Costco comments and questions

[Koolau]

I didn't witness the person going in the exit, but I think a person can go in for prescriptions (maybe booze) without a membership so can't scan them.

Not at our Costco(s). No one gets in without checking in and no one gets out without checking out. Exception is the food window outside - though you need a Costco card to buy anything there as well. It's a pretty tight ship. It's a slight hassle but well worth the reduced prices. I've said before that Costco (and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Sams/Walmart) make living in the Islands considerably more affordable.

 

[flyoverstate]

I recently priced-out floral arrangements for delivery to a family member. Even with all of my employee discounts through PerkSpot, Costco was the best deal

We attended a wedding a couple of years ago where a member of the wedding party went to Costco the morning of the wedding and bought all of their flowers! They were beautiful.

 

[Sunset]

My favorite Costco is renovating the kitchen, so no roasted chickens for a month.
I've noticed that this Costco is now half as busy as normal.
The roasted chickens must be a huge attraction.

 

[audreyh1]

My favorite Costco is renovating the kitchen, so no roasted chickens for a month.
I've noticed that this Costco is now half as busy as normal.
The roasted chickens must be a huge attraction.

I think they are! At our Costco right after opening one morning there was a huge group of people blocking access to some of the meat cases. I finally realized they were all waiting for that first batch of chickens to come off the rotisserie.

 

[ferbm]

Does anyone have "Scan and Go" at their Costco? DW uses that at Sam's Club and refuses to pass through the Costco doors until such convenience is offered.

 

[audreyh1]

Does anyone have "Scan and Go" at their Costco? DW uses that at Sam's Club and refuses to pass through the Costco doors until such convenience is offered.

Not at ours.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Not at our Costco(s). No one gets in without checking in and no one gets out without checking out. Exception is the food window outside - though you need a Costco card to buy anything there as well. It's a pretty tight ship. It's a slight hassle but well worth the reduced prices. I've said before that Costco (and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Sams/Walmart) make living in the Islands considerably more affordable.

Just to clarify no membership is needed in California to purchase alcohol or prescriptions. I’ve known that for years. I did a quick search and the same is true for Hawaii.
I assume that they still check in and maybe get some type of access code?
I’ve never tried it myself.

 

[audreyh1]

You are supposed to be able to buy prescriptions and alcohol (beer wine) without a membership card in TX AFAIK. Hard liquor is not sold at Costcos in TX.

 

[Golden Mean]

You are supposed to be able to buy prescriptions and alcohol (beer wine) without a membership card in TX AFAIK. Hard liquor is not sold at Costcos in TX.

Oh, the humanity!

I remember our first trip to a Target in San Jose, CA (moving from TN), where I realized they had a whole liquor aisle. No way I could go back to the whole "separation of liquor/wine-beer" in the east.

WRT to Costco, the executive membership worked out for us again. Thursday we went into the tire shop at 9 AM to look into reshoing my lady's Civic (powered by squirrels). Tires in stock... show up next Tues at 9 AM. At 9:50 the car is ready. Loves me some Costco.

 

[Koolau]

Does anyone have "Scan and Go" at their Costco? DW uses that at Sam's Club and refuses to pass through the Costco doors until such convenience is offered.

No Scan and Go at our Costcos. At our Sams Club that line is always much longer than the old-fashioned receipt line. When S-A-G line first opened, it was the reverse. (I never considered using my phone to shop, so now I escape Sams faster than the "Cool Kids").

 

[skipro33]

The SAM'S Scan system is proprietary. I think they have it patent protected. I really like how they don't have to spot check on the way out at ours. Ours has an arch scanner that compares your purchase with the cart contents. The person at the door just waves and says have a good day.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I love Costco Optical. We have found our prescription Glasses to be 50% less than even Walmart. We always get Transition Lenses and Progressive Bi-Focals + a bunch of other stuff that Costco includes and their frames are very reasonable.

The small lines do not bother me at our Costco in St. Augustine Florida, not sure what all the fuss is about. But, big BUT, I always stop to get gas at Costco when driving distances, I plan the trip around them, and we may also take in a Hot Dog if it is that time, Daytona, Fort Lauderdale and others in South Florida we have been to are total Zoos. I would not shop there if we lived in those parts, as the lines are ludicrous. Let alone the fact they seem to be quite dirty, way too crowded and "some" of the folks both shoppers and employees appear and somewhat ignorant and often act as such. We are fortunate with our Costco and even the one in Jacksonville is not too bad.

 

[ferbm]

The SAM'S Scan system is proprietary. I think they have it patent protected. I really like how they don't have to spot check on the way out at ours. Ours has an arch scanner that compares your purchase with the cart contents. The person at the door just waves and says have a good day.

Same at our Sam's Club. There is nobody checking your contents. You go under the arch and are waved right through.

 

[flyoverstate]

Oh, the humanity!

I remember our first trip to a Target in San Jose, CA (moving from TN), where I realized they had a whole liquor aisle. No way I could go back to the whole "separation of liquor/wine-beer" in the east.

WRT to Costco, the executive membership worked out for us again. Thursday we went into the tire shop at 9 AM to look into reshoing my lady's Civic (powered by squirrels). Tires in stock... show up next Tues at 9 AM. At 9:50 the car is ready. Loves me some Costco.

Colorado still has goofy alcohol laws. Hard liquor is available only in liquor stores EXCEPT that a certain number of chain outlets CAN sell hard liquor. So there are a couple of Costcos in the state with hard liquor, but most do not sell it. Same with the grocery chains.

