The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo • Hacker News Board

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#111

Post by birdman3131 » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 8:58 PM UTC

kurthr wrote: post #100

fencepost wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They actually sell the same hot dogs that they use in the food court back in the refrigerated area (or something very similar) but I'm not at a Costco and can't check the pricing. I doubt they're making much of a profit on the dog-and-a-drink combo, but I'm pretty sure they're not subsidizing it at least in terms of ingredients. I'd be surprised if cost of ingredients for it was more than $1-1.10 - $0.50-0.60 for the…

I seriously doubt that their cost of soda runs even $0.30. A 5 gallon bag of Coke syrup (in relatively small quantities) runs $75 and makes 30 gallons or ~500 small cups of soda. At another 10c, the ice and an expensive cup might cost as much as the soda itself, but $0.20 total is probably high for Costco. https://www.quora.com/Are-the-drinks-and-beverages-normally-...

i am going to assume that the hot dog combo is the same as Sams club's $1.50 combo. (I don't have a costco near me at all. I live in Walmart country)

Sams runs a 32oz drink with theirs. You could claim that it is only a 16oz with the ice but on the other hand you have free refills so I think 32oz is a fair average between ice and refills.

At that point it is 120 drinks per 5 gallons of syrup. Using your figure of $75 that leaves each drink costing $0.62 plus the cup. (Ice is negligible in cost.)

Non branded cups are $0.075 ea. I doubt branding adds much cost at scale.

Hot dogs are $96 for 120 (40 lb case) That comes out to be $0.80 per.

As for buns it looks like ~$0.15 per bun.

So add up soda + cup + hot dog + bun and you get $1.64 per meal. I left out lids, straws and napkins but those are small amounts.

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#112

Post by Waterluvian » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 9:04 PM UTC

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #86

tomlor wrote: post #65

One of my gripes about this price point is that they downgraded the buns they use with their hot dogs a few years ago. They used to be these tasty, substantial picnic rolls, but now they're bland and bready. I'd happily pay a few cents more to get the better buns. The real kicker is that if you look at the photo of the hotdogs in their food courts (in SoCal, at least), the photos are of the old, picnic style buns and…

The buns are declining in quality... you have to ask for the free toppings now (like onions and sourkraut which were always kept in the condiments counter until a year or two ago). They are now kept in carefully measured tiny plastic containers completely void from view. And the quality of the "meat" inside has dropped off a cliff in recent years. I don't enjoy them at all anymore, where as I used to go into Costco s…

Wasn't there some thing about people making massive plates of "kimchi" with those free condiments?

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#113

Post by myself248 » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

intopieces wrote: post #64

myself248 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I give my Costco-member friend $100 and ask her to buy me four $25 Costco Cash cards, would that let me make four trips without buying my own membership? That seems like all I'd need in a year...

This is accurate. You need only to have a costco cash card to get the Costco price on the goods in store. That cash card does not need to encompass the entire price of the transaction, as your credit card can make up the rest. I've heard this touted as a "hack" but this makes absolute economic sense for Costco -- they get an advance on your purchase and get you into the store to potentially see the value in signing u…

Oh, I absolutely intended to buy more than $25 of stuff each visit!

I just didn't imagine they'd let me say "Um, yeah, put $1 on my Costco Cash card, and the other $399 on my Visa".

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#114

Post by pwinnski » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 9:08 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #85

gowld wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Individuals also don't care anything but their bottom line, so this whole line of reasoning is void of meaning.

That's just not true.

It's not true for companies either.

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#115

Post by pwinnski » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 9:11 PM UTC

VectorLock wrote: post #14

neogodless wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your cynicism is misplaced. CostCo may be a large money-making company, but they really seem to be "one of the good guys." They take care of their employees and are a well-liked consumer brand.

I think your lack of cynicism is misguided. CostCo doesn't "care" about anything but its bottom line, like any other corporation.

With misguided expectations so low, you give up any motivation to hold companies to a higher standard.

In fact, companies usually prioritize earning above almost anything else, but there are exceptions. CostCo is one of them. They spent a long time paying their employees much, much higher than stockholders wanted them to. CVS is another, giving up tobacco sales at great cost to focus on health care.

