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Love Song to Costco

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141–150 of 280 posts

Re: Love Song to Costco

#141

Amazing how much China has changed over the past 60 years. From backwards and famined to a global super power.

Really the progress started with Deng Xiaoping, so just in the last 45 years. But China has 20% of all humanity, so really just stepping back into its rightful place after the disaster of Maoism.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#142
post #85

Related to the story's underlying topic, as an immigrant I find significant attitudinal/philosophical differences in how I regard saving money and spending money versus, for example, my American coworkers and friends, especially younger ones who grew up around relatively well-off families. Maybe the affection for Costco embodies that. I'm sure I sound like an old fart for saying this, like "those younguns don't know…

While not necessarily the particular examples you give, there is a destructive side to the willingness to spend as well in terms of environmental impact. Lots of people in the US end up with basements or garages of stuff they don't use and can't even remember what is there or find it if they were ever to want to use it. I think there is a religion of wealth not just among the super wealthy where people think the environmental impact doesn't matter or if it does someone else will fix it or if not then they deserve it anyway. Ethically there can also be major issues, including with clothing, and the more likely to be ethical stuff can be more expensive (but not that expensive, the most expensive stuff is usually just expensive in order to show off wealth). The freedom of wealth is the freedom to shit on other people if you want to or just don't care enough to not do so. I suggest continuing to be careful about what you buy but with a wider ethical consideration rather that just looking for the best price.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#143
post #47

Haven't read the piece yet, but I definitely will - for a long time I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco. I recently joined because they have some good food that is hard or more expensive to find elsewhere, but that's about it. To me it's just a store. Outside of the US/Canada I've never seen people evangelize a store so much.

> I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco I’ve been going to Costco since it was Price Club in the 1980s. I can explain why people love it. There’s an aura of mystery to the shopping experience because of the philosophy behind the layout. They basically want you to shop around the whole store because nothing is ever in the same place and product longevity beyond basic consumer staples is unh…

Sounds like Ocean State Job Lot or Mardens but with a membership fee to keep the wrong crowd out.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco I’ve been going to Costco since it was Price Club in the 1980s. I can explain why people love it. There’s an aura of mystery to the shopping experience because of the philosophy behind the layout. They basically want you to shop around the whole store because nothing is ever in the same place and product longevity beyond basic consumer staples is unh…

Sounds like Ocean State Job Lot or Mardens but with a membership fee to keep the wrong crowd out.

The more interesting thing is how they weed out their vendors, not their members.

Edit: you’re right, it sounds like they stole some of their ideas from Marden’s.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#145
Another thing that hasn't been mentioned, while it doesn't directly affect the experience, is how well Costco treats their employees. Almost all of their policies are progressive and employee first, and that's something I'm also willing to support.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/costco-pay-benefits-glassdoor...

Re: Love Song to Costco

#146
post #47

Haven't read the piece yet, but I definitely will - for a long time I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco. I recently joined because they have some good food that is hard or more expensive to find elsewhere, but that's about it. To me it's just a store. Outside of the US/Canada I've never seen people evangelize a store so much.

> I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco

The first thing someone told me when I got to the US was to go to Costco, pay the membership and get an AMEX charge card for Costco.

If you are someone with zero credit history and want to buy groceries without having cash on you all the time, then Costco is a big part of the "welcome to America" package.

What Costco lacks in variety, it made up in quality and quantity (no, that's not a choice). The food is good, most things are sold at cost, gas is cheaper, diapers are cheaper ... everything with a Kirkland label is middle-of-the-curve good.

So Costco runs become a regular thing. Before you know it, it is like church - go there, show your membership and eat the wafers.

Not quite a religion, but something you still proselytize.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#147
post #100
post #47

Haven't read the piece yet, but I definitely will - for a long time I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco. I recently joined because they have some good food that is hard or more expensive to find elsewhere, but that's about it. To me it's just a store. Outside of the US/Canada I've never seen people evangelize a store so much.

New Zealand is getting our first store in a couple of months and people are obsessed with it. Stories in the media nearly every week. Long queues for membership. A lot of this is because the local Supermarket Duopoly avoids competing on price and makes great profits. People are looking forward to cutting their costs and also a flow-on as the supermarkets cut their prices a little to compete. Similar to IKEA which is…

Costco entering Iceland also had a measurable effect on the country’s inflation rate.

https://www.icelandreview.com/news/food-prices-drop-thanks-c...

Re: Love Song to Costco

#148
post #54
post #47

Haven't read the piece yet, but I definitely will - for a long time I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco. I recently joined because they have some good food that is hard or more expensive to find elsewhere, but that's about it. To me it's just a store. Outside of the US/Canada I've never seen people evangelize a store so much.

For me, it’s a modern equivalent of the soviet stores. There is no 10 kinds of everything, but the ones available are guaranteed to be fairly good quality and at an affordable price. Speaking more modern, it saves the mental effort of researching choices. Need something? Check Costco, buy if there, done. Of course there are negatives associated with them, too.

> soviet stores. There is no 10 kinds of everything, but the ones available are guaranteed to be fairly good quality

According to people from the former soviet block I know, the reason they got so good at fixing stuff is because the first thing they did after buying an appliance from a store (after it became available eventually) was fixing it because nothing ever worked as expected. I guess "nothing" is an overstatement but I still wouldn't use the soviet union as an example for great product quality.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#149
post #146
post #47

Haven't read the piece yet, but I definitely will - for a long time I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco. I recently joined because they have some good food that is hard or more expensive to find elsewhere, but that's about it. To me it's just a store. Outside of the US/Canada I've never seen people evangelize a store so much.

> I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco The first thing someone told me when I got to the US was to go to Costco, pay the membership and get an AMEX charge card for Costco. If you are someone with zero credit history and want to buy groceries without having cash on you all the time, then Costco is a big part of the "welcome to America" package. What Costco lacks in variety, it made up in q…

Costco only takes Visa.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#150
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would like to understand why people are so enamored with Costco The first thing someone told me when I got to the US was to go to Costco, pay the membership and get an AMEX charge card for Costco. If you are someone with zero credit history and want to buy groceries without having cash on you all the time, then Costco is a big part of the "welcome to America" package. What Costco lacks in variety, it made up in q…

Costco only takes Visa.

I want to say that's a relatively recent change.
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