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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#111

Post by pooper »

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?

> Samsung is easily the worst appliance manufacturer in North America

I don't know this firsthand but I too have seen a lot of this recently. Even before COVID. I am specifically thinking appliances like refrigerators, oven ranges, and washer/dryers. Maybe some microwave ovens.

Maybe Samsung just outsells everyone else making the problems more visible but it seems a lot of people love complaining about Samsung.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#112

Post by adastra22 »

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…

> I've never seen anyone say anything positive about Samsung, their service, or the serviceability of their appliances

I have all Samsung appliances at my home. They are the best appliances I have ever owned. I can't speak to their service because I have never had a single issue with any of them.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#113

Post by mantas »

kvark wrote: post #54
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.

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.

> soviet stores

> but the ones available are guaranteed to be fairly good quality

Yeah, right... Nope.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#114

Post by Markoff »

merlyn wrote: post #69
speed_spread wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But are there Costcos in China? Also, do people in China get out of the city to go camping for the weekend? These are honest questions I'd like to have answers for.

Yes, Costcos, Sam's Clubs. Ikea. Carrefour. Walmart. Apple. Oppo stores. Probably not around at the time that the article's author's parents emigrated. There are people doing more of the outdoor thing in China now. Probably none going about 20 years back. Last time I was there, there were recreational bicyclists (ie. taking them off the back of their car) in the cities, as opposed to my first visits where many more b…

Their prices (Carrefour and Walmart) are not really competetive though, they have (Carrefour) some special stuff not carried in other shops if you wanna buy foreign goods, but for regular grocery you are better off with Wumart, BHG (and for small Chaoshifa) or others.

I was especially stunned with how bad was Chinese Macro, you must buy in bulk, but you will get higher prices than small Chinese shops, in Europe they pretend to be wholesale where you msut buy in bulk, but at least their prices are oftena bit lower, often can't really compete with Kaufland/Lidl/Penny, but in China they didn't even try.

Anyway by the end of my 5+ year stay in China I was doing already my groceries though the app, delivered to my 5th floor apartment without elevator.

OPPO is Chinese brand, so dunno exactly how is it worth mentioning they have stores in China.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#115

Post by divbzero »

slyall wrote: post #100
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.

New Zealand is getting our first store in a couple of months and people are obsessed with it. Stories in the media nearly every week. Long queues for membership. A lot of this is because the local Supermarket Duopoly avoids competing on price and makes great profits. People are looking forward to cutting their costs and also a flow-on as the supermarkets cut their prices a little to compete. Similar to IKEA which is…

It would be fascinating to be part of that team at Costco or IKEA planning to open a new store in a new country. On top of the challenges you can think of, there must be aspects of running the business that you take for granted in your home country and don’t realize will be a challenge in the new country.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#116

Post by gambiting »

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.

Here in UK the #1 reason to get them from Costco is that they give 5 years warranty on all electronics and home appliances, way beyond what the manufacturer offers. I'd happily buy a new TV or a fridge from them for that reason alone.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#117

Post by gambiting »

adastra22 wrote: post #112
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…

> I've never seen anyone say anything positive about Samsung, their service, or the serviceability of their appliances I have all Samsung appliances at my home. They are the best appliances I have ever owned. I can't speak to their service because I have never had a single issue with any of them.

I've heard enough stories from friends and family about samsung fridges and washing machines dying shortly after their warranty and Samsung wanting crazy money to fix them. Also a friend who bought their top of the line "frame" TV and returned it within a week because the TV had stutter when watching live TV and there is an 800-pages long forum thread about it on their forums, with Samsung basically replying "we're aware of this issue and we aren't planning on fixing it".

On the other hand I have their phone(S21) and I'm very happy with it.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#119

Post by badpun »

kvark wrote: post #54
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.

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.

> soviet stores. (...) but the ones available are guaranteed to be fairly good quality and at an affordable price

Must be different soviets that I lived in. The quality was often terrible (e.g. "chocolate" that did not contain cocoa at all, ugly clothes and shoes that would break down quickly, beer that tasted like piss etc.) and that is assuming the goods were in the store at all. Basic western goods, such as Levi jeans or can of Coca-Cola were celebrated as artifacts of an alien, infinitely more advanced civilization.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#120

Post by freeqaz »

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.

The simplest answer to this is Kirkland Signature. It's a very genius idea that Amazon is starting to copy now with AmazonBasics, but Costco has been doing it for years.

This article explains it better than I can: https://every.to/napkin-math/how-costco-convinces-brands-to-...

TL;DR: If you buy something like Grey Goose vodka, it's going to be the same product as the Kirkland Signature version on the shelf next to it. It is often literally from the same factory. Costco AND Grey Goose make more money by being able to sell to multiple market segments.

Read that article. It's genius and one of the many reasons I love shop at Costco.

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