In my experience, the baby stuff is a good deal there. The diapers were a good price and we liked the Kirkland diapers. Their formula was much less expensive than anything else we found.
We also buy meat there. Their meat is pretty good quality and at least for us is cheaper and better quality than what we get at the supermarket. I dislike their produce since it tends to go bad quickly.
My wife loves CostCo, but I don’t particularly think it’s worth it in terms of savings. Sometimes they have good prices on their weekly specials, though.
Costco can definitely be worth it. There are some things that are no cheaper than you would get anywhere else, but many that are cheaper, including some big ticket items.
I don’t know if your in-laws are holding on to their meat too long, or if they are lying to you, because the quality of the meat, as others have said, is great. It is higher quality than you get from a grocery store, and cheaper. You can also get reasonable prices on other good quality items like cheese and wine (I have heard, I don’t drink myself).
There are quite a few staples that you can get there for a low price. For example, we get big bags of frozen chicken breasts for about 50 cents a pound cheaper than the grocery store. Butter is cheaper, milk is cheaper, beef tenderloins are a lot cheaper.
For electronics, I usually find that it is cheaer than places like Best Buy, and comparable to prices you will find on places like Amazon.com, so you won’t save a bunch on those, but sometimes you may, plus you can get it immediately.
Then there is a bunch of stuff that you may not buy frequently, but that you can save money on. Costco has Kirkland dress shirts for $15. They aren’t top of the line, but they are comparable to a $30 or $40 shirt in my opinion. I got a pressure washer for about $30 cheaper than I could have gotten it anywhere else. A couple of years ago I got an expensive mattress (around $1,500) from their online site that was probably a hundred dollars or so cheaper than I could have gotten anywhere else.
I kept my membership going, because there are a few items I can’t find anywhere else. But at this point, when you figure in the membership fee, it’s really not worth it. And every time I go there to get these items, of course I wind up getting other things . . . which I can get more cheaply elsewhere. I won’t be renewing my membership this time. I’ll have to learn how to live without the big jars of artichokes and the frozen shrimp wonton soup.
I like Costco. Their gas is cheaper and they have a whole host of services you can get through them (vacation packages, new countertops, etc!). One thing I like is you can purchase movie tickets through them which only cost $7 then use them on a Friday night and save a couple of bucks. Its also convenient to get them ahead of time.
They have an excellent return policy and generally if you are unsatisfied with a product, return it; they dont seem to make you jump through the same hoops other stores do with returns.
The one near me has a cafeteria that sells a foot-long hot dog (or Polish sausage), chips and a drink for $1.50. In case the free samples don’t fill you up.
We live in the Atlanta area, and had a Costco membership for awhile courtesy of our neighbor. I found it absolutely not a cost savings for us. There are plenty of options for shopping here, including Aldi, Walmart, Kroger, and a local chain of grocery stores all within about a 1/2 mile of each other. I am a very good shopper, and know just where to get the best prices on everything. There are much better deals to be had here than at Costco.
Not to mention that I refuse to pay to shop anywhere.
It depends. We pay for our membership in half and half and dog food (they have a darn good grain free dog food - house brand - for much less than I pay at the pet store). But we have a large dog and go through a LOT of half and half.
Other things we tend to buy there because the cost/quality ratio works out in our favor…sometimes meat, cheese. (We often do a prime rib for Christmas dinner - Costco’s prime rib is cheaper than anywhere else’s a Christmas time) Milk. Eggs. Frozen pizzas (I can get them cheaper at the grocery store, but I can get the combination of cheaper and as good). Advil. Batteries. Some office supplies. Bread. We get gift cards for Caribou coffee at 20% off at Christmas time and I get several hundred dollars worth - we use them all year to buy beans. Toilet paper - I don’t use more toilet paper simply because I have more rolls of it in the basement. However, we don’t buy our paper towels there unless they are carrying the type that comes in half sheets - we like the half sheet paper towels. Cleaning supplies - especially laundry detergent.
They are good for when you have a party and you need food to feed quite a few. Their sheet cakes are good and reasonable - as are their party trays. They have a lot of frozen party food sorts of things, trays of baked goods.
