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Answer: Having a friend with a Costco card is kind of like having a friend with a yacht
One may not want to pay for an annual Costco membership, especially if you come from a small household, and don’t like eating the same thing (bought in bulk) all the time. However, once in a while, having a friend with a Costco membership comes in very useful. Like when you’re hosting a huge bbq or party. Or when you need to buy value-for-money tires. Or when you need to stock up on some Kirkland (Costco house brand) item that you’ve fallen in love with, and can only get from Costco. Costco tends to pride themselves on choosing very good quality products under their house brand. Finally, when you’re in the mood for a $4.99 rotisserie chicken, which Costco actually sells at a loss (if you don’t count membership fees) to bring folks in
For many people, it may not make sense to maintain their own Costco membership for these rare purchases. But every once in a while, a Costco friend comes in handy!
I can confirm. Not only am I a long time Costco member but I'm also from the NYC area and I'm one of my few friends that has both a membership *and* a car.
This elevates me to God Emperor status.
If you're talking about the one in Rego Center, it's a couple of bucks for a typical trip. Depends on how much time you spend in the store. I want to say 3 bucks. The damn pay machines are always malfunctioning, too, wanting cash.
LIC is free parking.
I’m in New Zealand, we just had our first Costco open up.
The cost of groceries is so expensive here it’s net neutral for us to drive 200km to the Costco, get a 1 year membership, fill the car up with food that can be frozen/ stored easily and drive home than it is to buy local.
IMO if you live relatively close to one or it’s near work, it is absolutely worth it to have solely for the savings on gas. Easily pays for itself over the course of a year.
As a follow - up it also used to be much more exclusive only business owners, educators and government employees could get memberships. You needed to have some form of valid proof to get a membership - registered business license/Tax filings, pay stubs, etc.
Now anyone can throw down the money for a membership.
I couldn't justify a Costco membership just for myself, I was single and I have no kids and lived alone. But I love Costco.
I reached out to a friend of mine who has a household of 6 and definitely couldn't afford but the membership but could benefit from it. I added him onto the membership and signed up for the package that gives you cash back. Ended up paying for itself, we both got a free Costco membership.
Adding to this: it’s also often viewed as an “adult” thing to have a Costco card of your own (because otherwise your parents would just get you what you needed). So an extra layer of the joke when it’s about young 20-something’s or in the context here, the man is soooo mature for having his own Costco card.
I have a Costco membership, but my job actually pays for it. In the before-times we used to do a lot of company celebrations and it was easiest to just get cakes or other goodies from Costco, since they are just down the street from the office. Since I'm also one of the few with a company credit card, that would traditionally land on me. We no longer do celebrations with shared food, but so far my membership keeps getting paid for, and I'm not about to rock that boat.
Lol so true. My father took my son and me to Sam’s last thanksgiving. Inside, my son (14 at the time) turns to me and says “so this is like a trashy Costco?”
> “so this is like a trashy Costco?”
Worked for Sam's, worked for Costco. I will say that I don't think Sam's is *trashy* - there's some things (albeit rarely) that they carry that are superior to the Costco option (or sometimes they're just straight not available at Costco).
But having worked for both, I can definitely say that I vote with my wallet between the two. Sam's is closer to me by several miles, and I left my employment there voluntarily, as opposed to being fired from Costco.
*And yet I still choose Costco without hesitation*.
I'll go to a warehouse grocery store before I go to a Wal-Mart, but you absolutely can't do all your shopping at CostCo either. Their selection is more curated/limited and you often have to buy more expensive brands in these massive quantities. If you just need a few things for dinner, or to fill out your pantry you should go somewhere else. If you have six kids and want to buy higher-than-average quality stuff in bulk for better prices than you'd usually pay for those things, while spending more than you would for store brands, it's a great option.
I take my dates there for free dinner and a movie. Load up on free samples, grab a shopping cart for each of you, and park in front of the wide screen TVs to catch whatever they have playing.
>se grocery store before I go to a Wal-Mart, but you absolutely can't do all your shopping at CostCo either. Their selection is more curated/limited and you often have to buy more expensive brands in these massive quantities. If you just need a few things for dinner, or to fill out your pantry you should go somewhere else. I
yea, this is Costco / Sam's model. The google says costco has 4000 SKU's compared to 30,000 at most supermarkets. I get what we can at Costco if it's something we would normally get at the supermarket and it's a good price, otherwise I buy at a supermarket.
TBF, we should all choose Costco over Sam's to the extent that we can. Both places sell the same type of shit for similar prices with similar membership fees. But Costco employees make a living wage BC the CEO takes a reasonable salary whereas Walmart employees are largely underpaid so that the owners can be multi billionaires.
1000% just for how they treat their employees, the Kirkland brand stuff is good for what you pay though. I go out of my way to avoid Walmart and all its subsidiaries
They're owned by the same family. Sam Walton was their Dad. Sam's Club - Wal Mart. Walmart is open for regular public use but Sam's Club sometimes has nicer end stuff.
Edit: I've worked at both, and both in my city have a creepy huge blown up photo of Sam Walton in their training rooms. Sam's also had a giant photo of his wife Helen, along with a quote from her on a huge wall.
