The Rounds asks customers to ditch Amazon. But insiders say The Rounds is still hitting ‘buy now.’
Allegations of plastic waste and Amazon sourcing hint that the startup is greenwashing instead of sustainable.
With its “Bye Bye, Bezos” merch and waste reduction messaging, The Rounds delivery service markets itself as a convenient and sustainable Amazon alternative for eco-conscious Philadelphians. However, multiple insiders claim the company sources many of its products directly from the same e-commerce giant it wants customers to break up with.
One former employee said the company is deliberately misleading its subscribers by sourcing products from major retailers, including Amazon, and transferring them into mason jars for the upsell.
“Most days out of the week, there would be an Amazon delivery,” said Jordan Crockenberg, who worked for The Rounds in Philadelphia in 2023, first as a delivery biker and then in the warehouse. Crockenberg posted about her experience working for the startup in a 2024 Reddit thread.
Screenshots of The Rounds marketing. From the top left going clockwise: The Rounds website (2024), a social media ad from March 2025, and “Bye Bye Bezos” hat are currently listed on the startup’s website.
“The reason customers choose The Rounds is because they think it’s a green alternative,” Crockenberg, 23, told Green Philly. “But it isn’t. Paper towels delivered to the warehouse in Amazon trucks would be individually wrapped in plastic, and then they would be wrapped in even more plastic on a pallet. There was so much plastic.”
Other Reddit users have made similar claims, including one who posted photos of Walmart boxes being delivered to the company’s Washington, D.C., warehouse.
With an enticing $20/hour starting wage and a flexible schedule, Crockenberg joined The Rounds as a delivery worker in March 2023. Having never biked in a city, she said she was handed a heavy cargo bike on her first day on the job without training and was sent out to deliver in dangerous weather conditions.
A month into the job, Crockenberg fell off the bike and was injured while navigating traffic and heavy rain in Center City. Her position was moved into The Rounds’ Philadelphia warehouse at North 4th and Callowhill Streets in Northern Liberties, until she quit two months later.
“When I saw what was going on behind the scenes, I was honestly disgusted,” Crockenberg said.
A $10 subscription to sustainability?
Launched in Philadelphia in 2019, the startup now also services Atlanta, Baltimore, and D.C. For a $10 monthly subscription, customers can buy a range of products including produce, pantry staples, and household items from The Rounds. The service delivers items in reusable tote bags and glass containers, allowing customers to leave their jars and canisters on their doorsteps for delivery workers to sanitize and refill.
The Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op partners with The Rounds to provide produce, meats, and dairy items. However, the distributors for grocery and household products — such as paper and cleaning products, baby items, and beverages — are not listed on the company’s website.
According to its website, The Rounds sources its products “in bulk to avoid waste throughout the supply chain” and sources locally to “avoid the transportation impact of shipping products from further afield.” To date, the company claims to have saved 1 million pounds of waste by eliminating single-use packaging.
The Rounds did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Green Philly.
In a 2019 interview with TechCrunch, CEO Alex Torrey said The Rounds works with U.S. distributors for inventory:
“I remember I ordered a hand soap…and I had to sort through thousands of options on Amazon,” Torrey recalls, speaking to the difficulties with using traditional e-commerce sites for everyday needs. Then, when his package arrived, Torrey realized how wasteful Amazon deliveries like this could be.
The Rounds had raised over $66 million in funding as of August 2024.
Customers trusted the mission. Now they’re second-guessing.
“A company can’t upsell without delivering on what they’re promising. That’s false marketing.”
Boryana Dimitrova, PhD
Boryana Dimitrova, PhD, who studies and teaches corporate responsibility at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, said that sourcing products from Amazon would be a form of greenwashing for The Rounds.
“More and more, consumers care about sustainability and choose to purchase from companies that truly care about their health and well-being, the environment, and also the health and well-being of their employees,” Dimitrova said.
She said customers are willing to spend more money on products sourced sustainably, but “a company can’t upsell without delivering on what they’re promising. That’s false marketing.”
Christina Holstrom, 23, who lives in Fairmount, said she will think twice before ordering her weekly toiletries and household products from the service, as she has done since becoming a Rounds customer six months ago. She said that since joining The Rounds’ subscription service, she almost never uses Amazon.
“I was under the impression that all of The Rounds’ products were from small local businesses, because that is definitely the impression they give off,” Holstrom said. “I still think I’ll use [the service] to buy produce and other items that come directly from farms, because the pros of convenience and accessibility outweigh the cons.”
As for Crockenberg, her message to The Rounds’ customers is clear:
“There are better alternatives,” she said. “Even if you like the concept of refilling items in glass jars, you can buy in bulk yourself for much cheaper and the same amount of packaging.”
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