So one of the nightly “current affairs” shows announces that CostCo has plans to expand into Australia. Depending upon who you listen to our existing grocery duoploy (Coles & Woolworths) is either shaking in their boots or laughing that membership(?) stores don’t work in Australia.
I understand from the story that you have to be a member to shop there, with membership costing circa $100 per year. But that they then basically sell everything at cost + 10% making them sigificantly cheaper than competitors, the downside being you have to buy in bulk, and no guarantee of a particular product line being in stock on a regular basis?
Anyone from the States want to give me an insight/opinion into how Costco works, what it’s like, does it really save you money, is it worth being a member?
I love Costco. It used to be a bulk only store, but it’s gotten away from that. Now it’s kind of “more for less.”
For instance, you can buy a 60 oz. name brand shampoo for about the same price that you’d pay for a 22 oz. shampoo. Their fresh meat and produce are very good and reasonably priced. For instance, at my local grocer a red pepper is $2 each. You can buy a 6 pack for $5.99 at Costco.
You can also get member discounts on travel, rental cars, prescription glasses, etc.
With proper planning and some pantry/freezer space, you can save bundles by shopping at Costco. Not to mention their electronics, and the fact that they have a great guarantee.
But their pizza…YUM! You’ll pay $5 for a $12 takeout pizza that you bake yourself.
Around here, the basic membership is $50 per year, or there’s a $100 “Executive” level that rebates 2% of your purchases at the end of the year.
Yes, the jokes about “Hey, a four-pack of pianos!” are not a tremendous exaggeration, but they’ve gotten better - toilet paper might have once come in bales of 96 rolls, now it comes in bales of 48 rolls, and steaks may be packaged in clumps of five rather than singly. OTOH, I can go through an 8-pack of canned tomato soup pretty quickly, and five steaks is probably just right for a barbecue party wth the neighbors.
A whole lot of the food items will be regularly stocked, especially if it’s their Kirkland brand. Housewares and clothing seem to be more of a “we bought a truckload, and when it’s gone, it’s gone, so grab it now!” item. However, regular stores do the same thing - it just might take them longer to sell out of something at full price.
They’ve also branched out into a lot of discounted services - pharmacy, optical, garage door installation, travel discounts, car insurance, auto loans, mortgage refinance, and business-related services like merchant credit card processing service and shipping.
I love Costco. It’s $55 a year here in Canada. I think I make back my entry fee just in eggs, butter, and milk every year. Their store brand is generally very good. Their meat prices are very good, and the package size isn’t impossible to deal with if you’re willing to freeze some.
But you have to “learn” how to shop there. It’s not like a regular store. Some things are great to buy there. Others, not so much. As the others have said, things aren’t necessarily giant-sized any more, or they are multi-packs of regular-sized stuff.
I think it’s absolutely worth the cost of membership. Plus it’s fun to shop there, and they give lots of free food samples.
I got an excellent set of pots and pans that will last me decades at Costco for only $250.
Costco has never had the ‘so cheap we’re evil’ vibe that Wal-Mart does, as far as I can tell. I never hear of the kind of corporate screw-the-workers shenanigans with Costco that I hear about with Wal-Mart. Doesn’t mean they don’t happen, though.
I love Costco! They have a website, so you could check to see some of the things they carry. You can buy everything from discounted movie tickets to vacations to Fiji.
I generally use it for more mundane items: cases of bottled water, toothbrushes for the household, enough toilet tissue that I only buy it twice per year, etc.
I buy a lot of books there and just recently I bought a camera that saved me $40 over the retail (for real, I bought retail first and returned it). My kids are always clamoring for DVDs and games for the Nintendo DS and my husband drools in the electronics area.
Their food is great, I freeze what I can’t use right away, which is easy enough. Their chocolate chip cookies are to die for, 24 palm-sized, chewy, chunky cookies for $6. The best part of it all is if you go at the right times, they have free samples all over the place so you can graze your way through the store.
The only bad thing about the place is that I rarely get out of there for under $300.
When we got our first Costco up here (Price Club at the time), the two things that I remember being more expensive were pop and diapers. Now that was 10+ years ago so things have probably changed but be sure to double-check the prices.
Costco is wonderful. I was there today, and filled two shopping carts.
I have a couple of houseguests coming in this weekend, so it was particularly useful. Their meats are great, as is their produce. Overall, their quality is far ahead of Sams/Walmart.
Essentially,Costco has replaced both supermarkets and places like Target in my life. There might be 5-6 food items that I can’t do without that Costco doesn’t carry, but that"s it.
(For those, I either hit a neighborhood/ethnic grocery store, or stock up on rare visits to a supermarket.)
And don’t forget the photo processing, which is great too.
My mom has a moral hangup about paying to join a store membership, but she’s weird that way. We save way more than the cost of joining, and also the Kirkland fruit and nut mix is the greatest.
I just read that article and I think I love that man. How refreshing is it in this day and age to find the head of a big company who is interested in looking after his employees, and actually does so? :eek:
It’s OT to my own post but The funny thing this a lot of big business seems to have lost sight of the fact that a well looked after employee is a motivated, loyal and enthusiastic employee!
You need to keep track of the per unit price (or per pound etc) , not the final cost.
Some items are much cheaper some are not. You just can’t go in there expecting to pay less for everything just because it’s bigger. You can save a lot of money if you are carefull and pay attention.
Yes. It helps to go in the first few times with the supermarket prices for things (per pound or kilo) in your head or written down, so you can get a feel for what’s a bargain and what’s not. And to try not to let ridiculous thing leap into your cart.
I have been a member for three years, and I have not yet bought a huge package of cream puffs. I’m very proud of myself.
I have, unfortunately, succumbed to the eight-packs of creme brulee. Which are heavenly. And probably medicinal and nutritious. Right?
I just let my Costco membership lapse this past month and I won’t be renewing it.
I just never got my bang for my buck out of the thing. Items like DVDs are almost always cheaper at Target/Best Buy. And while the prices seem to be good they aren’t much different than finding similar things on sale at your local stores.
And while buying bulk may be good for some, it’s not for me. I like Dole frozen fruit bars but I don’t want to have to buy 2 dozen so I can save a nickel on each one.
And also their selection is limited. I’d love to buy diapers there but they never carried the brand we use.
Good point there. Go to Safeway, and they’ll have nine brands of diapers, but only one or two at Costco.
Same for spices. If you need to stray from the basic cinnamon, seasoned salt, garlic powder and steak rub, you’re likely out of luck - they don’t sell tumeric or allspice, for example. OTOH, last night, I grabbed a *huge * jar of lemon pepper for about seventy five cents more than the tiny glass bottles cost at Safeway.
They charge the same for milk (a box containing two one-gallon jugs) as the grocery store, but around here, the government sets the minimum retail price on milk. Pop is often cheaper on sale at the grocery stores.
As someone mentioned, their roast chickens are amazing. We’re also rather enamored with their spinach salads.
Oh, and the CAKE! I love Costco cake, that filling is the food of the gods. (The cake itself is plain ol’ generic cheap cake, but the filling…) And you get a half-sheet for half the price of a quarter sheet at the grocery store bakery.
My husband gets the staples at Costco, and I get the smaller stuff at the grocery store. We just work out which thing we need to get from where.
but The funny thing this a lot of big business seems to have lost sight of the fact that a well looked after employee is a motivated, loyal and enthusiastic employee!