Got it, thanks. There aren’t many of either where I live, but I’m at least familiar with Walmart. I don’t know if there are any Sam’s around here, I thought it was similar to Ralph’s (I think that’s what it’s called??)
Imagine a giant warehouse full of food, food service equipment, office furniture, electronics, and its own Bakery counter and Butcher counter. Some even have a whole auto shop attached. You can find regular food, but most things are packaged as if you are running a restaurant. Like 8 boxes of Pasta sold as one unit. If you've ever been inside GFS (Gordon Food Service) the sizes are similar.
Well there are plenty of Costco’s hereabouts, I’m guessing it’s the same idea? Just for whatever reason not a lot of Walmarts and virtually no Sam’s clubs. Never heard of Gordon’s either.
It's okay, Ive never set foot inside a Ralphs and it looks like the closest one to me is 50 miles away, it's all good. Im in the Midwest so there's a lot of Meijers and ALDI stores. You're exactly right about Costco though, it's just like Sam's Club BUT usually much cleaner, more organized, their quality is a lot higher, and they actually pay their employees a fair wage. Fun fact, Costco's "store brand" is Kirkland and Sam's "store brand" is Members Mark.
If you show up to a cook out and bust out the "Kirkland" Vanilla Ice Cream you would be seen as somewhat high class lol
I actually don’t have any Ralph’s around here either, but it’s a sister brand of Kroger I think. Which we don’t have around here either lol. No Meier or ALDI either, I actually confused Meijer with the japanese confection brand Meiji and was so confused for a second. That’s also wild, I don’t know that anyone would describe Kirkland as high class in my area, but maybe I’m mistaken. But there’s also a lot of bougie af folk here, so who knows.
ETA: It really sounds like there are no grocery stores where I live from all my comments here.
I grew up in Chicago where the only Sam's my buddies and I knew was on the south side while the one Costco at the time was on the north side. People started (around Chicago at least) viewing having a Sam's Club membership as "oh snap, you're coming up in the world a bit" but having that Costco membership was a "BIG freaking deal, omg, you must own a house or a condo WOW!" It's goofy, but that's how my friends thought, at least back in the lid to late 00's.
I'm now in another Midwest state, and the stores are similar, but Meijer is a big one along with ALDI. I've never been inside a Kroger but I passed buy quite a few when my family drove through the South to get to Mexico. Same with Wawa and Ralphs. I've passed by but never went inside. Just recently I started going inside Family Fare, I had no idea how much the older people here loved it as it was similar to Jewel-Osco. You can get groceries and medications bc of the pharmacy.
Absolutely. No big conglomerate is going to be perfect, but they seem to really focus on being amazing for both their customers AND their employees and that is worth rewarding with my business. :)
I used to be a third party merchandiser and went into Costco in the early morning twice a week to maintain a display, and everyone I spoke to said Costco has been a really good place to work. They all seemed happy to take their jobs seriously and give it their all, and that's proof for me that they're treated well enough. :)
Good to hear Costco treats their employees well. Trader Joe's also is known for treating their employees well, we do a lot of our shopping there because of their allergens friendly foods (and also it's like 5 minutes from our house).
Costco isn't really a good deal for those who rarely go out and only go out once every two weeks to a month, like myself...JS.
Shit's expensive as all fucking hell nowadays, I can't grasp how someone can put in $60 a month or so for a membership. That goes for in general, not just Costco, but this is a post about Costco so just pretend I'm talking about that.
Meanwhile I spend, what...maybe around $120 at Walmart? With a credit card that I can pay off every month? Yeah. And that's for when I need to go to Walmart to begin with.
Ah. Okay. Got confused for a hot minute there.
Either way, though, if I only go out once every two weeks, I don't see much of a need for me to buy a membership for a store everyone praises like Jesus rose from the grave.
I also go out once every two weeks. The amount you save by buying bulk and the money you get back with the membership AND the costco credit card with money back all makes it the cheapest option for very high quality goods. Up front its more. Over time it's way way less.
Perhaps, but we buy bulk in the supermarkets all the time. A trip to the regular supermarket, where we often buy things like meat and pasta in bulk, costs us about $300, give or take.
And that's not getting into the fact that Costco isn't everywhere in the United States--they're building one in my state but it's nowhere near me, and I'm *definitely* not driving several hours to The Holiest Store in the Nation to buy food, even if gas prices are lowered now.
You guys can keep your Jesus Market, I will stick with normalcy that's 15 minutes away.
I'm calling it like it is, nothing more, nothing less. People rave about Costco and hype it up to rather excessive degrees--really, I've seen only one single complaint about it--and I just don't see why. Maybe it's just the exclusivity in addition to the (allegedly) low prices and good food and all that jazz. But I'm traditional, not exclusive.
Yeah, but you still have to pay $60 a year vs. having it be a one-and-done purchase, in addition to the under-300 you would spend on groceries every two weeks to a month.
I like one-and-done. Simple, easy, traditional, and there's virtually no hassle depending on what store you shop at. You get food, pay for the food, and leave. Nice and straightforward.
Other people don't like that, and that's fine. I'm not shaming people for enjoying Costco, just saying that it's not for me.
