The Good Cook Book Club

Hi, I just got some junk mail about The Good Cook Book Club. Are there any members out there? Can someone tell me whether they have a good selection of books? Is this a good deal? Or do they charge outrageous shipping and handling cost such that you don't actually save any money?

[maxie]

While all their books have the same content, many of them are printed in an altered format which they call "book club edition" as opposed to "publishers edition". This means it may be a different size, and have different quality paper and/or ink.

The Good Cook Book Club has a wonderful selection of cookbooks and other items. They do not charge outrageous shipping fees. As you buy books or whatever you earn points that you can use to purchase books at no cost to you except for shipping. I have been a member for several years and have loved the selection of cookbooks they have had. I just this week canceled my membership to the club, because they also carry items that I do not wish to patronize a place that carries these type of products.

I prefer Jessica's Biscuit, a cookbook vendor that offers 30-40% discounts on most books and huge discounts on a very large selection of close-outs and overstocks. They also offer bonuses (free books, t-shirts, etc.) if you spend more than $40.00 and free shipping if you spend more than $25.00. The books are all full-size and the selection of new books is much larger than the book club which offers mostly best sellers.

Here's a link to their website:

Link: http://www.ecookbooks.com

Hi!
I have been a member off an on for about 6 years.
I think the selection is great. The joining special for 4 books for $1 and shipping and handling is a super deal.
I am also a culinary school student and have gotten some required books for a better deal than the book store. Also you accumulate points on purchase which is always cheaper than the book store and you can get free books with the points.
It is a good and honest bookclub.
Carmen

[lindainnm]

Try Amazon.com. If you buy $25 worth, there is NO POSTAGE and of course, NO SALES TAX. GCBC charges both.

Is the Good Cook Book Club the only cook book club out there? Does anyone know of any others?

As long as you take advantage of their promotions it is. Other posters noted how even if you declined a selection sometimes it would turn up in the mail. So I wasn't very religious about declining them. I returned every one of them unopened. They got the message last month - the Featured Selection is no longer sent unless requested.

They will do 50% off sales, buy x get y free, and triple point sales among others. If you can wait, new cookbooks in a couple of months will be put on a special to get rid of them. I haven't ordered a new book from them in probably a year or so though as their selection is fairly fixed and once you've purchased all the ones you really want through their various promotions to make them affordable, not much left to do. Another alternative is eBay. If you can wait, and have the energy to watch it, eventually what you want shows up at a price you'll pay.

I've done it several times without any problems. The key to getting the best deal out of it is to select the more expensive books you want as the initial ones you get for $1 each. Take advantage of the 50% off one they always offer (pick a lower cost book). You'll be required to purchase one or two more books. Pick inexpensive ones. Quit as soon as you fulfill your membership. They'll send you an offer to rejoin in a few months.

I've joined recently. You can do everything online these days, including ordering your initial shipment, refusing the automatic monthly selection, and canceling your account. I've never had a problem with them sending me something I refused or canceling my account. You can also go online and browse their complete selection of books before you sign up, so you can see if they have enough to keep you interested.

I once you fulfill your commitment, it works out to about $11 per book (that includes s&h). It's $1 for 4 initial books, plus I always get a 5th when I sign up for 50% off so I'll only have to buy one more at their club prices (which are generally about 20% off list, so higher than Amazon, etc). Shipping is about $4 per book, even if you buy more than one book. So say the average cookbook is about $35, that means my initial shipment of 5 books is about $37. Then the one book required to meet the commitment is about $32 with shipping, making the total spent about $69 for 6 books. I usually join when there are a bunch of cookbooks I've been eyeing that they happen to have, and then cancel.

One thing you should realize is that sometimes you get the book club edition, not the regular retail edition. The content is exactly the same, but the binding may be different and the paper weight may not be as thick. So for example I got Barefoot Contessa Family Style through a book club. All the recipes and layout and color photos were the same, but the pages were not on as heavy paper (so the book looked noticably less thick) and the binding was black with white end pages (as opposed to colored binding with colored end pages), but it still had the same book jacket with the same color photos.

If you have time, could you tell me where you found the section on-line where you can cancel your account? All I can find is a section where it gives an address to write them to cancel your account. Thanks much!

I joined, got a pretty good deal on the first shipment of books and try to get on the website very frequently to decline my monthly selections but in spite of that, a couple of mystery books have shown up here and I had no idea why. They will take books back but you still have to pay the postage yourself and it is a hassle to send them back. Also, last time I checked, you can only cancel your membership by sending it in writing by snail mail-they don't make it easy to cancel.

You can return any unsolicited mail, unopened, by just writing "return to sender" on the package. No additional postage needed. That is unless they've changed the rules recently.

Actually, by law, I believe you'd be allowed to keep them, since they were unsolicited, but I wouldn't take the chance.

"You can return any unsolicited mail, unopened, by just writing "return to sender" on the package. No additional postage needed. That is unless they've changed the rules recently."

Yes, this is still true. And "unopened" includes the invoice envelope on the outside of the package. If you've opened that envelope, the UPS will charge you for return shipping.

This works with them. If you get something you did not intend to, just write "return to sender" on it and as long as you haven't opened it, it will be returned. Actually, a few years back, I discovered that if you let them ship (accidentally, of course!) a few times and return this way, they will eventually remove you from the auto selection, but you will still be a member and be able to get member prices. Unethical? Well, I justified it by continuing to buy books from them.

Quitting and then signing-up again later also gets you more bang for your buck.

Well, I did it once and got the introductory shipment which I remember being about 35.00 for the six or so books I got. After that I had a hard time buying the two additional you're required to buy because their prices were higher than other places like Amazon, BN, etc. I usually end up using their paper catalog just to see what's new out and then getting it someplace else like half.com which has some really cheap books and shipping is 3.95 media mail.