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I want to live like Costco people

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Re: I want to live like Costco people

#141

Post by Our_Benefactors »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #105
shaftway wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That fancy Lamborghini is going to be sitting in the same traffic as my Honda.

no - it will be getting very expensive servicing while you're enjoying 200K+ trouble-free miles

Which is of course entirely besides the point. While it’s receiving service the owner will be in their Honda accord (they drive it daily), but they will always have the top trim and will probably get a new one once it’s out of warranty and needs its first “real entropy” repair.

Being rich is better than being poor. The Warhol quote has nothing to do with that fact.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#142

Post by farmeroy »

yabones wrote: post #137

I get the allure, but it's not for me and my partner. We live in a small apartment. We drive a small car. The pantry has a good amount of dry bulk & canned food, but we largely shop one week at a time. Sure, we could "lock in" on two or three foods, buy weeks worth of them at a time, and save some money. But like most people we like a bit of verity. It's just not possible to buy such massive quantities of things with…

sounds like you just want to live in europe (or probably anywhere outside of the US?). You can typically go buy a half (or quarter) loaf of bread from a baker, and street markets let you buy all the small quantities you want by the kilo

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#144

Post by alhazrod »

legitster wrote: post #41
Aurornis wrote: post #8

> Something about the whole thing always registered to me as, like, lame—too normcore, too boring, perhaps even too cheugy to an informed and taste-driven millennial ur-consumer like me. The kinds of brands I like to buy aren’t what they sell at Costco Good example of how people can build identities through their brand choices and purchasing habits. It’s a foreign concept for many of us who seek out the best product…

> "What's great about this country is America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All th…

An Italian man once told me, "Coca-Cola is American champagne." Take it as you will.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#145

Post by throw0101c »

hn_acc1 wrote: post #126
throw0101c wrote: post #118

Always found Costco's largest source of profits interesting: > Revenue from membership fees accounts for the majority of the company's profits, accounting for over 72% of the company's net operating income in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and 65.5% in fiscal year 2024.[115][a] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco#Business_model

I always found that weird because we get like 5x our membership dues back in rewards every year, so I guess we're the exception, rather than the rule?

Could be like gym memberships: where there's a population of folks that pay but don't make use of it (and don't bother cancelling).

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#146

Post by throw0101c »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #110
jsbisviewtiful wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco is a store... where coffee, usually gas and most food + home goods are reliable in quality and priced well comparatively. Comparing the price of salmon fillets at Costco to Whole Foods or elsewhere is eye-opening. Would I buy clothes or furniture from Costco? No - because both are bland. The end. If the writer wants to make it anything more than that... They are a bit too obsessed with self-image vs wasting mo…

>> Would I buy clothes or furniture from Costco? Careful - even Gen-Z is looking at Kirkland clothing for certain pieces, and some furniture (like the Murphy bed I bought from them) is better when it's bland and greige

> Careful - even Gen-Z is looking at Kirkland clothing for certain pieces […]

I've heard good things about their wool socks.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#147

Post by randallsquared »

canjobear wrote: post #109
OutOfHere wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good comment, but IMHO the main reason to not love it so much is the annual membership fee. It sits well with cult cultivation. Other stores don't require it and they don't form a cult around them.

On the contrary, the fact that they exclude free riders is what makes the whole thing possible.

The price is so low that it makes no real difference at this point. I barely go to my local CostCo (on the edge of being worth the annual fee myself!) because it's so incredibly crowded at all times that the savings are only worth it for more expensive items. In contrast, there are several BJ's nearby and the closest one to me is often blissfully sparse. No idea how they manage to stay in business in that location, but it's really nice.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#148

Post by simplyluke »

Lucent wrote: post #9

Costco's gimmick is relieving you of choice and price shopping. They find the best stuff and don't mark it up. If Consumer is your identity yet you fear executing its labors, let Costco step in and become your denomination of consumerism, complete with tithe, proscribed usury, and communion hot dog.

> If Consumer is your identity yet you fear executing its labors

This is an interesting take. Spending hours min-maxxing the "best" combination of product/price in every given category has always been peak consumerism as an identity to me. Subreddits filled with tens of thousands of posts and strongly held groupthink opinions about why knife brand x is the best option for you to open your amazon packages, or how much you need to try the new mechanical keyboard switch collaboration, deep dives on wirecutter, waiting for the right sale, etc.

I go to costco because I don't want to do any of that for my groceries and basic home needs. I need oil for my car this weekend, and beer and burgers to hang out after I'm done with it. I don't want to spend 10 hours reading about the best 5w30 oil (or should I get 0w20?), I want a high-quality option at a fair price.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#149

Post by za3faran »

BizarroLand wrote: post #86
qrush wrote: post #6

I just got (at 38) a Costco membership this year, thanks to my in-laws gifting us a membership. There's another huge discount retailer here in Boston (BJs) that I have gone to for years, but Costco is another 10+ min drive away so I've resisted thus far. I will say... I'm still adjusting. - No aisle signs or labels anywhere. I understand the retail strategy here but the lack of efficiency in MY experience kills me. C…

The #1 thing for me at Costco is the gas. I have the credit card, so I get 5% cash back on the first $7,000 of gas I purchase in a year. Being as that, as of now I am spending ~$70/week on fuel, I will not hit the max for the year. But 5% cash back on ($70*52=)$3640 means I get $182/yr by default back to cover the $130 annual cost of the executive membership. Doesn't sound like a good deal until you also factor in th…

They also use "Top Tier+" gas.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#150

Post by ASinclair »

yabones wrote: post #137

I get the allure, but it's not for me and my partner. We live in a small apartment. We drive a small car. The pantry has a good amount of dry bulk & canned food, but we largely shop one week at a time. Sure, we could "lock in" on two or three foods, buy weeks worth of them at a time, and save some money. But like most people we like a bit of verity. It's just not possible to buy such massive quantities of things with…

The thing is you can save a ton of money on a few non-food items to make it worth it. Just over-the-counter medicines save me a huge chunk of the membership fee. Then there are just random household goods: paper products, trash bags, dishwasher detergent, etc.
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