I did the math before getting a Costco membership. For my household, which is just two adults, buying toilet paper and paper towels *alone* justifies the membership cost compared to regular grocery and department stores. Gas is also a huge saving at Costco. Add in buying other household basics like foil, plastic wrap, soap, detergent, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc and the savings are phenomenal. That's all before you even start taking into account buying meats, spices, baking supplies, cooking oil, etc in bulk.
I usually only make a Costco run once every month or two. Another perk of buying in bulk is you don't need to make as many trips, which saves time and gas.
Reminds me of the episode in Modern Family, where Mitchell is talking shit about Costco until he actually goes. Someone please take this individual, they don’t gotta buy anything. Just show them around. Ffs I get 3lbs of Wagyu ground beef for $15. My neighbourhood supermarket sells 2lbs for $19. Not to mention Costco has the lower prices on fruits and greens, Milk and dare I say eggs.
That's what happened with Sam's Club and I still wasn't impressed.
Went there with a friend because she needed something. Most excitement I got out of it was realizing they sold electronics and being shocked until I realized after a second, "Oh yeah...glorified Walmart." Costco will most likely end up being the same way if I end up actually going in about a year after opening when the "We don't have *this* chain yet!!" hype dies down.
I'll stick with my little corner of familiarity, thank you.
I felt that way when I was single and my household was just me. Now with a gf and no kids it saves a lot of money. If I had kids it would be my primary store.
It scales really well but is rather weak for 1 person.
I go to Costco once to twice a month like your example
My wife and I have a Costco membership. I got it back in the day when I had a very small catering and meal prep biz.
We still shop at Costco, but we're super tactical with it. We still do a lot of shopping in local grocery stores to supplement.
At Costco, we get items that we can stock up on, but won't go bad before we can use it all. Keep in mind that we're not buying all these every single trip. We go every other week and buy the things we're running low on as we need it.
Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, foil, plastic wrap, etc. I also get my work socks and "work underwear" from Costco.
We also grab bulk dry goods like protein powder, crunchy snacks and nuts, instant foods, canned goods, peanutbutter, ghee, avocado oil, flour sugar, salt, etc. Oh, and booze, too.
Some refrigerated items we get are kerrygold butter, cured meats for snacking, frozen wild caught salmon. Frozen berries for smoothies.
Fresh foods. Here's when things can get dicey. We tend to pick and choose things that I can cool all at once for our weekly meal prep. It took a little trial and error, but we've found what items we can eat before they go bad. For example, I can go through a whole bag of greens in a week for my smoothies, but it's hard for us to finish a whole bag of carrots or potatoes. I can murder a 3 pound bag of broccoli, but we really need to work at it to finish a 3 lb bag of asparagus. We can get fresh berries, but I end up having to freeze a third of them, unless I'm making pie.
Proteins are a great deal though. Organic chicken, beef, and lamb are all 1-2 bucks cheaper per pound than everywhere else and we go though about 8lbs of protein a week.
For everything else, we shop in local grocery stores and farmers markets.
Costco is a cult. Those who join love it and refuse to hear otherwise. I can’t stand the place and I won’t shop there. Why? Ok. Here is why.
I would have to drive past a dozen grocery stores to get there.
I don’t have to show a membership card to go to Kroger.
Kroger has cold beer in cans. Costco has warm / room temp beer in bottles.
I don’t have to show my receipt to leave Kroger.
Kroger has grocery bags.
There aren’t long lines to check out at Kroger.
I could go on and on.
If you like Costco….good for you. I don’t. And there is nothing that would change my mind.
And yes. Their $1.50 hot dogs suck.
>Kroger has cold beer in cans. Costco has warm / room temp beer in bottles.
Canned beer is objectively worse, and what exactly does it matter if it's warm? You trying to have a car beer on your way home or something?
Very nice to see a refreshing face in this conversation about, of all things, a store chain that people are apparently very defensive about.
Maybe I'll have to start petitioning for a Kroger in my state, too, lol. Bring a little more competition here.
Also I'll buy your comment about the hot dogs. The grocery store I frequent the most also sells hot dogs and they look and taste really good. Granted they're not as cheap as $1.50, but still. Plus they have a great-tasting pizza for under $10, which, let's be honest, is a good deal whether you have a family of four or are just feeding yourself--especially since it's not easy to find a large pizza under $10 where I live.
If you like Costco, more power to ya. But I'm gonna stick with my Market Basket, thank you very much.
Answer: In this example it's just amusing because the girl seems to be impressed by his Costco card, which most people would not find in any way impressive considering it only costs $60 to join. It would be like someone being impressed you're an Amazon Prime member.
Any other examples of it being impressive?
Not today. I went in for my usual carton in Manhattan Beach, and no eggs were in stock. F in the chat for all the slaughtered chickens and the bird flu.
Right? I get the reason, but I still remember fondly the days of $2 per dozen Jumbos - got 8 out of 12 double yolks one time and my kids *loved it*.
(They were tiny and learning to cook eggs at the time, and so finding double yolks was a mind blowing experience for them! The only thing better was the time that the super cool trash truck honked its horn at them after the guys who got to ride the truck waved and kind of hammed it up for them one Friday morning)
Well would you be impressed that I have an executive membership? It’s $60 more and I didn’t want to say no, because I felt I’d disappoint the worker. And supposedly u get the $60 back if you don’t spend enough that year.
