My renewal fee of $35 is comming up and it dawned on me that I am not getting much for the money. I use to belong to a warehouse club that only charged for an additional discount so it was easy to calculate the worth. I just divided the cost by the discount ($30/.05 = $600). It meant I would have to spend at least $600 to break even on the discount.
I started comparing the cost of DVD’s and bulk items with other discount stores and in some cases they cost MORE at the warehouse club. has anyone every done an extensive comparison of the products they normally buy to see if there is any discount at all?
To add insult to the $35 fee I don’t get my items bagged and I have to produce my receipt at the door before I leave to get it authenticated. WTH is that. I feel like I’m paying extra to get less product, service, and respect.
I haven’t done an “extensive comparison”, and I don’t if the Sam’s Club here is typical, but you can for example buy ten packs of macaroni and cheese for $8, or go next door to the WalMart and buy one for $0.80.
My wife still insists we keep our membership, however, because she “likes to shop there”.
The only real benefit in my eyes is they have an in-house butcher with better quality (and higher priced) meat.
I’ve got one and I find it really helps out a lot, at least on things I buy. Since I don’t tend to buy my DVDs there I don’t really look the price. I find the cold cereal to be the best value. I get twice the amount for less then the price of one box at a grocery store.
I also buy bulk gum, which normally runs a buck a pack, I get 14 for seven bucks. Toilet paper and paper towels are also pretty cheap. We also buy a lot of meat at Costco and that saves money as well. Though we do have a lot of pork and chicken in the freezer.
I can buy one of Costco’s roast chickens for $4.50 and feed my family lunch and dinner for three days. Between that and the discounts on bulk toiletries and groceries, we definitely get our membership’s worth.
They certainly aren’t the end all be all of savings some think they are, but there are certain things i’ll pick up there if it’s a good deal. And the Costco here has a good wine selection with pretty good prices too.
You save in some areas and in other areas you take it up the butt.
I’ve learned that the great stuff that we need I get from Costco: bread, eggs, yogurt and birthday cake ( their cakes are awesome.)
I’ve outfitted our family for camping with a tent, airmattresses, sleeping bags and bbq for a hellova lot cheaper than if I went elsewhere. The stuff is top of the line, too with a full lifetime warranty via Costco. (just save your receipt and take it back into the front desk in its sqashed and wadded form, which I have never had to do.)
Our picnic table was bought there and I got it for about $125 to it’s usual $500 tag. Me So. Very. Happy.
The one big reason I have to have a membership to Costco. It wasn’t diapers ( too costly there, ironically enough.) It wasn’t for a vat of laundry soap (which was impossible to lift.) it was and is for a 5 lbs bag of almonds. My favorite snack. Can’t get it anywhere else for $7-9.
I don’t need my products bagged. I don’t fully understand the guy at the door checking my receipt, but the hotdogs are the best. ( cause there is relish and onions readily available to apply.)
You have to be able to actually use the bulk buys to make warehouses worth it. But if you have a freezer, or lots of storage, you can save a few bucks, if in nothing else but gasoline!
Huh. They bag your groceries for you at my Costco.
I find eggs, milk, and sandwich stuff to be cheaper at Costco. Also fruit bars and granola bars. We go through truckolads of them. It isn’t an amazing price difference for most things. So far (I’ve been a member for less than a year) it’s been worth it. Got a microwave for about $20 less than a department store. A friend came with me to buy a freezer for about 2/3s regular price.
I figure I’ve saved at least twice my membership fee.
For those of you who don’t use Costco all that much, or only use it for every-day type items (milk, laundry soap, toilet paper, snacks…) I highly recommend Smart & Final. I think it used to be open only for small businesses, but now it’s open to the public. They still carry the small busines/catering stuff, so there’s a whole section of industrial kitchen type stuff most people won’t need, but for a lot of household stuff, you can get a bunch of stuff at good (sometimes amazing) prices.
My biggest savings is eyeglasses. Both hubby and I need them and the savings were over $100 on each pair compared with other optical places. That alone more than makes up for the membership fee.
We don’t buy a lot of food from Costco (there’s only two of us and we have limited storage space) but I do appreciate that they sell things the local grocery stores do not. Better quality produce, Healthy Choice fudge bars, etc. I wouldn’t buy my day to day groceries there, however.
We save on office supplies (paper, mostly) and their book selection may be limited but it’s significantly cheaper than Amazon.ca. Most of our electronics came from Costco as well. Everything is clearly marked so I can research with Consumer Reports and Epinions, and I’ve been very happy with the quality as well as the price.
