Explaining YL Go: Young Living’s New Express Shipping Program

In a move more than two years in the making, Young Living has just announced  YL Go, their very own subscription-based expedited shipping program, available now for Essential Reward members.

This is a massive dose of welcome news to anyone who regularly places Young Living orders, as this can significantly reduce not only shipping costs, but can take days or up to weeks off the time it takes an order to arrive.

How does it work? Well there’s a decent amount to unpack here but it’s pretty straightforward.

Essentially (sorry), for those of you who use Amazon Prime (and if you’re not, how do you live?), this will all sound pretty familiar.

Like Amazon Prime, YL Go is a subscription-based shipping service, expediting and delivering your orders within 2-4 days of being place, at no additional shipping cost beyond the once-annual subscription fee, of either $69 or $129.

Oh yeah, and there’s two levels, YL Go YL Go+. Let’s compare the two:

COMPARING YL Go & YL Go+

Both levels come with 12 ER order credits (orders shipped), $10 flat-rate shipping on overnight orders, and priority order processing. That last one will be particularly helpful when it comes to the holiday season and new product releases, as Young Living will push YL Go orders to the top and process and ship those orders before non-Go orders.

The two most substantial differences between the YL Go and YL Go+ levels are the number of total credits (three times as many with Plus), and the way the credits can be applied.

Go+ gives members a lot more flexibility, allowing them to use the free and expedited shipping on basically all orders, assuming one keeps their total number of YL orders to 36 or less, and even then members receive a discount on orders beyond that. (How big of a discount Young Living has not yet said.)

Free shipping on Quick Orders is a huge plus for Plus subscribers, and means one can expect to receive every single order they place at no additional cost.

For standard Go subscribers, any order placed beyond the monthly ER order (plus a single bonus credit in year 1) requires paying for standard shipping, and of course it won’t come expedited either, so those orders should be expected to arrive at the standard snail’s pace we’re all well accustomed to by now.

On the other hand, the standard model is significantly more affordable, at only $59 for the full year, compared to $129 for the + model.

How much the 24 additional credits matters to you depends on your particularly situation, ordering habits, business expenses, your downline, and other variables you’ll want to take into account.

Young Living’s brief video introducing YL Go.

WHAT LEVEL IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

First off, the question isn’t “is YL Go right for you?”; if you’re reading this one of these levels almost certainly is for you.

If you’re on Essential Rewards already or even if you’re not on ER but order as little as eight times a year, YL Go is definitely worthwhile and will save you money. (For non-ER members, though, this does require signing up for Essential Rewards, but if this isn’t the biggest incentive to push you over to ER, nothing ever will. Seriously this was the final big “but” remaining.)

Standard flat rate shipping for Young Living orders typically starts at $7.99, and goes up from there. So even if you’re only ordering as infrequently as 2 times every 3 months or so, that adds up to $64 minimum in shipping costs each year, and that’s with your packages coming in weeks after you’ve placed the orders.

Here, for $59 you’re getting 12 ER orders at no additional cost delivered in 2-4 days. With Plus, every order will be free, delivered fast, and allows you to send things to people for free. This is especially beneficial when it comes to birthday gifts or around the holiday season (when getting packages in time can be a huge struggle).

I’ll use our household of two (plus a dog) as an example. We’ve been spending approximately $120-140 a year on shipping for our orders, with most orders including a flat $7.99 shipping rate, and then the occasional big expense of an overnighted or two-day order when we need something fast. (Young Living suggests you could save up to as much as 90% on your annual shipping costs.)

We also strategically keep our quick orders to a minimum, ordering fewer but larger orders as we save up our ER points. For personal usage alone, we would certainly choose the lower YL Go level. But as a business, we often place orders for non-personal use, which increases the amount of orders we place, where we send them, and sometimes how quickly they’re needed.

Josh & Janelle, our co-owners here at Cypress & Spruce, have five kids and place far more orders than we do, both for personal and business purposes. For them, the Plus level just makes more sense and will undoubtedly save them hundreds of dollars a year, all while delivering their orders weeks faster.

NO REASON TO WAIT

Regardless of which level is more right for you, there’s no reason not to sign up for ER and YL Go. Much like Amazon Prime, YL Go is something that becomes more valuable the more you use it. That is, to an extent, of course. Whereas Prime has no limits, YL Go does, even at the Plus level. Maybe that’s something that Young Living will come to adjust in future years.

I’d be surprised if we don’t see some changes to the YL Go program as soon as 2019. But for now, it’s a solid start as they’re just rolling this out. It’s been a long time coming, and I know countless families and businesses that are very thankful they’re offering it at all.

Oh, and these introductory levels won’t last. Young Living hasn’t said how long, but they are offering a 20-day window to cancel your subscription, so go ahead and sign up now, and if you want to cancel, you still can later on.

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