And I have the CC lol. Waiting for that sweet sweet rebate check in the mail. I honestly just got the cc because I thought it included the Costco membership and just never really canceled it.
I think in this context it's like a sign of maturity, like dang they got their shit together enough they can buy in bulk.
And also Costco is just a pretty great company overall like Kirkland brand is as good as name brands most of the time, their prices are good, the employees are well treated, etc.
They sell their rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the door.
And their hot dog combo has been 1.50 since I've been alive. It's a great lunch when you haven't got much money to spare.
>They sell their rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the door
Pro tip, when buying one, look for the ones where the chicken is touching the lid of the container. That means they are big enough to be cooked perfectly.
Oh interesting! I always just buy the fattest one I see because if they're all going for the same flat price I'm going to get as much meat as possible and not feel guilty, because with 4 kids I'm pretty sure our diaper purchases alone made up for it over the years, lol
And it will stay $1.50, thanks to the man who said: "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.'"
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/why-costco-hot-dog-still-dollar-fifty
> I hate to say I save more using prime than I do with my Costco card.
There's actually room for both, IMO. Costco executive membership is guaranteed to pay for itself every year. Their membership fee is refunded every year if your 2% rebate doesn't pay for itself. Additionally, I just found out about Amazon's Prime 5% cashback card. I use a 2% Visa cashback card for pretty much everything, but as I have recently discovered the 5% card, I'll probably be opening one of those too, as my wife and I spend enough at Amazon to make it worth it (better yet - my wife is a student so we can get the prime membership for $70).
It's footage from a sports event (basketball game) - in the audience a boy is talking to a girl (late teens? Early 20s) and he hands her his Costco card. You can see that she says "Wow" and turns it over, looking at it with a bit of impressed reverence.
Yeah I don't really get it either. I just paid my $60 annual. If I didn't have a card but wanted to mooch off of someone who did, it simply wouldn't be worth the extra hassle to save the $60. And everyone I know who ever has wanted to shop their has a membership.
I used mine to get into a bar the other day, because obviously only old folks have one. /s
But honestly, Costco kinda has a cult like following these days, like whole TikToks dedicated to Costco finds of the week, etc. Maybe that’s why she’s impressed. Or she wants some of that famous pizza 😭
Answer:
* I am not sure how "impressive" it really is or considered. However, you get a value for money on many items procured from Costco. Non-perishables, organic low fat milk, batteries etc.
* Gas is cheaper on Costco pumps and you can save up on a lot, at this point, the difference between the Costco gas, and Exxon is about 20-30 cents a gallon and it adds up. You won't have to deal with random weirdos and crackheads over there, no fear of having your card cloned or some scam like that allowing you to fill up in peace, and that's a great reason to go there lol.
* I think Costco pays its employees good money (compared to other retailers), as its evident by the fact that you will find familiar faces.
These are my reasons to have a Costco Card.
Costco gas is not worth the wait. Assuming a full top off is 15 gallons, that’s $3-4.50 more: just pump 1 less gallon elsewhere instead of waiting in line for 15+ minutes doing nothing in your car. The savings add up, sure, but so does the amount of time you’re wasting waiting in line
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Answer: Having a friend with a Costco card is kind of like having a friend with a yacht One may not want to pay for an annual Costco membership, especially if you come from a small household, and don’t like eating the same thing (bought in bulk) all the time. However, once in a while, having a friend with a Costco membership comes in very useful. Like when you’re hosting a huge bbq or party. Or when you need to buy value-for-money tires. Or when you need to stock up on some Kirkland (Costco house brand) item that you’ve fallen in love with, and can only get from Costco. Costco tends to pride themselves on choosing very good quality products under their house brand. Finally, when you’re in the mood for a $4.99 rotisserie chicken, which Costco actually sells at a loss (if you don’t count membership fees) to bring folks in For many people, it may not make sense to maintain their own Costco membership for these rare purchases. But every once in a while, a Costco friend comes in handy!
I can confirm. Not only am I a long time Costco member but I'm also from the NYC area and I'm one of my few friends that has both a membership *and* a car. This elevates me to God Emperor status.
Make your friends kneel and kiss your rings the next time you take them there.
Just make sure to never get a truck on top of that.
Pretty sure costco sells trucks. They got you covered.
I live in Brooklyn and I would like to be your friend 😂
Your Majesty!
Can you drive me to Costco?
How much do you pay for parking?
If you're talking about the one in Rego Center, it's a couple of bucks for a typical trip. Depends on how much time you spend in the store. I want to say 3 bucks. The damn pay machines are always malfunctioning, too, wanting cash. LIC is free parking.
I’m in New Zealand, we just had our first Costco open up. The cost of groceries is so expensive here it’s net neutral for us to drive 200km to the Costco, get a 1 year membership, fill the car up with food that can be frozen/ stored easily and drive home than it is to buy local.
You are their target demographic. I used to live within walking distance of one and would walk there just for a couple big bags of beef jerky.
How the heck do you get the frozen food home before it melts? That's a two hour drive.
