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I want to live like Costco people

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Re: I want to live like Costco people

#251

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…

Trader Joe's is probably closest to what you want. It targets single shoppers with small quantities and low prices, and it rotates products frequently to keep things interesting. Anecdotally I feel like a lot of TJ's shoppers shift into Costco shoppers as they age up.

My wife and I shop at both Costco and TJs. They are our favorite stores...

We're a bit odd though. Highly budget conscious, 4 kidsto feed (including 2 teenagers), and European tastes in food.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#252
post #241

You'll never live like Costco people You'll never do what ever Costco people do Never fail like Costco people You'll never watch your life slide out of view And then dance and drink and screw Because there's nothing else to do

[deleted]

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#253

> I will never buy Costco coffee—I know too much about coffee, and my allegiance to a coterie of indie micro roasters (Yes Plz subscription for life) and esoteric brewing methods has ruined me for life from enjoying the simple pleasures of a Kirkland Signature K-Cup pod. You can pry the 2-lb bags of Mayorga Cafe Cubano dark roast coffee from my cold, dead hands.

Ruta Maya is quite good as well, probably not as big of a coffee snob as the author though.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I want is an anti-costco. More like a bodega. Still curated, maybe a larger mark-up, but smaller quantities of everything. Half loaves of bread, small bags of frozen veg, enough sugar or flour to bake just a couple batches. This is becoming even harder to achieve nowadays, there is all this variety in size of products and more and more over the years(at least in the midwest) it seems that grocery stores want t…

> the 8 oz will be on sale but only if you buy at least 2 or 3, its incredibly frustrating. Have you tested this by buying just one, and checking the price on the receipt? I ask because someone once told me this was illegal in the US; that a shop was allowed to display the sale price only for a larger quantity, but they had to honor the same price per unit if you only bought one. (I think we were discussing produce a…

iirc yes it did not apply on purchase as well, on the label it is always also explicit about cost if not bought in those quantities(2 for 5 in any quantity is still sometimes the actual offering). I am assuming my memory is correct because its baked into my shopping experience to ensure i am reading the label correctly now.

Meijer is slowly becoming a bad offender of these types of things, Jewel has been horrifying for years, to the point where i avoid their store entirely. The final straw was this limit applied to gallons of milk.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#255
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. What about cars or houses?

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

You're equals in that regard, but try riding a motorcycle one day. I live in a country where lanesplitting is legal. There's nothing quite like getting passed by an extremely expensive car, and then at the traffic lights, cut in front of it.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#256
My family and I recently completed this Costco 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle made by Dowdle Folk Art(1). And I have to say, I had a very similar feeling to what the author of this piece is describing. Lots of different people, all walks of life, and no words requiring a dictionary! (looking at you, "Contrapuntal")

(1)https://boardwalkpuzzles.com/products/costco-treasure-hunt-1...

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#257
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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…

> where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest To say that "the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest" by using Coke as an example is a significant oversimplification and is cherry picking examples to prove a point. The richest consumers buy plenty of consumer goods that the poorest cannot even dream of buying or even renting. If there was a truffle-infused Cok…

It's close to true about personal computers. The poorest can't afford Apple computers, but you don't need to be that rich to buy Apple hardware and what's up from that in terms of mainstream status? Nothing, as far as I can see. Specific groups might want a Framework laptop or System76, but those brands are invisible to most people, including, it seems, most rich people.

(And for servers and other business machines, well, other criteria apply, but owning something in the Top500 has to count for something in terms of prestige.)

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#258
Has anyone else noticed the lack of free soda cups after they switched back to Coca-Cola products?

Back in the Pepsi days there were always free cups around from people that didn't like Pepsi. Now - nada.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#259
post #199

I have a really mixed feeling about Costco. I hate it, I going there, I hate the crowds, the parking, the people, being hawked a credit card, a cell phone, whatever the vendors are selling. It makes me feel like a pig in a slaughterhouse waiting to get out of the store, I feel like it's the platonic form of consumption. We all go to the nice little consumption center like good piggies to get our sustenance and to get…

I hate going there and mostly use Instacart to avoid having to, but even with a Instacart mark-up and tip it's cheaper and higher quality than most other options, happy to pay someone else to do my shopping.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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

No hate on people who buy that stuff - I like more eccentric style/colors and a specific fit that I've never seen at a Costco (athletic/form fitting vs bulky). Something like pajamas pants I would consider, but otherwise I've never had luck with their clothing and their furniture usually doesn't fit the decor of my house. I did snag a great kitchen island there last year that's held up really well, but otherwise I re…

I've found that the price of Costco dress shirts is good enough that I can just buy 4-6 at a time, pay to get them all tailored to be form-fitting, and I'm still hitting a good value:effort.
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