wine.com stewardship worth it?

WINE TALK
1

with the discount codes becoming less and less available, is it worth keeping stewardship at wdc?

Mine expires in May, and if things continue in this direction, I am heavily leaning towards canceling it. Any thoughts?

2

Not too difficult of a decision. If you’re on the fence, don’t renew. If some good coupons or cash back come along later, you can always sign up again.

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3

Mine expires around that time too, and I am also planning not to renew. WDC only makes sense when there are significant discount coupons AND high cashback offers (since their prices are so high), and both are much less than when I initially signed up a couple years ago. I have gotten some amazing deals, but it’s become too few and far between.

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4

I was going to suggest this. Does anyone know if they try to discourage this by pricing (i.e. renewal is less expensive than new membership)?

5

I think it also depends on what you buy and what is available near you. I was also on the fence. I let my membership lapse last month. However, selection and pricing is terrible in MD (sure, I could go to DC, but I rarely need to so I rarely do). Then, they sent me a coupon for 50$ and 10$ off the membership fee. So the 50$ coupon paid for the membership. I’ve been buying a lot of 2018 BDX lately and the pricing on WDC has been excellent. For that particular order when I renewed my membership (to get to 200$), I picked up some Chateau Prieure-Lichine 2018 for 44$ (no coupon, that was the price) a bottle which I believe was the best price available on W-S. I would have probably bought some anyway so win-win. If you let your membership lapse, my understanding is that they regularly send new 50$ coupons to entice folks to sign up again.

6

I’m not renewing because our attorney general is a yutz and the best coupon code you can get now in Ohio is 10% off 6+ bottle purchase. Even with the infrequent great RMN or Rakuten codes, it’s not worth it.

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7

I explained in some detail the value of StewardShip to me personally in the Best Deals/Coupons thread so I won’t rehash it here. Suffice to say that if you buy a lot of wines in the $20-50 range (90% of my purchases), have broad tastes, and are both patient and somewhat vigilant in waiting for coupons and cashback (I.e. you’re buying wine without any specific timeline) then it is a no-brainer. If you mostly buy very expensive wines, don’t want to have to keep an eye out for coupons (the thread here mostly does that for us), have a limited range of very specific wines you want to purchase, or frequently need to buy a specific wine at a specific time, then it’s probably not so worthwhile.

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8

Curious if our BDX futures orders we placed for 19 and 20 BDX will ship free if we cancel our membership?

9

I think the calculus is simple. You’ll either find ways to save the cost if Stewardship or if you don’t think you can then don’t? I think it is extremely easy to save 60 bucks on shipping/raise cards/coupons/cashback versus WS lows. Bordeaux and Brunello are often near the WS low to start. CDPs and Cali/Oregon are usually a bit above but can easily be bought at or below the WS lows without even including the free shipping.

There are definitely some prices that are out of whack but those are easily found and avoidable.

10

As I understand it, they still ship free so long as you were on stewardship when you purchased the futures. Last checked the policy over a year ago, though.

11

The least shipping seems to cost these day is around $30. Do you think you’ll buy from WDC twice in the next year?

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12

Probably 2-3 times a year for me using coupon codes and portals besides any BDX futures. I will keep it for now.

13

Stewardship worth it if:

  1. you purchase multiple bottles in the $50-$70 range with $20 off coupon (assuming a basic search of wine prices to establish fair value)
  2. you purchase occasional special bottles to try in the $150 plus range with $30-$50 off coupons
  3. you purchase gifts for clients/friends during holidays - free shipping is key
  4. as an alternative to coupons, you buy discounted gift cards and combine with cash back for equal or better discount
14

I use it mainly for client gifts. They are pretty quick to ship. They keep my address list and they have a good selection. I’ve done it in the past where I sent a list to one winery and had them ship to everyone, but many clients didn’t appreciate the level of wine that I was sending. Here, I can pick a pretty good wine with an eye catching label. To the clients that will appreciate the wine, I can pick a different bottle.

15

I’m expiring in April and letting it lapse.

16

This has received much discussion in the WDC thread, but I’d say well worth it. I’m not sure codes are really that much less available than before, as they’ve always come and gone in waves. The flurry of 20 off 50 coupons at the end of the year as an example. Extremely inefficient shipping, but a lot of 40% discounts regardless. The bigger codes (100/300) are long gone. Regardless, with rising shipping costs, how long does it take to hit $50? That would get one bottle from Zachy’s or Benchmark to the other side of their parking lot. Even when comparing to places with highly competitive shipping it’s maybe 2 shipments. Ultimately it comes down to whether you’re finding things you like at good prices and want to keep it though. If the focus is on higher priced wines there may be less utility, at least if the higher discount but lower limit coupon trend continues. If the focus is on midrange I think it still offers a ton of value. Things like Bereche, Laherte, Chartogne, Faury, LdA, LdH, Roederer, etc., etc., etc., at 25+% under W-S low with free shipping? That’s a win for me.

17

Agree with Michael. I’d wait to join until the Rakuten/Retailmenot cash back starts again, but when that occurs and you stack discounts the deals are hard to beat. Plus, their Bordeaux futures prices are generally good.

18

Let mine lapse in 2021. I did get some nice bottles at smart pricing, but the prices kept creeping up to the point where I wasn’t saving that much. I tell you the best part of quitting, though: no longer spending more time than I care to admit scrolling page after page looking for things to buy. I am not regretful about mentally closing off another wine time and money suck.
Not at all above rejoining at some point, of course. [berserker.gif]

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19

2022-02-07_15-33-19.jpg
This was from Cornerstone Macro. I think as the world normalizes, and as people return to the office, they will not be able to buy wine while they are on conference calls any more…