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Costco is overhyped

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Love Costco. But you need to pick what's well worth it. Meats, hard liquor, vision, TP, olive oil, coffee, discounted gift cards & tickets, dairy, produce, vitamins, pharmacy...

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head. But I know there is more.
 
OutHouse said:
5 pound bag of cheese at Kroger is 23 bucks.
5 pound bag of cheese at Costco is 12 bucks.

op is still a fool.
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Staples said:
I agree. Costco beats the grocer prices on just about everything.

Meat, milk, bananas, cereal, bread, fruit (but you have to buy a ton and it may go bad), Mac n Cheese, muffins, and chocolate chip cookies. Gotta get those cookies.
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Costco sells prime and choice+ meats...and the price can't be beat for these grades of cuts.

Also, their Kirkland brand of foods is top notch.
 
RLGL said:
Doesn't matter where you shop. You HAVE to know your prices!
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The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

There are some things at Costco that do not match supermarket sale prices. And there are many other things that Costco sells cheaper every day than even the best sales from other stores. You have to know the prices of the items you buy regularly. If you do you'll know that Costco has a LOT of really great prices and if you buy those things the membership pays for itself many times over.
 
snoopy7548 said:
Did you at least stuff your face with all the free samples?
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I call it the Costco Dim Sum.

Prob not so great for singles in terms of savings but great place to shop in large quantities for family. Ditto on the prime meat cuts - if you can get your hands on those ribeye cap. My issue there is we can never leave that place with less than $100 worth of damage.
 
GagHalfrunt said:
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

There are some things at Costco that do not match supermarket sale prices. And there are many other things that Costco sells cheaper every day than even the best sales from other stores. You have to know the prices of the items you buy regularly. If you do you'll know that Costco has a LOT of really great prices and if you buy those things the membership pays for itself many times over.
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The secret to Costco is to get their Executive Membership credit card (it's like $110 a year). Then, use it for Costco gas. Their gas like like $.25 a gallon cheaper than most places and you get 3-4% on it. We get a check for around $400 a year from them just by doing that.
 
If you have to split the cost of Costco membership with someone else, you're probably single so Costco necessary wouldn't make sense. Portions are too big for sole consumer.
 
Costco overhyped? Herr Kutz is overhyped! Costco is appreciated for their overall quality and for the bargains you can find . . . if you effing know what you're doing. An informed consumer is an intelligent consumer.

The checkout lines can be long; no store is perfect. But Kirkland is the best store brand EVAH! Plus, they treat their employees decently well.
 
you don't need a club card to buy any alcohol at any club store in texas, or, according to the internets, many other states. a lot of state liquor laws make private clubs for retail sale illegal.

also works the same way with getting prescriptions filled, iirc.
 
As others have said, not the cheapest on everything but generally quality items at fair prices. Don't like something for any reason, take it back, no questions asked money back. Aside from that, a CEO and board that actually give a damn about their employees, pay them a decent wage. I will admit, I love Costco and the general way they do business.
 
Perknose said:
Costco overhyped? Herr Kutz is overhyped! Costco is appreciated for their overall quality and for the bargains you can find . . . if you effing know what you're doing. An informed consumer is an intelligent consumer.

The checkout lines can be long; no store is perfect. But Kirkland is the best store brand EVAH! Plus, they treat their employees decently well.
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I just hope that as the original leadership that has made Costco so awesome begin to retire and new blood come in that the new blood does not fuck it up and turn it into a sams.
 
lxskllr said:
Never been to costco, but I was unimpressed with the couple warehouse membership stores I checked out. Prices weren't that great, and stuff came in sizes not particularly useful. Also, limited brands. Might be good for quasi institutional use, but I don't see much point for small households.
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It's never been a regular shopping trip for now - I make purpose runs to Costco to see what I can get and make use of, usually checking to see if they have certain things or just what they have now in general (stock rotates of course), and only grab what makes sense. On a different day then I'll head to my standard local grocer nearby for most everything else.

Which is to say, I imagine very few subsist only on warehouse clubs. It isn't economical. Not everything is economical at every scale, but they do get all kinds of business. There is still plenty that does make sense for anyone to make use of it, and of course brand selection is hit or miss. They don't carry any of the laundry products I prefer (no scents or dyes), that part pisses me off the most probably, as it's a regular consumable and they have great prices for all those types, usually. The deals vary. I just try to poke my head in from time to time and typically browse the vast majority of aisles seeing if they've gotten anything new in that I could use. Usually I find at least one new thing I could use, whether I feel I can afford it or not or whether I really need it, well that's a different story. And whether I still end up walking out with it, again, different story, though the same different story as the last different story. lol


edit:

It certainly helps that there are also standard items they seem to carry continuously, SKUs essentially manufactured for warehouse club sale specifically. I especially love the Kozy Shack cinnamon rice pudding.
 
