Ordering in bulk in light of an irregular version update cycle?

Hi - first time poster… would just like to say that I absolutely love everything about Huel and would like to profusely thank anyone involved in its development who might be reading this post.

New versions of Huel have historically been released anywhere between 2 and 8 months apart and with seemingly no regularity beyond that. Goes without saying that I’m totally at ease with this; completely understand the nature of research and improvement involved means the developers can and should release updates whenever works and needn’t adhere to any kind of regular cycle.

That said, it does create a slight issue for those wanting to order in bulk and make the maximum savings by ordering 8 bags at a time - for example I currently have 6 bags left of v2.2 which I’ll need to get through prior to ordering v2.3 - certainly not a huge problem but I am very keen on updating and having the newest version available as I’m sure many on here are and although i don’t necessarily mind so much on this one occasion, it does make me think about future orders; given updates have sometimes come 2 months after the last, it seems there is a level of risk in ordering any more than 2 months worth of supply at a time.

We aren’t talking huge sums of money here (eg difference in savings between a 6 bag and 8 bag order is only £5) but a) given I plan on using Huel for many years to come, it all adds up and b) a different system could pave the way for confidence in even greater bulk orders and therefore potentially greater savings.

One solution could be if the developers gave some rough indication as to when a version update was reasonably imminent (needn’t be overly precise), which would then serve as a warning against bulk ordering to those keen to stay up to date.

Another perhaps more effective suggestion would be a slight re-jigging of the subscription setup. Unless i’m mistaken, it’s currently the case that you save 10% by subscribing but beyond that, it’s each order itself (that all arrives and is paid for at once) which is where differing iterative savings are made depending on how many bags constitute that order.

So what could work instead would be that one pays up front for a bulk ‘subscription’ that stretches , say, 16 bags or more, but rather than being sent all at once the bags are sent at a rate of say 4-6 at a time (or whatever amount would be least likely to cause version update overlap) and when a new version is released, the subscriber is sent that new version as is the case with the currently existing subscription model

Wondering whether anyone else has any thoughts on this?

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To be honest, I think it’s just one of those things you will have to live with. Huel will always be an evolving product and as a business it has to sell the current stock before shipping a newer version. If word got out officially or unofficially a new version was imminent sales would pause because people would want the new version. This would then create an issue for Huel because it can’t ship the new version until stock of the current version is gone. Every time there is a new version release there is always that person who ordered the day before who is disappointed they got the older version.

The discount for large orders is there because there is only one delivery cost, one packaging cost and one processing cost. If multiple orders had to be actioned there would be no saving.

I am also in the same boat by the way. Not long after I took a delivery of v2.2 there was a change made to the Calcium to decrease the lumpyness. I also received back a v1.2 pouch I sold to a friend so I’m still not on the newer v2.2 let alone v2.3.

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Thanks Coup, that all makes total sense. I simply hadn’t thought through the nature of Huel’s business enough on both counts!
Thanks for taking the time out to reply and clear that all up for me!

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Also, you will most probably not be able to notice a difference health- or otherwise from changing to a new version of Huel. At least that’s what I’m telling myself, sitting here with my eight bags of 2.2.

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Don’t forget, there are always a small fraction of users who don’t like the changes. You could be one of those, in which case rejoice, as you now still have eight bags left before you’ll be giving up! :wink:

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We have 8 bags of 2.2 in stock but have just ordered 2 bags of 2.3 :grinning: I like the fact Huel is constantly improving their formula and really do not mind having both 2.3 and 2.2 in the cupboard.

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The version updates were more regular in our early days; however, they will be less frequent now because:

  1. We have an amazing formula and we’re very happy with where we are
  2. Logistics of doing version changes are a lot harder for us now we’re bigger

I love everyone’s enthusiasm though!

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