Its best - if you don’t have six kids or a business - to have a “Costco buddy” - i.e. someone who you can buy five pounds of strawberries and split them with. Or six heads of romaine. Or 20 lbs of hamburger.
Ours has a liquor store, and their prices on basic spirits are pretty good. They’ll also have some high end wines (they had bottles of Caymus cab last week for $56. We have some - when you can find it “on sale” its usually around $75, and full price its around $100.)
It is really easy to spend way more at Costco (or any warehouse store) than you would. The trick is to learn what they have and then stick to the list. Don’t be temped by the salted caramels or chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I do much better when I go alone (its a $100 trip) than when I go with my husband (and its a $400 trip).
Same here, but no chips (I think, it’s been a long time since I lunched there).
“Costco: if the free samples don’t fill you up, our foot-long sausage will!”
I once returned a bicycle with a flat tire to Costco. I had bought it about a month before and couldn’t get inner tubes for it. They refunded my money, no questions asked.
J.
p.s., We love the discount movie tickets. We go 2 - 3 times a week, so that saves us a lot of money.
I like Kirkland products. Love the meat counter, LOVE the Costco Roasted Chicken.
There’s a lot there that’s good value if you but in bulk. Paper towles, TP, coffee, big jars of stuff.
Problem is that I live alone now. I do not have the storage space for bulk items and the food items will go bad before I use them or overrun my freezer.
I use BJ’s, and if it weren’t for the monthly coupon books they send, I probably wouldn’t continue my membership. But the coupons make it SO worth it - none of those piddling .xx cents off coupons, most of the coupons are from $2 to $5 off, sometimes more for expensive stuff. I only use coupons for stuff I would already buy, and I easily pay for my $45 annual membership in a couple of trips using the coupons. My typical trip to BJ’s is usually 10-15% off with the coupons.
Other than BJ’s coupons, I never use coupons anywhere. But if I did, I could take further advantage, because BJ’s accepts manufacturers’ coupons as well, and you can use them combined with BJ’s coupons. And for bulk items that are multi-packs with multiple ‘packaged for retail’ items, you can even use multiple manufacturer coupons for each individual item in the multi-pack. So if I wanted to bother clipping the penny-ante coupons, I could save even more.
For me, the savings at the gas pump alone are just about enough to justify the regular membership fee. It’s usually about $0.20/gallon cheaper, and once in a while is closer to $0.50/gallon cheaper. Even though I have to drive 30 minutes to get to one with a gas station, it’s all freeway miles and maybe use a gallon for my round trip. (And that includes going to other stores nearby during the same trip.)
I also tend to do better on basic pharmaceutical items - contact lens fluid, ‘nutrition/meal replacement’ drinks, etc. Yes, there have been times where if I watch closely, I can sometimes get these things cheaper elsewhere on sale, but usually there isn’t enough of a price difference to justify another shopping trip to another store.
That, and while Costco pizza isn’t going to win any awards for being the best pizza anytime soon, it’s a strong contender for the ‘best dirt cheap pre-made pizza’ award.
In the end, “is it worth it?” is very dependent on where you’re at and your lifestyle. For me, while yes, I can find some of what I’m getting at a cheaper per-unit cost elsewhere if I look - once I factor in the time spent stopping at multiple stores and gas, it tends to be at least break-even. I’d rather end up needing to stop at one or two stores to get what I need, then drive all over the place stopping at multiple stores chasing the cheapest prices.
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Sam’s Club here in the OKC is worth it for how I use it.
My printer ink.
Steak.
Photo enlargements. (not custom jobs, bulk. don’t give up your pro lab!)
Pre-cooked brisket for a very large business picnic I hosted.
$.05 off gas.
One print job (corporate group portraits) more than covers the yearly cost of membership in savings, meaning I just compare unit pricing for everything else I get.
And sometimes I just want a GIANT can of ranch style beans.
.
