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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#211

Post by klyrs »

mongol wrote: post #98

Costco will open in Sweden soon. On the opposite part of Stockholm from where I live, so I don't think it will be useful for me. I don't know much about it but I am excited to see what it will bring, and if it will affect the general grocery market around here.

I love Costco for many of the reasons people are citing here, but I didn't have a membership until very recently because the store is a bit useless if you don't have a car and a pantry. I really wonder how well they'll do in dense European cities where those aren't the norm.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#212

Post by beachtaxidriver »

seanc wrote: post #189

Somewhere I read a quote from some cranky business analyst complaining about how the low prices, quality products and high wages impact profits. "It's better to be a Costco customer or Costco employee than it is to be a Costco shareholder." To which I responded "That sounds like a well run company!"

If you look at COST it was pretty darn good to be a shareholder too.

Somehow they made that work out where all three of them won.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#213

Post by gumby »

permo-w wrote: post #177
gumby wrote: post #5

My great grandfather moved to a different part of Asia and never went back. My grandfather moved elsewhere and never went back. My mother moved to another continent and then later, with my father, to a third, where I partially grew up. And I moved to yet another continent (with another emigrée), speaking a language that, like my mother, I had learned after growing up. Yet today I spoke English with a stranger, a woma…

what does this have to do with Costco?

Thanks for asking if it wasn’t clear.

The article used Costco as a vehicle for exploring the experience, and yet so some degree trauma, of moving away from your birthplace. I read it through the lens of a common belief that Asian families in particular are very close and don’t handle migration well.

I mentioned my story because it’s a contradictory example, but also because I believe that the belief that somehow “Asians” can’t handle family separation is not correct — I believe all people have roughly the same percentage of “gotta stay here” and “gotta go somewhere else” — it’s just human nature.

The last part of my story also relates to the Costco article: despite a lot of time there I never lived in India, nor, thanks to the laws and attitudes of where I was born did I speak much of any Asian languages with my mother yet decades later I, and some American woman of Indian decent whom I’d never met before, used the same body language and gestures while speaking. Where did that come from?

Re: Love Song to Costco

#214

Post by firebird84 »

sammalloy wrote: post #140
lbrito wrote: 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…

When I worked a summer at BJ's (a similar wholesale club) the manager informed me that this was by design. I was asking why we needed to move all the stuff, if we were discontinuing or something. He said nope, we just have to do this every now and then because it keeps people shopping longer. There may be an added "experience" element to it as well, but this was an eye opener to me as a teen.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#215

Post by iancmceachern »

seanc wrote: post #189

Somewhere I read a quote from some cranky business analyst complaining about how the low prices, quality products and high wages impact profits. "It's better to be a Costco customer or Costco employee than it is to be a Costco shareholder." To which I responded "That sounds like a well run company!"

And a company that will stand the test of time, because as Warren Buffet says, it's providing value.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#216

Post by toast0 »

wyldfire wrote: post #40
lotsofpulp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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?

I think there's an expectation that at least egregious corruption will be enforced against; typically in a court of law, but if not, in the court of public opinion. But also, petty bribes are offensive to be offered or demanded. There's a sense that bribing your way out of a minor offense is a more serious crime than whatever the offense was.

There's still higher level corruption, regulatory capture and all that, and other cases of interested parties making decisions with conflicts of interest. Those are trickier than bribes.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#217

Post by jedberg »

Caboose8685 wrote: post #156
jedberg wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact, if you get the upgraded membership and don't spend enough to make up the difference from the regular membership, they will refund you the difference if you ask. So technically it doesn't make any sense to not get the premium membership as long as you're willing to float them the difference for a year.

Where is this stated in their rules or whatever? Something I can reference if I need to try this and the person pushes back.

Never seen it written down. They just told me once at customer service when I went to cash my rebate check and they noticed it was smaller than the membership price difference.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#218

Post by dmos62 »

mercutio2 wrote: post #208
dmos62 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying that people who work in grocery stores don't care about their job performance, because their level of pay is guaranteed by workers in other industries being productive? That's a cynical thought. By the way, where I'm from (EU), cleanliness is definitely the norm for grocery stores.

Come on. I’ve been to many, many small grocery stores in Western Europe. Some had obviously old/dirty fixtures, signage, and floors, some had newer cleaner looking equipment. The average in Europe was much, much “dirtier” than Americans on average will put up with. “Dirty” in this context means not-new-looking. I’d much rather not pay for someone to replace things that are perfectly functional. But many consumers ( e…

To be fair, different countries in Europe are culturally different. And, to be even fairer, what we mean by "dirty" is wildly personal, I think.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#219

Post by skinnymuch »

m-ee wrote: post #90
walrus01 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realistically if you want to eat at the food court just walk backwards into the exit and be like "oh yeah I'm going to the pharmacy", most states have a law not allowing Costco to require membership for pharmacy, and the just go buy your food from the automated kiosk.

It’s not new and that strategy doesn’t always work. I tried to get a hotdog in SF in like 2014 and they wouldn’t let me through. When I asked about purchasing alcohol he said that was allowed but they would have an employee escort me to the liquor and then checkout to ensure I couldn’t go to the food court.

That seems like a dbag employee. Possible that sort of person will make your time difficult regardless of the official rules

Re: Love Song to Costco

#220

Post by skinnymuch »

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.

Yes. This is what people should be ashamed about. Good for you for shitting on people! /s
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