Birchbox Points Update - Sad and Significant Changes

I just received a very distressing email! Birchbox is changing their much loved point system! Unfortunately, I feel it's not for the better.

Birchbox had one of the best reward systems available among not only subscription boxes but also beauty suppliers (yes, even better than Sephora and Ulta - for a review on them you can see our video below)

Birchbox used to offer points for a variety of things:
1. Reviewing items that you received in your Birchbox subscription - 10 pts for each review
2. For every dollar spent in their store - 1 pt per $1
3. For referring friends - 50 pts per friend
For every 10 points you get $1 to spend in the Birchbox store. So for the simple act of subscribing to their box every month ($10 per month) and then reviewing each sample you got (you get 5 per box) you got 50 points or $5 to the Birchbox store every month. That was basically $5 off a full size item that you really loved. Or you had the option of saving points for as long as you wanted.

As of July 11, 2016 you get:
1. 10 pts for each review up to 5 (that means you can do as mean reviews as you like but you will only get points for 5 total reviews for 50 points total). This new rule effectively removes the $5 coupon that Birchbox is handing you each month.
2. You will still receive the same rewards for referring friends and shopping in the Birchbox store.

Overall Birchbox is still a great service but the perks that they offered with their subscription box is what kept many subscribers content. Birchbox, when compared with Sephora who also has their own subscription box (check out our review here!), has a limited number of brands. But, when you add in the perks for spending money in their shop and reviewing the items in your monthly box, plus the introduction to smaller and lesser known brands Birchbox definitely had the edge over Sephora. Now, that's not really true as Birchbox has taken away a substantial perk, Plus they still count perfume as a "deluxe sample" which for me doesn't work. I don't mind being introduced to new fragrances but, I don't want perfume every other month as one my samples.

Before I cut Birchbox too deep, I should mention that one of the things that won't change is Birchbox's awesome Gift with Purchase shop! You can get all kinds of freebies that you'd only dream of getting with Sephora. So there's that...

I guess at the end of the day I have to say, Would I still subscribe to Birchbox? Probably not. Will I buy things out of their shop? Absolutely! However, Birchbox seems to have based itself on a subscription box and if they alienate that customer base will they be able to compete with the big dogs Ulta and Sephora without those customers returning on a monthly basis? I guess we'll see!