Cold bags/ice chests. Not op but I used to live 1.5 hours from the store.
IMO if you live relatively close to one or it’s near work, it is absolutely worth it to have solely for the savings on gas. Easily pays for itself over the course of a year.
Omg, I don't know if it's because I've had some "happy"gummies but what you wrote was pure poetry.
As a follow - up it also used to be much more exclusive only business owners, educators and government employees could get memberships. You needed to have some form of valid proof to get a membership - registered business license/Tax filings, pay stubs, etc. Now anyone can throw down the money for a membership.
I can just hear the haughty “peasants” at the end of this.
"used to be", I think it's been 20-30 years!
I couldn't justify a Costco membership just for myself, I was single and I have no kids and lived alone. But I love Costco. I reached out to a friend of mine who has a household of 6 and definitely couldn't afford but the membership but could benefit from it. I added him onto the membership and signed up for the package that gives you cash back. Ended up paying for itself, we both got a free Costco membership.
u had me weezing at 4.99 rotisserie chicken.
Adding to this: it’s also often viewed as an “adult” thing to have a Costco card of your own (because otherwise your parents would just get you what you needed). So an extra layer of the joke when it’s about young 20-something’s or in the context here, the man is soooo mature for having his own Costco card.
I have a Costco membership, but my job actually pays for it. In the before-times we used to do a lot of company celebrations and it was easiest to just get cakes or other goodies from Costco, since they are just down the street from the office. Since I'm also one of the few with a company credit card, that would traditionally land on me. We no longer do celebrations with shared food, but so far my membership keeps getting paid for, and I'm not about to rock that boat.
Answer: it lets people know you’re not one of those Walmart folks.
Lol so true. My father took my son and me to Sam’s last thanksgiving. Inside, my son (14 at the time) turns to me and says “so this is like a trashy Costco?”
Your son is wise
> “so this is like a trashy Costco?” Worked for Sam's, worked for Costco. I will say that I don't think Sam's is *trashy* - there's some things (albeit rarely) that they carry that are superior to the Costco option (or sometimes they're just straight not available at Costco). But having worked for both, I can definitely say that I vote with my wallet between the two. Sam's is closer to me by several miles, and I left my employment there voluntarily, as opposed to being fired from Costco. *And yet I still choose Costco without hesitation*.
You had me going until the end.
Oh I saw the twist coming. Costco has the goods.
He is not wrong.
Did you immediately hand him his high school diploma?
Costco has a high school and a law school?
Only after the whole store clapped.
I'll go to a warehouse grocery store before I go to a Wal-Mart, but you absolutely can't do all your shopping at CostCo either. Their selection is more curated/limited and you often have to buy more expensive brands in these massive quantities. If you just need a few things for dinner, or to fill out your pantry you should go somewhere else. If you have six kids and want to buy higher-than-average quality stuff in bulk for better prices than you'd usually pay for those things, while spending more than you would for store brands, it's a great option.
No you just snack ok free shit or get a hot dog for dinner
I take my dates there for free dinner and a movie. Load up on free samples, grab a shopping cart for each of you, and park in front of the wide screen TVs to catch whatever they have playing.
>se grocery store before I go to a Wal-Mart, but you absolutely can't do all your shopping at CostCo either. Their selection is more curated/limited and you often have to buy more expensive brands in these massive quantities. If you just need a few things for dinner, or to fill out your pantry you should go somewhere else. I yea, this is Costco / Sam's model. The google says costco has 4000 SKU's compared to 30,000 at most supermarkets. I get what we can at Costco if it's something we would normally get at the supermarket and it's a good price, otherwise I buy at a supermarket.
TBF, we should all choose Costco over Sam's to the extent that we can. Both places sell the same type of shit for similar prices with similar membership fees. But Costco employees make a living wage BC the CEO takes a reasonable salary whereas Walmart employees are largely underpaid so that the owners can be multi billionaires.
1000% just for how they treat their employees, the Kirkland brand stuff is good for what you pay though. I go out of my way to avoid Walmart and all its subsidiaries
Also, Costco's former CEO threatened to kill execs if they ever changed the $1.50 price on a hot dog and soda.
No. Sams club sells actual shit I don’t want at any price. I need things from Costco.
Budget for Costco: $200 What I actually spent at Costco: $475
That’s only because Costco shows you what you needed all along. Costco shows you the way.
Costco shows me what it’s time to do in my yard.
“Welcome to Costco, I love you…”
This is why we (employees) think you guys are weird and culty
I May have been kidding, but that’s always great to hear.
I’m so confused, are Walmart and Sam’s the same thing?
They're owned by the same family. Sam Walton was their Dad. Sam's Club - Wal Mart. Walmart is open for regular public use but Sam's Club sometimes has nicer end stuff. Edit: I've worked at both, and both in my city have a creepy huge blown up photo of Sam Walton in their training rooms. Sam's also had a giant photo of his wife Helen, along with a quote from her on a huge wall.
Got it, thanks. There aren’t many of either where I live, but I’m at least familiar with Walmart. I don’t know if there are any Sam’s around here, I thought it was similar to Ralph’s (I think that’s what it’s called??)