They don’t bag at my Costco either, but they will put your items in a box for you. They usually have leftover boxes on the other side of the cash that you’re welcome to take, and if you have some in your cart, the cashier will happily put your stuff in them.
As much as I appreciate their merchandise and prices, I must admit I do everything in my power to avoid going there on the weekend. It’s a madhouse. Sometimes I think they must advertise: “Clueless and distracted? Come on in! Have unattended, poorly behaved children? We want your business!” That, combined with the weekend lines (both at the cash and the door) discourage me from shopping there as often as I could.
Something I’ve heard from my friends - which seems to be born out in this thread -is that the experience at Costco is good and that at Sam’s Club is bad.
I joined my local Sam’s Club last December to get really good deals on some computer games my son wanted for Christmas. That and cereal are the best buys. Most other things aren’t that much of bargain compared to regular stores on special. The whole showing your card twice, no bagging, getting checked out before you can leave ambiance is yukky enough that I’ve only gone on the odd occasion.
The last time I went I was approached by an associate who tried to get me to apply for a Sam’s Club Discover card while I was waiting in the check out line. That kind of grief I don’t need. I don’t think I’ll re-up. There’s no Costco in town, so that’s not an option for me.
Toss me in as a second on S&F. Decent deals on bulk packs of many items, and some other commercial convenince items you wouldn’t normally see in Costco/Sams.
Also with highly mobile families the section of take out containers are great for packing lunches and stuff. They don’t sell all of the clothes, books, toys, electronics, etc but I don’t miss it.
It took me a long time to join Costco, because I’m shopping for only 2 (sometimes 3) people. But once I joined, I discovered that I can really save on a number of items that I regularly use, and several new items that I’d never seen anywhere else. And always the best quality (except the blueberry bushes that died).
But don’t automatically assume that all their prices are the lowest. You have to comparison shop.
One thing about CostCo I’velearned, it’s definitely a “buy now or forever hold your peace” type of affair. I’ve had several times where I saw something I wanted to buy at an attractive price, but I decided not to buy it then, figuring I could get it the next time I visited. Needless to say, the prize had disappeared the next time I visited…
The receipt marking is to deter employees from stealing stuff, I believe. I’m not entirely sure how it works, but other stores (most notably Fry’s Electronics) uses the same gimmick.
Yeah, you have to admit, without such practices it would be a whole lot easier for a friend to pass off $9,000 plasma screens for an ounce of weed
I suppose a full time Receipt Checker would be cheaper than even more security cameras and vegas-style backrooms with a dedicated guy on each video screen, but who’s watching him? And who’s watching them? And who’s watching him… etc
I’m guessing some of these places have problems with organized crime, considering the value of some of this inventory. The Receipt Checker could be undercover FBI :eek:
It’s only $35; that’s less than $3 a month. You blow more than that on a frappuccino at Starbucks. Just got Costco’s Summer coupon book and there are some good deals in there.
I love Costco. Not only are a lot of things incredible cheap (e.g. 5 pound bag of Mexican blend cheese = $5.79) compared to a grocery store, but they have a kick-ass return policy.
My friend bought a patio set from them 5 years ago for $600. The set had a 3 year warranty. 2 1/2 years into it, two of the chairs’ bolts started rusting. Friend called Costco and complained. Two replacement chairs were sent to her, free of charge. 2 1/2 years later, the bolts on the other chairs started to rust. She went to the customer service rep and complained again. Remember, the warranty was supposed to be for 3 years, not 5. Manager told her to bring the set in and they’d refund the money, which she did. Yup, 5 years later they gave her a 100% refund on the set.
Buy a cheap piece of crap and they’ll send you another cheap piece of crap when the original cheap piece of crap starts to do what cheap pieces of crap do.
I have a hard time believing that a ‘rusted’ bolt(s) can warrant a full refund. Isn’t that normal wear and tear? They don’t advertise the items to be made of stainless steel and or aluminum do they?, then why should a customer expect or even think of demanding a refund for such a trivial thing?
Hell, if it was me I’d just take out the bolts that are rusting and replace them with some newer SS stuff from the local hardware store anyway. Easier than wasting everyone’s time with a silly ‘rusty part’ return on an otherwise nice item, unless maybe the owner of the set wasn’t entirely happy with the quality of the product and had a bit of buyers remorse.
OP;
The problem I have with the clubs are the hard to figure out price comparisons since a lot of the items are packaged in different sizes than regular stores, so figuring out price differences means you have to bring a calculator and break the think down into cents per ounce or something. And the urge to impulse buy is too great, especially if you’re not a very disciplined shopper.
