Costco? What makes it awesome for you?

[Ready]

Try buying sunscreen at the local shops and you'll find that a week's worth of sunscreen is enough to pay for your Costco membership.

 

[Amethyst]

While that's an impressive growth rate, I bet he was all over bruises from not knowing where his arms and legs ended in any given month, and learning to duck his head!

My oldest brother grew over 13" in 8th grade (5'3" to 6'4"),

 

[kcowan]

Here's one guy that got past the door checker:

Car seat box used to steal $11,000 in Costco merchandise | WJLA

Yes they somehow believe that the door checker is the whole security and end up in prison anyway.

 

[Fedup]

Try buying sunscreen at the local shops and you'll find that a week's worth of sunscreen is enough to pay for your Costco membership.

We are happy to spend our money in Hawaii.

 

[kcowan]

Are there actually enough UPS, FEDX, USPS trucks and planes (and drones) to deliver the equivalent of what Costco sells? Specifically how does Amazon ship a 35 pound car battery to (oh, let's say Hawaii) in 2 days - for free to Prime members? YMMV

My guess is that grocery will be a separate monthly charge, like Prime.

 

[W2R]

While that's an impressive growth rate, I bet he was all over bruises from not knowing where his arms and legs ended in any given month, and learning to duck his head!

You are exactly right! He kept hitting his head on doorways, car doors, overhead light fixtures, and so on, poor guy. But, like a lot of kids, when he hit something he'd just bounce back and continue with whatever he was doing. My mother tried to teach him to watch where he was going, but it didn't work very well IIRC.

 

[Scuba]

Right on. Check the "pet peeve" thread for more members of this club.

[emoji23]
I haven't read the pet peeve thread. Not interested in negativity when ER is so great!

 

[travelover]

Someone mentioned Photo Services, and I have to ask (because I think I saw this in my store). In 2017..why? ................

They make enlargements amazingly cheap. Also photo Christmas cards and specialty items with photos, like calendars.

 

[Koolau]

An amazing Costco benefit for us is having access to Costco on any of the Hawaiian islands. We go just about every year to Hawaii and stay in a VRBO home, so we usually spend about $400 on our first day at Costco and stock up on everything we need.

I'm always amazed to see that the pricing in the Hawaii stores is exactly the same as the pricing in Southern California, to the penny. I've often wondered if they just choose to make less profit on the Hawaiian stores just to keep the pricing consistent and offer it as a perk to their members. Without having a Costco in Hawaii, our vacations would be extremely expensive. And for those living on the islands, having a Costco there makes a huge difference in overall cost of living.

Ya know, we wondered about that too. How can our Costco sell for mainland prices and still make much money. What we figured out, when we shopped at mainland Costcos is that, for roughly the same size store, Hawaiian Costco sell a heck of a lot MORE. Since that revelation, I have heard (not confirmed) that Costco, Sams, and Home Depot are the "busiest" of all such stores (not the biggest, but busiest - more sales per size of store.) So, if they make any money on an item, they come out because they typically sell a lot more items than similar mainland stores. Don't know if this is true - but it's true by what I have seen. Sometimes it's difficult to get a parking spot at these store - especially at Christmas. They are always busy! YMMV

 

[Danmar]

[emoji23]
I haven't read the pet peeve thread. Not interested in negativity when ER is so great!

Couldn't agree more.

 

[audreyh1]

Ya know, we wondered about that too. How can our Costco sell for mainland prices and still make much money. What we figured out, when we shopped at mainland Costcos is that, for roughly the same size store, Hawaiian Costco sell a heck of a lot MORE. Since that revelation, I have heard (not confirmed) that Costco, Sams, and Home Depot are the "busiest" of all such stores (not the biggest, but busiest - more sales per size of store.) So, if they make any money on an item, they come out because they typically sell a lot more items than similar mainland stores. Don't know if this is true - but it's true by what I have seen. Sometimes it's difficult to get a parking spot at these store - especially at Christmas. They are always busy! YMMV

Shipping must be a huge part of the cost of goods sold in Hawaii, and maybe Costco figured out how to minimize those costs. I've wondered too.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

My wife likes Costco but doesn't shop there much as we have an excellent grocery store 3 minutes from home (Costco is about 15 minutes). I can only think of two things I like from Costco - flank steak and car rentals. My favourite steak is a marinated flank (soy sauce, minced fresh garlic and ginger, lime juice, brown sugar and a little oil in a ziploc bag overnight) and Costco has the best ones we have ever found.

Car rentals alone I would say we have saved 50 years of membership fees.

 

[Lagniappe]

You forgot passport photos. $4.99 plus sales tax gets you 4 photos. Cheaper than anywhere else near me.

- Rita

Wish I had known about this one a couple of months ago! Reminder that no matter what the product, always check Costco first.

 

[kcowan]

My favourite steak is a marinated flank (soy sauce, minced fresh garlic and ginger, lime juice, brown sugar and a little oil in a ziploc bag overnight) and Costco has the best ones we have ever found.

We love their marinated pork tenderloin too.

 

[audreyh1]

I just bought flank steak there myself!

