this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
111 points (86.3% liked)
Business
434 readers
122 users here now
A place to share business news and insights.
Rules
- Follow lemmy.world rules
- Only post content related to business
- Do not use this community to promote your business
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Costco began, and allegedly is still, a bulk buying savings membership warehouse. But the transition to mostly "organic" foods that are double the price or more of their non "organic" labeled products is just greed. Frozen blueberries 3lbs $9.00, sams non organic 4lbs less than $9.00. White mushrooms $5.99, sams $3.49, same size. And "organic" fresh produce dies faster than regular. My store got rid of the bag of spinach, $4.99 2.5lbs and only has the bin 1lb for $3.99, that would be $10.00 for the same product, Just a few small examples.
On the other hand, buying Sam's means supporting Walmart and the Walton family, so it's up to you how much that affects your calculus.
Sadly Costco and Sams are now just the same greedy retailers. I never thought Sams would have me spending more there than Costco. Once the good CEO retired it all went downhill.
If you or anyone is doing all of their shopping at one at store, that's a you problem. Despite how okay we are doing, we still shop around for deals and take advantage of things like teeter doing multiplied points on Fridays towards gas discounts, checking out Aldi and Lidl for deals, etc.
Costco does not have a large variety or selection of what they offer but most things are pretty much guaranteed to be a better deal than elsewhere. For example, because of vpx having issues I've settled on Celsius as my current caffeine+other stuff drink when I am working or otherwise need the boost. Amazon and elsewhere sell 12 packs for like $19-$25+, Costco has the same pricing (approximately) but it's 18 cans instead of 12. Another example is a greenworks riding lawnmower I've been eyeballing as soon as I can find the 6k+, bb has it for about the same price or even cheaper when it's on sale but Costco includes $2400+ worth of extras like twice the batteries and the not cheap clippings bag for the back of it for the same price.
Long story short. Take advantage of what Costco has to offer and do what you have to do to save a buck. Don't just assume that it's a better deal because reasons but I've learned that for a lot of things, Costco is going to be a better deal even if it's priced slightly higher or same.
Oh and anyone reading this. Stop buying most of your meat and produce at regular stores like Costco, teeter, publix, etc. Find one or 3+ local farms that sell directly to the public, also keep an eye out for what are called CSAs, you prepay an amount upfront in late winter, early spring and then you get a set number of weekly pickups that are based on what you want and what they have fresh and ready to go. The ones we have worked with are usually open to swapping things out if you end up with more of one thing than you would like but that is based on what they have available for a swap. There is also a local one that we hit up every so often for farm fresh milk that is so much better than any store bought of any brand.
I never shop at one store. But I'm irked that Costco keeps pandering to people who will pay anything for food. Peanut butter is cheaper at Winco than Costco. Staple foods are so expensive these days.
If you actually believe that for most products, you don't know how to compare across stores, brands, etc. Yes, it's cheaper for some things elsewhere because A) You don't have to buy as much as a min purchase and B) what you are comparing at a cheaper store is actually truly cheaper in all ways. You need to compare not only ounce to ounce but quality as well.
I'm seriously amazed (not really) at the people who shop Costco but don't understand how and why it works the way it works.
You should also check out Lidl and Aldi if they are near you.