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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#221

Post by permo-w »

gumby wrote: post #213
permo-w wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 “Asi…

thank you for the detailed explanation :)

Re: Love Song to Costco

#222

Post by skinnymuch »

rglullis wrote: post #164
ekianjo wrote: post #125

as usual most people react to the headline without reading the article :)

I am amused by how clear it is to spot those that didn't even bother to open the link. All of them, no exceptions, could be summarized as "I am completely ignorant of what's actually being talked about and I am not really inclined to dig deeper into it. Anyway, let me interject with my worthless opinion and find a way to make this about me ." But then again, perhaps this could be a meta-commentary about how American…

What’s wrong with someone coming to HN for the comments? The headline allows for commenting about that subject.

For all you or I know, this story has most of its upvotes by people who want to talk about or read comments about Costco, not the story of the article.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#223

Post by edmcnulty101 »

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…

What can we do to make India, Africa, Asia, and South/Central America filled with high trust societies like Europe, North America, and Australia?

And keep these current high trust societies trust from continuing to be eroded? On the front page of HN at the same time this article is.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32050417

Re: Love Song to Costco

#224

Post by skinnymuch »

ArtemZ wrote: post #206
mongol wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beg to disagree. You are not banned from owning a car.

There are virtually no free parking places unless you own a house in Stockholm. You can't park your car long term on the street near your apartments block because there is always a day in a week during which parking is forbidden, so you have to move the car at least once a week. If you get sick and end up in a hospital for more than a week or want to go to a long term vacation you will face HUGE penalties and likely…

That’s how it is or was in NYC. I never saw it or heard about is being a huge deal. Just something you lived with.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#225

Post by skinnymuch »

teddyh wrote: post #152
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…

> Because they are higher trust societies with less low level corruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index (Also, if you are comparing places, don’t forget to also consult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index )

These sort of things should have more transparent and correct naming. Corruption is high as can be in the west too. It’s just mostly lobbying so the average person doesn’t have safety concerns. Something like stability, comfort, and safety concerns makes much more sense. Or as quoted, less low level corruption works too.

The Democracy Index being done by The Economist and being used as a respectable index to look at is pretty funny, but in line with the status quo.

How many low end countries in these indexes have been used and abused by the western countries liberal/conservative political regimes The Economist, its ownership, and many of its readers love? Sadly, dozens upon dozens upon dozens.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#226

Post by lbrito »

eddieroger wrote: post #182
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.

Plenty of good points made already - gas is cheap, products are good - but what keeps me a Costco shopper is the consistent and frequent stories about them being a genuinely good employer. Maybe because I've spent my career in retail IT, but I hear all the time about how good of a place Costco is to work. Staff turnover is low, wages are good, and they close for most holidays. I may not need 48 AA batteries often, bu…

I was totally unaware of that. Thank you for pointing it out.

I assumed Costco had shitty employee treatment like other large chains. Its sad that this has become the default we have come to expect from stores and not even think about it.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#227

Post by edmcnulty101 »

throwamon wrote: post #27
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 aren't their countries desirable as well? Yup, that would be pretty nice. If only America would let them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

I didn't see where the US interfered with China or India's elections.

I didn't see where the US interfered with Mexico's elections.

Those are a huge portion of the immigrants to the U.S if not the majority.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#228

Post by dhd415 »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #76
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Costco account and a Sam's Club (Walmart's Costco equivalent) account. Even though I do something like 98% of my bulk shopping at Sam's club (due to proximity, the Costco is ~ 15 min drive away vs 5 mins for the Sam's club), it's still worth it for me to hold the Costco membership for specific purchases. Notably I've purchased (because there's no better place to buy these things and the vendor vetting is ama…

> when it comes to a $4,000 gazebo or some $2,000 appliance I have really come to trust Costco's vetting. How does that jive with selling Samsung (and LG) appliances? Samsung is easily the worst appliance manufacturer in North America across pretty much any appliance. LG's not too much better but supposedly their dryers and front load washers are decent.

In addition to the manufacturer, the type of appliance and its manufacture date really matters. I have an LG front-loading washing machine from the late 2000s that has been working fine for 14 years with one minor circuit board replacement. My appliance repair guy says that LGs from that timeframe are very reliable. When the motor bearings on that washer go out, I'll have him replace the motor if OEM replacement motors are available rather than buy a new one.

Refrigerators are a completely different animal as are dishwashers, etc. Despite my great experiences with LG washers, I'd avoid LG refrigerators. I've had good experience with multiple Bosch and Miele dishwashers, but mediocre experiences on all the new fridges I've bought in the last 10 years.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#229

Post by lotsofpulp »

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #223
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…

What can we do to make India, Africa, Asia, and South/Central America filled with high trust societies like Europe, North America, and Australia? And keep these current high trust societies trust from continuing to be eroded? On the front page of HN at the same time this article is. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32050417

The simplest answer is that good, capable people need to participate in the civic process. Not just voting every year. Running for office, campaigning, donating, knocking on doors, participating and starting civic organizations, having children, raising those children with the proper values.

Unfortunately, a lot of that can be undone by things like lack of resources, which means things like securing your own or your tribe’s future is more important than advancing everyone’s.

It is possible that those in developed, stable countries are simply lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. As boundary conditions and parameters change, the situation can evolve or devolve with little control.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#230

Post by anonAndOn »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #71
kvark wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> the ones available are guaranteed to be fairly good quality and at an affordable price I bought into the hype and got a Costco membership a few years back. One of the first things I went looking for was whole bean coffee (Peet's xmas roast). The local Costco had a bunch of coffee from Starbucks and Peets (meh quality to start) but only the painfully dark roasts and all of it was ground. Pre-ground coffee in bulk ha…

Costco.com is where to look for coffee and other foodstuffs. You may have to buy the coffee in 5 lb bags, but the selection is superior and the quality is generally very good.
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