What is the Rubybox worth

I subscribe to rubybox.  I have explained, briefly, what it is in a previous post.    This post also explains it well.

You could also read about it here, here and here.

In trying to decide whether I wanted to subscribe to Rubybox I would have loved to have the information I am giving in this post.  I hope it helps someone.  Please let me know whether it does.

I am a little bit of a numbers geek and I calculated the value of each of the Rubyboxes.  I am slightly embarrassed to say so. 

Also because I am a bit of a science geek, I need to give my methodology.   I used the prices and sizes given for the full size item on the little card given with the Rubybox to calculate the price per mL of the full size product and then used the size of the sample given to calculate to total value of the sample.  This was not always possible, because a few samples (sachets) had no size given, but most did and I think my estimates of the sizes are fairly accurate where not supplied.   I used the prices given by Rubybox.  I guess it could be possible to find some of the products cheaper somewhere else or on sale.  I did see one of the products on special at DisChem for a lower price, but let's ignore that for now.   I did not add any value for the packaging, labour on their side or the cost of the courier.  Rubybox varied the content of the box some (most?) months and I only calculated the value of the box I received, but I assume they would try and send out boxes of equal value, if not identical products.  Some (most?) boxes came with discount vouchers at online stores, but since I have not used one of them (yet?) I did not add the value of the vouchers.  I guess the vouchers could have been worth an additional R50 some months. 

Thus:  The value of the products only (excluding vouchers).

Month	Value
February	277
March	217
April	262
May	251
June	251
July	181

The value of the box has always been more than the R100 you pay for the box.  And if you factor in that courier cost is, I guess, at least R30 then you do get a fairly good deal.  I do not think I would order the box if the value was less than R200, since you need to factor in that you might receive products you would never use.  So in my view getting product worth more than R100 makes up for the fact that there might be some products I do not want or does not suit me.  So far I have not had anything in the boxes I would definitely never use.  One thing that is true is that some of the boxes were only  worth the money because of the full size products included. 

Perfume samples are usually worth between R20 and R30.  Some of the samples were really expensive.  The 5mL sized Lancome youth activating concentrate I got in the first box was worth R100.  (Since a full size sample of 30 mL costs R600, and we received 5 ml.)   Just because it looks small does not mean it is not worth a lot of money. 

I have seen people all over the internet complaining that Rubybox is not worth the money, since they include only small samples.  Here is one.   I would argue that these people are wrong.  Small samples could be worth a lot of money.

For me the value of the sample lies a little bit in the packaging.  Some perfumes came in sachets, and since these are so hard to use and store without spilling, it should be worth less.  Samples coming in decent tubes (the majority) are a lot nicer.