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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#101

Post by kfrzcode »

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.

I've been happy with my Samsung range, fridge, dishwasher and TV

It's been 6months. When should I expect issues?

Re: Love Song to Costco

#102

Post by noSyncCloud »

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.

> Samsung is easily the worst appliance manufacturer in North America

> LG's not too much better

Any sources for these blazing hot takes? Or are we supposed to take your hearsay at face value?

Re: Love Song to Costco

#103

Post by unicornmama »

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.

Hmmmm I wonder if they will try the bulk model. Americans have very large fridges and grocery shop once a week. Grocery stores are often a 20-30 minute drive away. In my European country people have small fridges and may buy groceries several times per week. Grocery stores are a 5-10 minutes away.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#104

Post by shaftway »

iudqnolq wrote: post #99
inferiorhuman wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

My experience is the big ticket items are all fine products at normal prices, but there's no reason to pick Costco for them. I suspect it's where they make a lot of their profit, considering their groceries are famously low margin. I buy groceries and gas exclusively there.

I strongly suspect it's the extra services that third parties sell through them. Like the vacation packages, air conditioning installation, etc. We almost got a Puronics filter through them, but stopped short when we found out that it was $9000 at Costco, but $6000 through an independent installer.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#105

Post by johnwalkr »

rdl wrote: post #83

My favorite Costco is in Iceland: a place where things are normally absurdly expensive, and Costco Iceland is merely somewhat expensive. Arrive, stock up on food for a week (to supplement with restaurants, but some savings). Costco Japan would be really fun to visit too (haven't yet). Also Costco + Internet (Amazon, B+H, etc.) are essentially 99% of my shopping here in Puerto Rico. Visiting Costco, Walmart, etc. imme…

Costco in Japan is great. Even without an American sized fridge and freezer it is definitely worth shopping at. It’s by far the cheapest place to buy American snacks, bacon, good peanut butter, tortillas, brown sandwich bread and kind of the only place to buy bulk. It’s an hour away from me and requires a car rental but it’s easily worth going once every 2-3 months.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#106

Post by IntelMiner »

noSyncCloud wrote: post #102
inferiorhuman wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Samsung is easily the worst appliance manufacturer in North America > LG's not too much better Any sources for these blazing hot takes? Or are we supposed to take your hearsay at face value?

I think they were stated as opinions, not citable facts

Re: Love Song to Costco

#107

Post by ghufran_syed »

ortusdux wrote: post #26
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…

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

It's also worth knowing that you don't have to spend the "Cashback" voucher in the store, you can go to customer services and they'll give you actual cash instead! I just learned this after being a member for 14 years...

Re: Love Song to Costco

#108

Post by aix1 »

jedberg wrote: post #86
ortusdux wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alcohol restriction is at the state level, so some stores do require a membership. Namely : Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Texas, & Vermont have laws that ban requiring memberships for the purchase of alcohol. IIRC, Costco's lobbiests played a large role in Washington's privatization of liquor sales, and the final law did not include such…

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.

> as long as you're willing to float them the difference for a year

...and remember to ask for a refund.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#110

Post by adastra22 »

IgorPartola wrote: post #58
karlding wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the break even point for the upgrade is actually $3k/year, not $2k/year? The standard Gold Star Membership costs $60/year, and the Gold Star Executive Membership costs $120/year [0]. This is an additional $60/year (ignoring sales tax, etc.). In order to break even, you need to earn at least $60 using the 2% cash back from the Executive Membership in order to cover the upgrade. This works out to ($60/year) / 0…

You also save money compared to shopping elsewhere which is really the major contributor to it being worth it.

Do you? None of the stuff we buy from Costco is cheaper compared with other local grocery stores. I mean, ignoring the hot dogs and rotisserie chicken, obviously.
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