It’s totally worth it for the two of us, and it was totally worth it even for me as a single person - we spend enough that it pays for the Executive membership. The generic loratadine and other OTC meds and vitamins would make the membership worth it all by themselves - 300 tabs for like $12? Can’t beat it. Our standard purchases:
Coffee, whole bean, ~ $6/lb. depending on variety
Plain yogurt, $4 for a 2-qt. tub
Organic baby carrots
Canned tomatoes/tomato sauce/tomato paste
Pasta
Chicken
Sometimes other meat, depending - if we’re cooking dinner for a crowd, we almost always buy meat there
Milk
The occasional socks/underwear/shirt/jeans
The occasional linens/other housewares or small appliances
Toilet paper and occasional other paper goods
Nuts, especially walnuts
Baking staples (sugar, etc.)
Maple syrup
Pine nuts are half the price there that I’ve seen them anywhere else
Sometimes spices (paprika, oregano, etc. - anything we don’t find at the Indian grocery)
The mattress and boxspring for the guest bedroom were half the price that comparable ones were anywhere else we looked
Beer/wine/other booze, IF they have what we are looking for
Some fruits (the lemons have been unreliable, but blueberries and cherries have been fabulous)
We certainly don’t shop there exclusively, because we use a far wider variety of groceries than they carry. But for sure there are some things that are way cheaper there than anywhere else.
I have worked at a Price Club from 1982-1993 (just before “The Merger” with Costco) which was very similar in wholesale merchandise since both owners worked together before under the FedMart model and then the Price Club model. Still have friends (including my brother) working for Costco around Southern California. They always have had good prices although their is more competition from other chains trying to match or improve on the distribution/pricing structure that Price/Costco has been doing for 35 years now. But overall, Costco is a better deal, except when other chains have loss leader comparisons.
The organic free range chicken and grass fed/no hormone ground beef is excellent compared to other stores…or the frozen Sirloin Beef hamburger patties. Bacon is a steal. Beer/wine/liquor is always a good price…and best of all…where else can I get 6 pints of fresh raspberries for $9?
Staples is obscene compared to Costco’s office supplies. Cleaning supplies for our office is very cheap there compared to other stores.
Don’t get me started on tires!
Yeah, I sound like a Costco shill, but when I’m at other stores shopping, I’m always muttering, “I know I can get it cheaper at Costco.”
It’s probably not going to be worth it for me (there are just the two of us and not a huge amount of storage space) but I’m going to go to the newly opened one in Sydney, just to see what it’s all about. There were lines of people queueing up overnight before it opened and I’m keen to see what the fuss is all about.
In my opinion Costco is worth it if you know enough about prices so you can figure out what is a good deal and what is not. Not everything at Costco is a good deal, but I have figured out what items are always cheaper at Costco compared to sales at the local supermarket. So you have to be a good shopper.
For one example, I buy boxes of Kleenex at Costco. I try to wait until Costco sends me a coupon (every few months they mail a booklet of manufacturer’s coupons). The coupons are typically worth $2-$5 for grocery-type items. I get 12 boxes of Kleenex for about $13 after coupon. A single box of that Kleenex retails for at least $2, so I am saving about 50%.
Another favorite is the 3-lb rotisserie chicken. Sells for $5. Local supermarket sells them for $6 on sale and they’re only 2.5 lb. Our Costco is only 5 miles away so it’s a great solution to “What the heck is for dinner tonight??”
We go once a week or so. Went today. My mom buys her cases of Perrier water there, 3 or 4 dollars cheaper than at Loblaw’s. So that’s the cost of the membership reimbursed right there. They sold an INCREDIBLE amount of dirt cheap sheet music there; I got the complete urtext of Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias for 4 dollars. Haven’t seen them anywhere else for less than THIRTY. Ditto for my Beethoven and Mozart Sonatas, and the Well Tempered Clavier.
We typically go there if we need to buy ground beef, steak, almonds, pecans, pickles, or tuna there whenever we need any. If I’m having a big birthday party I LOVE their carrot cake. Hardcover and paperback novels are well under the price on the jacket.
So yeah. We save hundreds on things we’d buy anyway. And the restaurant there has awesome poutine and ice cream. I say it’s worth the membership.