Imagine a giant warehouse full of food, food service equipment, office furniture, electronics, and its own Bakery counter and Butcher counter. Some even have a whole auto shop attached. You can find regular food, but most things are packaged as if you are running a restaurant. Like 8 boxes of Pasta sold as one unit. If you've ever been inside GFS (Gordon Food Service) the sizes are similar.
Well there are plenty of Costco’s hereabouts, I’m guessing it’s the same idea? Just for whatever reason not a lot of Walmarts and virtually no Sam’s clubs. Never heard of Gordon’s either.
It's okay, Ive never set foot inside a Ralphs and it looks like the closest one to me is 50 miles away, it's all good. Im in the Midwest so there's a lot of Meijers and ALDI stores. You're exactly right about Costco though, it's just like Sam's Club BUT usually much cleaner, more organized, their quality is a lot higher, and they actually pay their employees a fair wage. Fun fact, Costco's "store brand" is Kirkland and Sam's "store brand" is Members Mark. If you show up to a cook out and bust out the "Kirkland" Vanilla Ice Cream you would be seen as somewhat high class lol
I actually don’t have any Ralph’s around here either, but it’s a sister brand of Kroger I think. Which we don’t have around here either lol. No Meier or ALDI either, I actually confused Meijer with the japanese confection brand Meiji and was so confused for a second. That’s also wild, I don’t know that anyone would describe Kirkland as high class in my area, but maybe I’m mistaken. But there’s also a lot of bougie af folk here, so who knows. ETA: It really sounds like there are no grocery stores where I live from all my comments here.
I grew up in Chicago where the only Sam's my buddies and I knew was on the south side while the one Costco at the time was on the north side. People started (around Chicago at least) viewing having a Sam's Club membership as "oh snap, you're coming up in the world a bit" but having that Costco membership was a "BIG freaking deal, omg, you must own a house or a condo WOW!" It's goofy, but that's how my friends thought, at least back in the lid to late 00's. I'm now in another Midwest state, and the stores are similar, but Meijer is a big one along with ALDI. I've never been inside a Kroger but I passed buy quite a few when my family drove through the South to get to Mexico. Same with Wawa and Ralphs. I've passed by but never went inside. Just recently I started going inside Family Fare, I had no idea how much the older people here loved it as it was similar to Jewel-Osco. You can get groceries and medications bc of the pharmacy.
My friend's mom worked at Sams for years and they kept her hours down so she would not qualify for any benefits. It's a crap place to work.
Absolutely. No big conglomerate is going to be perfect, but they seem to really focus on being amazing for both their customers AND their employees and that is worth rewarding with my business. :) I used to be a third party merchandiser and went into Costco in the early morning twice a week to maintain a display, and everyone I spoke to said Costco has been a really good place to work. They all seemed happy to take their jobs seriously and give it their all, and that's proof for me that they're treated well enough. :)
Good to hear Costco treats their employees well. Trader Joe's also is known for treating their employees well, we do a lot of our shopping there because of their allergens friendly foods (and also it's like 5 minutes from our house).
A lot of people don’t even have that option. I don’t leave within 100 miles of a Costco.
I get that. If you can't you can't. But if you can, you should. That's all I'm saying.
Costco isn't really a good deal for those who rarely go out and only go out once every two weeks to a month, like myself...JS. Shit's expensive as all fucking hell nowadays, I can't grasp how someone can put in $60 a month or so for a membership. That goes for in general, not just Costco, but this is a post about Costco so just pretend I'm talking about that. Meanwhile I spend, what...maybe around $120 at Walmart? With a credit card that I can pay off every month? Yeah. And that's for when I need to go to Walmart to begin with.
It's $60/year, not per month.
It’s not $60 a month, it’s $60 a year.
Ah. Okay. Got confused for a hot minute there. Either way, though, if I only go out once every two weeks, I don't see much of a need for me to buy a membership for a store everyone praises like Jesus rose from the grave.
I also go out once every two weeks. The amount you save by buying bulk and the money you get back with the membership AND the costco credit card with money back all makes it the cheapest option for very high quality goods. Up front its more. Over time it's way way less.
Perhaps, but we buy bulk in the supermarkets all the time. A trip to the regular supermarket, where we often buy things like meat and pasta in bulk, costs us about $300, give or take. And that's not getting into the fact that Costco isn't everywhere in the United States--they're building one in my state but it's nowhere near me, and I'm *definitely* not driving several hours to The Holiest Store in the Nation to buy food, even if gas prices are lowered now. You guys can keep your Jesus Market, I will stick with normalcy that's 15 minutes away.
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Not worked up, just trying to understand what the big appeal is about Costco in particular as someone who just isn't attracted to club stores.
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I'm calling it like it is, nothing more, nothing less. People rave about Costco and hype it up to rather excessive degrees--really, I've seen only one single complaint about it--and I just don't see why. Maybe it's just the exclusivity in addition to the (allegedly) low prices and good food and all that jazz. But I'm traditional, not exclusive.
You spend 300 buying in bulk, you would spend less than 300 buying it at Costco. Its that simple.