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Perknose said:
Costco overhyped? Herr Kutz is overhyped! Costco is appreciated for their overall quality and for the bargains you can find . . . if you effing know what you're doing. An informed consumer is an intelligent consumer.

The checkout lines can be long; no store is perfect. But Kirkland is the best store brand EVAH! Plus, they treat their employees decently well.
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Well said.

And that's a great reason to support their business with my business: rewarding companies that actually treat their employees well. And it really doesn't cost anything in the end if, as you say, you know how to shop.
 
Don't know what the groceries are like in your area but I get a lot of deals at Costco that AFAIK can't be beat around here. Of course, even if they can be matched or beat, the fact that in one trip to Costco I can score all those things makes it more than worth it to me, and I don't share a membership.

There is a very limited subset of items that get my attention there. I seldom walk through the place checking everything out, I come with a list, grab my stuff, find the shortest line I can and split. Mostly I get food items.

I never used to buy their fresh fruits and vegetables but they've gotten a ton better on that in that Costco has (at least where I am) gone heavily into the organics. I almost always stick with the organic produce. I get deals on that that can't be matched in the local stores. However, I pick and choose, just a few things and recently I go every 2 weeks instead of the every 2 months I used to.

I've gotten a lot of non-food items at Costco over the years that have been good or at least decent deals. Some that come to mind:

Batteries
A plug in tire inflator
Pole saw
Golf cart
Golf gloves
Tires (they're regarded as a very good economical source of tires, I get them on sale)
Gas (close to the best deal around here, almost always gas up there)
Garden shears set
Compressed air in cans
Windshield wiper blades (on sale)
Automotive oil (on sale)
Computer paper
A great blender at a great price
Toaster
Toilet paper
Shampoo and conditioner
Oxiclean non-chlorine bleach
Some clothes
snoopy7548 said:
Did you at least stuff your face with all the free samples?
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Yeah, and those. I never leave there hungry and I rarely patronize the for-pay food lines (i.e. pizza, etc.).
 
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RLGL said:
Doesn't matter where you shop. You HAVE to know your prices!
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It's the gods honest fact. If you can't be bothered to check the prices you will always be the retailer's bitch.
Herr Kutz said:
Meh, filled up at shell for 2 cents more per gallon. No membership required.
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In addition you get 4% off the pump price at Costco using the Costco Citi Visa card.

overst33r said:
Things like trash bags, detergent, nuts, olive oil, coffee, rotisserie chicken, frozen veggies/fruit, fish, beef, pork, beer, bread, milk, eggs, gas off the top of my head are well worth it. I haven't been able to find the quality for the same price/unit. We buy most other things at Aldi.
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Yup, I get all that stuff there. Pretty much the best prices around. Bake my own bread, though. I buy (no lie) 50 lb. bags of bread flour at Costco. Buy organic extra virgin olive oil at terrific price. Nuts there are the best deal, but not organic. Buy my organic coffee there, best deal around. Get my eggs there, organic. They have a considerable variety of quality cheeses there at affordable prices. I get over 1/2 my meats there. I like their variety gourmet beer in a case (pale ale, amber ale, etc.). 3 lb. organic frozen blueberries for ~$10. Can't beat that. I'm hitting that tomorrow! 🙂

I get all my vitamins/supplements there, best prices I've seen. I can get my Rx medicines there, I think at competitive prices even compared to my HMO. I rarely take medicines, but if I do, I'll check the price at Costco.

I'm single, but the yearly fee of ~$55 (?) is worth it to me in the money I save, not to mention the benefit of one-stop shopping. They're a 5 miles each way drive for me. Walmart is twice the drive, I seldom go there (When I patronize Walmart it's usually online with free shipping.). Lowes is even further, have only hit them maybe twice. Target is closer, but I seldom hit Target. AFAIK, there are no Sams clubs in the area (SF Bay Area).

And yeah, the return policy can't be beat. If you don't like it, bring it back, even if you've opened it, tried it. Now one day a few months ago I bought a couple big bottles of tequila and came home and looked it up online and realized I'd bought cheap crap. I brought it back and they go "it's against the law in California to return alcoholic beverages." So, I'm stuck with those. Gotta figure out something to do with them.
 
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Staples said:
I agree. Costco beats the grocer prices on just about everything.

Meat, milk, bananas, cereal, bread, fruit (but you have to buy a ton and it may go bad), Mac n Cheese, muffins, and chocolate chip cookies. Gotta get those cookies.
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Just got the mailer today. Belvita is being rebated over $3/box of 25 starting August 3. They are tasty.
 
Recently I had Costco Pharmacy remove my prescription drug benefit information because it was cheaper and more convenient to just pay the regular Costco price. Seriously, for Rx X it cost me $ for 30-days using Caremark at Costco pharmacy 2x$ for 90-days without Caremark. Caremark disallows 90-day supply in non-CVS. Going to CVS is even more expensive.
 
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