to metro areas). Cancel trial if this isn’t working out to be worthwhile for you. While we loved some items from Public Goods and love their mission, overall we are not totally sold on the value proposition. Heavily recurring items like paper towels, toilet paper, and most food items are not on our recommended list.
Note: We are continuing to try items, so we will update both the list and the bottom line should our opinion change.
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