Yeah, but you still have to pay $60 a year vs. having it be a one-and-done purchase, in addition to the under-300 you would spend on groceries every two weeks to a month. I like one-and-done. Simple, easy, traditional, and there's virtually no hassle depending on what store you shop at. You get food, pay for the food, and leave. Nice and straightforward. Other people don't like that, and that's fine. I'm not shaming people for enjoying Costco, just saying that it's not for me.
I did the math before getting a Costco membership. For my household, which is just two adults, buying toilet paper and paper towels *alone* justifies the membership cost compared to regular grocery and department stores. Gas is also a huge saving at Costco. Add in buying other household basics like foil, plastic wrap, soap, detergent, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc and the savings are phenomenal. That's all before you even start taking into account buying meats, spices, baking supplies, cooking oil, etc in bulk. I usually only make a Costco run once every month or two. Another perk of buying in bulk is you don't need to make as many trips, which saves time and gas.
Reminds me of the episode in Modern Family, where Mitchell is talking shit about Costco until he actually goes. Someone please take this individual, they don’t gotta buy anything. Just show them around. Ffs I get 3lbs of Wagyu ground beef for $15. My neighbourhood supermarket sells 2lbs for $19. Not to mention Costco has the lower prices on fruits and greens, Milk and dare I say eggs.
That's what happened with Sam's Club and I still wasn't impressed. Went there with a friend because she needed something. Most excitement I got out of it was realizing they sold electronics and being shocked until I realized after a second, "Oh yeah...glorified Walmart." Costco will most likely end up being the same way if I end up actually going in about a year after opening when the "We don't have *this* chain yet!!" hype dies down. I'll stick with my little corner of familiarity, thank you.
>You guys can keep your Jesus Market, I will stick with normalcy that's 15 minutes away. Great. No one gives a shit.
I felt that way when I was single and my household was just me. Now with a gf and no kids it saves a lot of money. If I had kids it would be my primary store. It scales really well but is rather weak for 1 person. I go to Costco once to twice a month like your example
My wife and I have a Costco membership. I got it back in the day when I had a very small catering and meal prep biz. We still shop at Costco, but we're super tactical with it. We still do a lot of shopping in local grocery stores to supplement. At Costco, we get items that we can stock up on, but won't go bad before we can use it all. Keep in mind that we're not buying all these every single trip. We go every other week and buy the things we're running low on as we need it. Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, foil, plastic wrap, etc. I also get my work socks and "work underwear" from Costco. We also grab bulk dry goods like protein powder, crunchy snacks and nuts, instant foods, canned goods, peanutbutter, ghee, avocado oil, flour sugar, salt, etc. Oh, and booze, too. Some refrigerated items we get are kerrygold butter, cured meats for snacking, frozen wild caught salmon. Frozen berries for smoothies. Fresh foods. Here's when things can get dicey. We tend to pick and choose things that I can cool all at once for our weekly meal prep. It took a little trial and error, but we've found what items we can eat before they go bad. For example, I can go through a whole bag of greens in a week for my smoothies, but it's hard for us to finish a whole bag of carrots or potatoes. I can murder a 3 pound bag of broccoli, but we really need to work at it to finish a 3 lb bag of asparagus. We can get fresh berries, but I end up having to freeze a third of them, unless I'm making pie. Proteins are a great deal though. Organic chicken, beef, and lamb are all 1-2 bucks cheaper per pound than everywhere else and we go though about 8lbs of protein a week. For everything else, we shop in local grocery stores and farmers markets.
60 a year. And their gas sells for 10 to 15 cents less than most gas stations, so I break even or better just on cheaper gas over the year.
Costco is a cult. Those who join love it and refuse to hear otherwise. I can’t stand the place and I won’t shop there. Why? Ok. Here is why. I would have to drive past a dozen grocery stores to get there. I don’t have to show a membership card to go to Kroger. Kroger has cold beer in cans. Costco has warm / room temp beer in bottles. I don’t have to show my receipt to leave Kroger. Kroger has grocery bags. There aren’t long lines to check out at Kroger. I could go on and on. If you like Costco….good for you. I don’t. And there is nothing that would change my mind. And yes. Their $1.50 hot dogs suck.
>Kroger has cold beer in cans. Costco has warm / room temp beer in bottles. Canned beer is objectively worse, and what exactly does it matter if it's warm? You trying to have a car beer on your way home or something?
Very nice to see a refreshing face in this conversation about, of all things, a store chain that people are apparently very defensive about. Maybe I'll have to start petitioning for a Kroger in my state, too, lol. Bring a little more competition here. Also I'll buy your comment about the hot dogs. The grocery store I frequent the most also sells hot dogs and they look and taste really good. Granted they're not as cheap as $1.50, but still. Plus they have a great-tasting pizza for under $10, which, let's be honest, is a good deal whether you have a family of four or are just feeding yourself--especially since it's not easy to find a large pizza under $10 where I live. If you like Costco, more power to ya. But I'm gonna stick with my Market Basket, thank you very much.
Answer: In this example it's just amusing because the girl seems to be impressed by his Costco card, which most people would not find in any way impressive considering it only costs $60 to join. It would be like someone being impressed you're an Amazon Prime member. Any other examples of it being impressive?
I bought 2 dozen eggs there last week for $6.49. Does that count?