 

[T-Minus]

Since ER.org has been so useful to me, I figured I'd share my Costco shopping strategy with you. Costco crowds are hugely predictable. End of the month? Crazy time. Right before a holiday like Independence Day? Lines everywhere. Lunch break? A zoo.
However, if you shift your shopping times/days a bit, you'll breeze through. Typically, we plan a dinner at a nearby restaurant, then go to Costco on a mid-month Thursday or Friday - entering around 7PM. Believe me, the lines are small to non-existent. The food samplers are gone, the aisle-end barkers have departed, and the crowds have vanished. Plus, since you've just eaten, you won't make as many impulse purchases of 20 pounds of frozen burritos!

 

[audreyh1]

We often go on Thursday or Friday, because Thursday is when they get most of their fresh seafood and fish and I like to buy it shortly after it has been packaged. Also this avoids the weekends which are the most crowded at our Costco.

On Fridays they also have their "seafood show" which means an extra counter with king crab legs and other goodies. We sometimes take advantage of the king crab legs where we can buy two, rather than a whole box. Fridays, during snowbird season, tend to be a little more crowded as there are more sample tables set up, and our "Winter Texan" seniors love to nosh on the freebies.

But we find it easy to maneuver around the samples - most of them are off my diet anyway - and checkout waits are quite short except on weekends or evenings. If we go before lunch checkout is super fast.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Since ER.org has been so useful to me, I figured I'd share my Costco shopping strategy with you. Costco crowds are hugely predictable. End of the month? Crazy time. Right before a holiday like Independence Day? Lines everywhere.

We went yesterday, a Saturday the day before Father's Day, and it was crowded with shoppers in our local Costco but the checkout lines were actually very short. It is a well run store and well staffed compared to the local Sam's Club where there seem to be long checkout lines whenever we go. Normally we go Costco mid-afternoon or in the evening and the stores are not crowded and the checkout lines aren't too daunting.

One thing I should have gotten years ago at Costco but didn't think to do it was their snack bar pizza. They have large, whole pizzas for $10. I saw some parents getting like 10+ pizzas there for a soccer party recently. We used to have pizza parties at our house for the kids and their friends quite often during the school age years and I never thought to go to Costco. It would have been a lot cheaper than the local carryout places.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

We love their marinated pork tenderloin too.

Will have to try it. My flank marinade is homemade, just buy the steak and throw it in a ziploc with the ingredients I mentioned - overnight or at least 6 hours.

 

[audreyh1]

One thing I should have gotten years ago at Costco but didn't think to do it was their snack bar pizza. They have large, whole pizzas for $10. I saw some parents getting like 10+ pizzas there for a soccer party recently. We used to have pizza parties at our house for the kids and their friends quite often during the school age years and I never thought to go to Costco. It would have been a lot cheaper than the local carryout places.

The pizzas are really awesome and a great deal. We used to get the everything one that has so many veggies, and have them make it without cheese because DH doesn't like tons of cheese. They'd see him standing in line - he's tall - and signal to ask if he was going to order the no cheese everything pizza, and start working on it before he got to the register. They always remembered him.

I'm off wheat these days - bread of any kind just makes it too easy for me to gain weight - so I miss those pizzas. It's be a looong time.

 

[Gotadimple]

Wish I had known about this one a couple of months ago! Reminder that no matter what the product, always check Costco first.

I discovered this when I needed photos for a visa for Tanzania. I needed to send them two photos. When I got back, I needed to renew my passport, did so as I had two photos taken within the past 6 months.

- Rita

 

[Koolau]

Since ER.org has been so useful to me, I figured I'd share my Costco shopping strategy with you. Costco crowds are hugely predictable. End of the month? Crazy time. Right before a holiday like Independence Day? Lines everywhere. Lunch break? A zoo.
However, if you shift your shopping times/days a bit, you'll breeze through. Typically, we plan a dinner at a nearby restaurant, then go to Costco on a mid-month Thursday or Friday - entering around 7PM. Believe me, the lines are small to non-existent. The food samplers are gone, the aisle-end barkers have departed, and the crowds have vanished. Plus, since you've just eaten, you won't make as many impulse purchases of 20 pounds of frozen burritos!

I'm sure you are correct in your area. In Hawaii there are crowded periods and there are more crowded periods. Once in a while, we'll be driving by Costco and see that the parking lot is not completely full. If we need something we'll stop. Then it's just crowded. YMMV

 

[Fedup]

I go Monday morning, the weekend crowd is gone. I used to go Thursday night on my way back from work. It's nearly empty. If you don't want crowd just avoid weekend in my area.

 

[Koolau]

Shipping must be a huge part of the cost of goods sold in Hawaii, and maybe Costco figured out how to minimize those costs. I've wondered too.

Shipping IS huge. Hawaii is the most distant inhabited place on Earth (unless you count the few folks huddled in Antarctica.) Most stuff comes by container ship. Pretty much the rest comes by air. Have no idea how Costco would have a leg up on anyone else regarding shipping. I suppose in some cases, items probably come directly from another country without stopping on the US mainland first. I guess that could save some shipping. Maybe Costco has its own shipping containers and ships. My guess is that Costco has just been able to do what it always does - get THE LOWEST price on everything - including shipping. Their volume gives them true leverage to demand price cuts. YMMV

 

[euro]

It is about sending a message. They obviously don't take the time to line item everything on your receipt vs your cart.

They have caught double items charged to me though that I didn't actually get so I was grateful for that.

I think an early sign for the curmudgeon club is people who complain about having to show your card to get in and having the receipt checked on the way out [emoji23]. I guess when every day is a Saturday you've got to find something to complain about.

You may be on to something there! Can't help it though