That was a literal lol from me especially since I typing this on my phone while I’m …. well, you know.
I once returned a bunch of bananas to Costco because my wife didn’t like the ones I bought. They refunded the whole $2.50 I paid.
The Canadian Costcos still have both all-beef and polish sausage for $1.50. Though not as good as hot dog carts, they are better than most.
They’ve taken back a three year old coffee maker that the pump stopped working on. We didn’t even have the original box. (We normally keep the original packaging on our small appliances, just in case.)
I love me my Costco, but their food court (for me) has gone to shit. No supreme pizza, no polish, no onions, no churro. I haven’t bothered for years.
It’s especially irritating because it was good pre-pandemic. Plus I see menu photos from other countries that have amazing looking options. Instead, all I can get is a very small menu of uninspired, mediocre (at best) food that were expected to like just because it’s underpriced. No, it’s just cheap.
What no love for Costco Canada poutine?
Surprisingly good poutine for the price, and we still have Polish hot dogs!
My Costco also has onions on request.
MtM
OK, note to self, make sure to buy poutine and Polish sausage at Costco when I visit Ontario next month. And request onions too.
I’m confused by this. How does this stop people from “eating and then not buying stuff in the store.”
It stops non-members from coming in to take advantage of the cheap food since you need a membership card to order. They don’t really care if members just came in for lunch; that’s what the membership fee is for and you at least have the potential of saying “While I’m here…” and walking out with $250 in paper towels.
My own Costco does not require a card to place an order. Each time I intentionally leave my card out of my wallet after making my main Costco purchase, walk to the food kiosk and realize I didn’t need it. But it’s also deep back in the store which probably stops most random people from accessing it (it’s also not near other stores so you’re really only there to shop Costco).
My notoriously frugal friend and I worked within close walking distance of a Costco. He’d walk over and do two rounds of the free samples for lunch sometimes. Not even $1.50 for the hot dog.
For the $65 annual fee, it’s probably a very good deal for a starving student
When I was really young, I worked part time minimum wage jobs and barely made rent and sometimes couldn’t afford lunch. But I had a Costco card from my dad being a paid member. Some days I’d take the bus to Costco and do lunch from samples. It wasn’t great but it was better than nothing.
The worst part was pretending that I was interested in buying anything.
I went with him one time. We just speed walked through and then did a second lap. No one cared. He observed previously that they gave him the side eye if he tried a Round 3.
I was never brave enough to do more than one lap. I’d really put on an act like I was so curious, I’d even ask a couple questions like what was in it, how do you cook it, etc.
I was really insecure about being called out for being a moocher, especially since it wasn’t even my Costco account (although AFAIK I wasn’t doing anything wrong; my dad had a Costco Business account and listed me as an associate since technically I did help him out from time to time with his computer consultations).
It wasn’t a lot of food and I don’t think I ever got full, but it was better than starving, which in those days I did often. One thing I learned as a young man was that if you are hungry, you go through a first wave of starvation, and if you wait it out it goes away. But hours later it will come back a lot stronger. So I’d just tough it out the first time and I’d be okay for a while. You don’t start getting weak or dizzy or headaches until that second wave.
Going to Costco was just enough to delay things until I could hopefully find something to eat. It was always a gamble though with what they had.
The regular membership gives you two cards and I gave mine to my ex-wife. I was curious and I checked and we are breaking the rules because the extra free card is supposed to go to someone over 16 who lives at the same address. It doesn’t have to be a relation.
In Canada, in practice I don’t think you need membership to eat there. Given difficulties parking and getting there, I can’t imagine Costco loses money on this small percentage of the population. Most would probably join Costco anyway if they had the wherewithal; are likely students or the like.
Our Canadian Costco used to offer onions but stopped. I’ll have to ask anew
Interesting. I don’t drink milk or eat ice cream. I can eat any cheese “firmer” than Brie ( including Brie). Saying this because I get most of my calcium from cheeses. Also never add salt when I cook because there’s so much in most cheeses. Likely a ton in pepperoni as well, but I assume I get plenty just with dishes that include cheese.