It's possible to be cynical about these or any other things, but it is clearly untrue that every corporation cares only about its own bottom line.

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#116

Post by emodendroket » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

pwinnski wrote: post #114

emodendroket wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just not true.

It's not true for companies either.

According to the currently most widely accepted theory of business, public companies have no responsibility to anyone other than their shareholders. In practice this means the bottom line trumps all other considerations.

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#117

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #47

ouid wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The modern world. Milk no longer goes bad quickly.

I wouldn't call UHT milk common. According to Wikipedia[0], it's less than 10% in Denmark, Greece, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Singapore and the U.K. It seems the only places where it's "common" are Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, and Belgium. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process...

[deleted]

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#118

Post by fencepost » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

birdman3131 wrote: post #111

kurthr wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously doubt that their cost of soda runs even $0.30. A 5 gallon bag of Coke syrup (in relatively small quantities) runs $75 and makes 30 gallons or ~500 small cups of soda. At another 10c, the ice and an expensive cup might cost as much as the soda itself, but $0.20 total is probably high for Costco. https://www.quora.com/Are-the-drinks-and-beverages-normally-...

i am going to assume that the hot dog combo is the same as Sams club's $1.50 combo. (I don't have a costco near me at all. I live in Walmart country) Sams runs a 32oz drink with theirs. You could claim that it is only a 16oz with the ice but on the other hand you have free refills so I think 32oz is a fair average between ice and refills. At that point it is 120 drinks per 5 gallons of syrup. Using your figure of $75…

Costco's dog is "1/4+ lb" so I'd figure 4 oz for convenience. I suspect their cost is $2/lb or less or $0.50-0.60/dog.

Costco drinks are a 20 oz cup, and they sell them for $0.59. They use non branded /Pepsi branded cups.

I'll update with their retail price for the dogs in bulk if I go over this evening for a chicken. Are you using retail /small scale wholesale pricing for your calculations?

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#119

Post by nightski » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

mmt wrote: post #109

jerf wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm only consuming "far more than I normally would" if I'm routinely throwing away things I bought from CostCo, unconsumed. I don't. Nor does anyone else I know. It's just consumption moved around in time. I know, I know, it may be aesthetically distasteful to you to see people walking out with 36 rolls of toilet paper instead of six. It may be hard not to sneer at the poor people trapped on the capitalist treadmill.…

> And a car trip I suspect this is the real source of the hostility, rather than aesthetics: Costco represents, in general, a larger-land-footprint, car-dependent, suburban (or even semi-rural) lifestyle. There's likely something of a false dichotomy at work here, as well, in that there could be Costco-compatible dense-city living, but that doesn't seem to be true currently.

I shop at Costco regularly (once every two weeks at least, sometimes weekly). Yes I gasp drive a car. But I put less than 3k miles on my car a year since I work from home. Maybe shopping at Costco isn't the problem for most people. It's working in an office.

Re: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

#120

Post by anoncoward111 » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:41 PM UTC

fencepost wrote: post #118

birdman3131 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i am going to assume that the hot dog combo is the same as Sams club's $1.50 combo. (I don't have a costco near me at all. I live in Walmart country) Sams runs a 32oz drink with theirs. You could claim that it is only a 16oz with the ice but on the other hand you have free refills so I think 32oz is a fair average between ice and refills. At that point it is 120 drinks per 5 gallons of syrup. Using your figure of $75…

Costco's dog is "1/4+ lb" so I'd figure 4 oz for convenience. I suspect their cost is $2/lb or less or $0.50-0.60/dog. Costco drinks are a 20 oz cup, and they sell them for $0.59. They use non branded /Pepsi branded cups. I'll update with their retail price for the dogs in bulk if I go over this evening for a chicken. Are you using retail /small scale wholesale pricing for your calculations?

To be honest, it sounds like the labor cost of moving these ingredients around and cooking/serving the meals is something to be considered here as well. The average employee, when factoring in wages, training, compliance and benefits, probably costs the company nearly 20 an hour. An in person transaction, from swiping the card to cooking and serving the food, probably is nearly $1 per dog.