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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#31

Post by wlesieutre »

legalcorrection wrote: post #23
gnicholas wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Years later my diabetic cat even had a Costco pharmacy account (best place to buy insulin by far) and received a discount for being without health insurance. IIRC, you don't need a membership to: • shop at the pharmacy • buy alcohol • eat at the food court I believe the first two are due to govt regulations, and may only apply in certain states. It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/fri…

> It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/friend's membership card now that they have self-checkout. You used to have to worry about the cashier flagging you if the cardholder wasn't there, but now there's no one who even looks at your card. Or how about don't be a liar/cheater and buy your own membership. It's not expensive and it pays for itself fast. Shame on whoever does this.

I don’t know about the food court, but alcohol is definitely true for legal reasons in some states. In Connecticut our local Costco had its alcohol sales in a separate entrance next to the main warehouse, on the opposite end from the tire department.

To add another one, the same is true nationwide for their optometrists, you can get your eyes checked there without a membership but won’t be able to buy glasses. If you want a place to get your prescription without a hassle from the optometrist (who is legally required to give you the prescription but isn’t necessarily happy about that), Costco is a reliable option.

https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8...

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-ey...

Re: Love Song to Costco

#32

Post by usrn »

Panzer04 wrote: post #17
pm90 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Theres billions of people. Why aren't their countries desirable as well? Because whenever they have political systems that promote stability or justice, those leaders are overthrown in favor of those who will obey diktaks of the IMF/World Bank/WTO which generally promote privatization and wealth concentration. So other countries are desirable but have low social/economic mobility.

By and large, the problem is unfortunately the reverse. If you have resources, your government ends up either an corrupt, nepotistic authoritarian hellhole or a corrupt, nepotistic socialist paradise (until the oil/gold/diamonds/gas run out, at which point it becomes a corrupt, nepotistic authoritarian hellhole) Most countries have the problem of corrupt, nepotistic governments that look after the insiders at the exp…

That didn't seem to happen in the Nordic countries.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#33

Post by rootusrootus »

ortusdux wrote: post #26
gnicholas wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Years later my diabetic cat even had a Costco pharmacy account (best place to buy insulin by far) and received a discount for being without health insurance. IIRC, you don't need a membership to: • shop at the pharmacy • buy alcohol • eat at the food court I believe the first two are due to govt regulations, and may only apply in certain states. It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/fri…

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

Unless something has changed recently, if you don’t make enough in cash back to cover the difference between the regular membership and the executive one, you can go by customer service and they’ll comp you the difference.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#34

Post by toast0 »

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #4

As a native born and poor American without any parents I feel the same way going to Costco. Its miraculous. After being homeless a few times as a native born American I still feel like showers are the ultimate luxury. I'm always happy to see immigrants with jobs in America and Europe but I can't help but wonder what can we do to make other countries as desirable as America? Theres billions of people. Why aren't their…

> Why doesn't almost any country in Africa South and Central America, Asia, and India continents have immigration problems and what can we all do to make it desirable for people to want to be in their homes?

Some countries do have immigration problems and emmigration problems. If they're more desirable than nearby countries, but not nearly as desirable as US/EU, then they'll pull in their neighbors, potentially too much at times, but still have those with resources leaving when they can.

IMHO, things people are looking for are physical safety, political stability, economic stability and opportunity, legal stability (rule of law, predictable courts, timely access to courts, reasonable law enforcement).

The top reasons people I hear people say they come to the US are because it's unsafe for them where they live, or to have the opportunity to make more money.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#35

Post by wyldfire »

ortusdux wrote: post #26
gnicholas wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Years later my diabetic cat even had a Costco pharmacy account (best place to buy insulin by far) and received a discount for being without health insurance. IIRC, you don't need a membership to: • shop at the pharmacy • buy alcohol • eat at the food court I believe the first two are due to govt regulations, and may only apply in certain states. It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/fri…

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

In Texas the Costcos have a liquor store that does not require a membership. But so far as I can tell, the alcohol sold in the Costco-proper likely does require a membership. Perhaps the presence of the liquor store satisfies the legal requirement.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#36

Post by labster »

ortusdux wrote: post #26
gnicholas wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Years later my diabetic cat even had a Costco pharmacy account (best place to buy insulin by far) and received a discount for being without health insurance. IIRC, you don't need a membership to: • shop at the pharmacy • buy alcohol • eat at the food court I believe the first two are due to govt regulations, and may only apply in certain states. It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/fri…

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

Just buying gasoline at Costco is more than enough to pay back the membership fee in California. It’s about 50¢/gallon cheaper than other fuel in the same city.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#38

Post by akomtu »

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #4

As a native born and poor American without any parents I feel the same way going to Costco. Its miraculous. After being homeless a few times as a native born American I still feel like showers are the ultimate luxury. I'm always happy to see immigrants with jobs in America and Europe but I can't help but wonder what can we do to make other countries as desirable as America? Theres billions of people. Why aren't their…

Here is an unscientific explanation. NA and EU are populated by older souls: some of them see the value of giving, while others, who've chosen the wrong path, are adepts at scheming; but both are similar in their maturity. The less mature souls are still busy with mastering their emotions and their nations are too chaotic for this reason: they either fall apart without a leader, or when a mature leader presents itself, they have to be ruled by an iron fist (China, India). Eventually the focus will shift to another place on Earth: the most advanced will move on there and America will join the long list of empires that were once great, but that event is still a thousand years away.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#39

Post by gnicholas »

labster wrote: post #36
ortusdux wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

Just buying gasoline at Costco is more than enough to pay back the membership fee in California. It’s about 50¢/gallon cheaper than other fuel in the same city.

I used to think this. The Costco in Redwood City is a good deal compared to most stations, but the cheap station on Woodside Rd. (< 2 miles away) is basically the same price. It also never has long lines, which I often find at Costco.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#40

Post by wyldfire »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #9
edmcnulty101 wrote: post #4

As a native born and poor American without any parents I feel the same way going to Costco. Its miraculous. After being homeless a few times as a native born American I still feel like showers are the ultimate luxury. I'm always happy to see immigrants with jobs in America and Europe but I can't help but wonder what can we do to make other countries as desirable as America? Theres billions of people. Why aren't their…

Because they are higher trust societies with less low level corruption, allowing one to have more peace of mind in day to day life. Simply going out in a vehicle is magnitudes riskier in the country my parents come from. My whole extended family can afford maids, cooks, and drivers, yet they all moved because they wanted a lower volatility life for their children, even if it meant doing your own laundry, cleaning, co…

> higher trust societies with less low level corruption

Without a doubt this seems like a big/major factor. But we have corruption in the US. Do we have less corruption because of enforcement of anti-corruption laws? Or do we have those laws and an expectation that they're enforced because of some other factors? Not rhetorical, I just don't know. Casually it seems like many European countries have the same or greater expectations and similar prosperity. When I read stories about Russia and the former Soviet republics it makes me think that there's so much mistrust and hopelessness that a corrupt government is taken for granted.

I have no idea whether or not the US is exceptional but if it is I wouldn't jump to describe it as virtuous. But I do wish I could understand what policies we could pursue that might make other societies similarly high trust.

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