In response, Costco built several locations where there is an attached, privately run liquor store, separated by a wall, with a separate door, but accessed in the same entrance area. These adjacent stores are usually cheaper than the competition, but with limited selection. No Kirkland brands in the attached stores, either.

 

[More Cowbell]

Costco has this 10 lb Maud Borup chocolate Easter bunny (1992131), originally $134.99, now apparently $27.99 clearance in some warehouses. No I didn’t get one, but it reminded me that my Costco used to have a chocolate shop where you could watch them make chocolate bunnies, Santas, etc. DH and I would buy one seasonally to enjoy, but we were both younger then!

 

[NameTaken2]

I love Costco Optical. We have found our prescription Glasses to be 50% less than even Walmart. We always get Transition Lenses and Progressive Bi-Focals + a bunch of other stuff that Costco includes and their frames are very reasonable.

Swapped from Costco Optical to Zenni -even lower prices, and satisfied with product.

My Costco has a 20/20NOW "tele-optometry" service -$99 exam. Used it 3yrs ago, then ordered from Zenni. Used it again recently -prior customer finishing up was being referred to a retina specialist for a retina "window defect" that the imaging identified. Then my exam had the same result with a referral. Did some research that indicated in my case there's minimal risk of an actual issue requiring treatment.
IDK if these referrals are common for 20/20NOW exams, but convenience/cost is a losing proposition with their inability to do a dilation exam -especially when I found that Walmart exams are priced competitively and do include dilation if needed.
Skipping the retina specialist referral -will get another exam at Walmart, and if it goes well Walmart will be where I go for eye exams in the future.

Feedback from anybody using 20/20NOW at Costco?

 

[audreyh1]

We stoped using the Costco 20/20NOW as they don’t handle gas permits contacts and DH wasn’t satisfied with his exam. We went back to a full service optometrist.

 

[More Cowbell]

I returned a bag of Liquid IV today because some of the powder packets were stiff and hard. The inside of the sealed bag was sticky, as if it had gotten wet. But how could that be? The customer service team member said this can happen when there is too much heat, perhaps during shipping, causing the sugar to melt. Learned something new and got my refund.

 

[Sanstar]

I was pleased to try Costco’s electronic device turn in program. Filled out online form, got a quote for iPhone I had recently replaced. I wiped the phone and accepted their quote. They sent me a QR code. Went to UPS, showed them code, gave them the phone.

A few days later, I got an ecoupon for Costco for $80. Went shopping and showed them coupon at checkout and got $80 off the transaction.

Will definitely use them again.

 

[COcheesehead]

Most of the bigger device manufacturers have this available in a not have to leave your house format. I got $200 off my last iPhone, delivered to my door with a return mailer for the old phone.

 

[SnowballCamper]

We cashed our 2% back in today and don't plan to renew the membership. I imagine I'll sign back up when one of the cars needs new tires...the clear, out the door pricing is awesome compared to buying tires at most other shops. If we didn't have the option for a military commissary we'd keep the membership.

 

[Koolau]

We cashed our 2% back in today and don't plan to renew the membership. I imagine I'll sign back up when one of the cars needs new tires...the clear, out the door pricing is awesome compared to buying tires at most other shops. If we didn't have the option for a military commissary we'd keep the membership.

I'm simply curious why you are not renewing your membership. Is there no outlet close by or do you find better prices elsewhere?

All areas are different, I know. In our area, IF Costco carries an item and IF they happen to have it in stock, you will not find that item ANY place on the Island (with possible exception of Sams) for anything less than 1.5X the Costco price. It's just that simple. Produce, meat, appliances, canned goods, soup-to-nuts! They are dramatically lower priced than at supermarkets.

Do you not find that where you live?

Just being nosey as opposed to critical.

 

[splitwdw]

I'm simply curious why you are not renewing your membership. Is there no outlet close by or do you find better prices elsewhere?

All areas are different, I know. In our area, IF Costco carries an item and IF they happen to have it in stock, you will not find that item ANY place on the Island (with possible exception of Sams) for anything less than 1.5X the Costco price. It's just that simple. Produce, meat, appliances, canned goods, soup-to-nuts! They are dramatically lower priced than at supermarkets.

Do you not find that where you live?

Just being nosey as opposed to critical.

Military commissary

 

[Koolau]

Military commissary

Ah, is that what is called the PX?

A colonel friend of mine asked me to move his big screen TV that he bought at the local PX. He gave DW and me a tour of the place before we loaded up the TV in my vehicle. I was surprised that prices were at best comparable to Costco and often higher. I'm sure there were some real bargains to be had, but it wasn't some "paradise" (kid in a candy store) type experience as far as I was concerned. It wasn't what I expected, given all I'd heard over the years about how much less military paid for things at the PX.

I'm happy for anyone who can beat Costco as a general shopping experience. I'm just not sure, from what I saw, that the PX beats Costco but YMMV.

 

[Buckeye]

We cashed our 2% back in today and don't plan to renew the membership. I imagine I'll sign back up when one of the cars needs new tires...the clear, out the door pricing is awesome compared to buying tires at most other shops. If we didn't have the option for a military commissary we'd keep the membership.

The Costco tire shop has excellent prices on car batteries, too. I had one fail at 33 months into their 36 month warranty. I got credit for the cost of the failed battery but had to pay a $25 upcharge for the new battery because the price of the new battery was $25 more expensive now. Costco batteries are less than half (closer to 1/3) the price of batteries sold elsewhere.