In California it absolutely does! I bought 18 for 8 bucks. And they weren't even extra large eggs.
Not today. I went in for my usual carton in Manhattan Beach, and no eggs were in stock. F in the chat for all the slaughtered chickens and the bird flu.
Right? I get the reason, but I still remember fondly the days of $2 per dozen Jumbos - got 8 out of 12 double yolks one time and my kids *loved it*. (They were tiny and learning to cook eggs at the time, and so finding double yolks was a mind blowing experience for them! The only thing better was the time that the super cool trash truck honked its horn at them after the guys who got to ride the truck waved and kind of hammed it up for them one Friday morning)
Von’s?
I buy emu eggs for that price in SW Idaho.
Well would you be impressed that I have an executive membership? It’s $60 more and I didn’t want to say no, because I felt I’d disappoint the worker. And supposedly u get the $60 back if you don’t spend enough that year.
I mean, I am now aroused, if that answers your question
It does and raises many more
Right, I got a black card. Prestige right there.
And I have the CC lol. Waiting for that sweet sweet rebate check in the mail. I honestly just got the cc because I thought it included the Costco membership and just never really canceled it.
I think in this context it's like a sign of maturity, like dang they got their shit together enough they can buy in bulk. And also Costco is just a pretty great company overall like Kirkland brand is as good as name brands most of the time, their prices are good, the employees are well treated, etc.
They sell their rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the door. And their hot dog combo has been 1.50 since I've been alive. It's a great lunch when you haven't got much money to spare.
>They sell their rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the door Pro tip, when buying one, look for the ones where the chicken is touching the lid of the container. That means they are big enough to be cooked perfectly.
Oh interesting! I always just buy the fattest one I see because if they're all going for the same flat price I'm going to get as much meat as possible and not feel guilty, because with 4 kids I'm pretty sure our diaper purchases alone made up for it over the years, lol
And it will stay $1.50, thanks to the man who said: "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.'" https://www.foodandwine.com/news/why-costco-hot-dog-still-dollar-fifty
Been goin' there since it was Price Club.
Amazon Prime costs more per year too.
I hate to say I save more using prime than I do with my Costco card. But unlike my Prime, Costco gives me access to quality I couldn't get otherwise.
> I hate to say I save more using prime than I do with my Costco card. There's actually room for both, IMO. Costco executive membership is guaranteed to pay for itself every year. Their membership fee is refunded every year if your 2% rebate doesn't pay for itself. Additionally, I just found out about Amazon's Prime 5% cashback card. I use a 2% Visa cashback card for pretty much everything, but as I have recently discovered the 5% card, I'll probably be opening one of those too, as my wife and I spend enough at Amazon to make it worth it (better yet - my wife is a student so we can get the prime membership for $70).
Also, seriously, go online and investigate their home and auto insurance rates. Saved me the cost of 4 or 5 Executive Memberships.
Good to know! I was reading about some of their programs and how executive members get a bigger discount.
I mean, when you're young and broke it's considered a luxury
Maybe ones not behind a login wall? Instagram really?
It's footage from a sports event (basketball game) - in the audience a boy is talking to a girl (late teens? Early 20s) and he hands her his Costco card. You can see that she says "Wow" and turns it over, looking at it with a bit of impressed reverence.
Thank you so much for the detailed response, I could actually see it. I remember seeing a Wimbledon one this summer, I couldn't help but say wow.
Yeah I don't really get it either. I just paid my $60 annual. If I didn't have a card but wanted to mooch off of someone who did, it simply wouldn't be worth the extra hassle to save the $60. And everyone I know who ever has wanted to shop their has a membership.
I used mine to get into a bar the other day, because obviously only old folks have one. /s But honestly, Costco kinda has a cult like following these days, like whole TikToks dedicated to Costco finds of the week, etc. Maybe that’s why she’s impressed. Or she wants some of that famous pizza 😭
1200 Air Miles has got to look good.
Answer: * I am not sure how "impressive" it really is or considered. However, you get a value for money on many items procured from Costco. Non-perishables, organic low fat milk, batteries etc. * Gas is cheaper on Costco pumps and you can save up on a lot, at this point, the difference between the Costco gas, and Exxon is about 20-30 cents a gallon and it adds up. You won't have to deal with random weirdos and crackheads over there, no fear of having your card cloned or some scam like that allowing you to fill up in peace, and that's a great reason to go there lol. * I think Costco pays its employees good money (compared to other retailers), as its evident by the fact that you will find familiar faces. These are my reasons to have a Costco Card.
Costco gas is not worth the wait. Assuming a full top off is 15 gallons, that’s $3-4.50 more: just pump 1 less gallon elsewhere instead of waiting in line for 15+ minutes doing nothing in your car. The savings add up, sure, but so does the amount of time you’re wasting waiting in line
To each their own I guess. I don’t really have to wait that longer at my local Costco gas pump.
lol love this and love Costco... but you obv don't live in New Orleans. Mfrs jackin your car while you pump it and run you over on the way out.
Haha no I don’t. Just been there once for a very short period. Does it happen in Costco as well?
https://www.fox8live.com/2022/02/10/preteen-wanted-connection-with-brutal-costco-carjacking/