Costco yay or nay?

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by weaselwatchr, Mar 9, 2019.

  1. jk703

    jk703 CEO of Anything and Everything, Everywhere

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    We don't have Sam's here.... only Costco. And, we just signed up again today, lol! We haven't been going there for the last 5 years, but some of the pre-made meals they have are so easy, fresh, and yummy!
     
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  2. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    Since it's free, it's worth a try! Glad you pulled the trigger. Weekends are definitely crazy busy. While my family is not on a budget, I innately pay attention to the cost of everything - I literally calculate the cost per ounce/pound/etc of items in my head which I'm sure qualifies me as a major geek, lol. I can almost always find similar prices in my local grocery store or Amazon ... and the amount of $$ I spent on items I didn't need more than canceled out savings most years. Our Costco doesn't sell Pampers, and we still have our little guy in diapers, so that also kind of killed it for me. Amazon actually sells Costo's Kirkland brand, so a lot of times I just order item with free one/two day shipping and save myself the commute. I sound anti-Costco, but I'm not. I just don't think it's that good of a deal for my family based on what we buy and where it's located.
     
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  3. QuiltyMom

    QuiltyMom I'll never run out of things to do!

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    I've never used any of these stores because I don't think I'd find things I'd use. It's just the three of us. I have crazy dietary restrictions - not sure if I'd find too much to eat there (I can only eat organic, gmo-free foods.) Purchasing huge quantities of anything would take us forever to get through and we don't have much storage.
     
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  4. sakura-panda

    sakura-panda Well-Known Member

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    We have both and we have them for different things.

    I really think it is store dependent, because we walked into one Costco a couple of times and couldn't find anything to buy, but we can't leave "our" Costco without spending a couple of hundred dollars. (We went to that other Costco again later, after getting a membership at the new, closer one, and *still* couldn't find anything we wanted to buy.)

    Sam's is like that too, where we let our membership lapse because we weren't buying anything, and then a new one opened up and now we're at that one all the time.

    You really have to go inside and see what you think; you can always browse without a membership, you just can't buy anything without a markup.
     
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  5. cookingmylife

    cookingmylife Pizza would be my last meal, except ...

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    @sakura-panda I'd forgotten that there are differences in stores. Both of the Costcos 'near' me are 25 miles away and yes I know 25 miles isn't far for some of you ! The one I usually go to is near where I did volunteer work so my mileage was comped. The other one is closer to Washington DC and has a Wegmans right in the same shopping center. That is the good news and the bad news but I guess that's why that Costco has a much larger and fancier selection of goods. I too have to remember that it's only the two of us and do I want or need a large supply of x,y,z.
     
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  6. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

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    For me there is only one choice. Sam's Club. It is 15 minutes. Closest Costco is 1.5 hours.

    Now, I don't go to Sam's all the time but I do like to stock up on certain types of products from there. Paper products (paper towels, kleenex, toilet paper) are my main thing. Pretty much anything in bulk that doesn't perish I will consider getting there. But bulk quantities of food end up going to waste for me as an individual. I may spend more buying smaller quantities at the grocery but the money isn't wasted because the food gets used instead of having to be thrown out when it goes bad.
     
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  7. tinkerbell1112

    tinkerbell1112 Offical Ambassador of the Magic Kingdom

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    if you can, go at like 1pm on a school day! I usually go after work (2pm) on a weekday and there are very few people there. We avoid it like the plague on the weekends!!!! It's bad here too.

    the produce here in Texas is really good. often better than our normal grocery store. check out the produce.

    we always buy the kids Frigo cheese sticks there because overall it's cheaper than buying at the regular grocery store.
    meat is fantastic (salmon particularly)

    we buy a lot of books & clothes there, vitamins, soap, toilet paper

    gosh, we spend 1000s there each year and I can't think of anything specific off the top of my head?? LOL

    if we could snag a Sam's membership for free, we'd try that, but I've been in our Sam's with my in laws and I feel that here in my part of the world Costco is definitely a step above Sam's in quality.

    **edited to add that usually if you buy an electronic there is some sort of extra warranty. Our new computer we bought there for the same price as Best Buy, but we didn't have to pay for an extra warranty or something like that. In fact I think it was also marked down like $100 off around Black Friday.

    **we also will do a lot of travel there. we've found great deals on car rentals and vacation packages and cruises
     
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  8. weaselwatchr

    weaselwatchr Viva, Las Vegas!

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    Thanks for al the tips ladies!!! Will definitely be going back the next weekday I am off!!! Will come back with a full report, lol
     

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