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

#121

Post by dsr_ » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:45 PM UTC

mmt wrote: post #105

dreae wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely a text book loss leader. A loss leader doesn't need to be sold below cost, only below its minimum profit margin. Leaving money on the table is effectively losing money.

I think you've said two different things here. > A loss leader doesn't need to be sold below cost, only below its minimum profit margin. I think that's an important point, in that you're saying that it's incorrect to consider only the cost of ingredients, rather than the entire cost of delivery (including cooking, labor, etc.). On the other hand, as the parent pointed out, they're not a restaurant, so their "minimum…

It's not "effectively" losing money. It's losing imaginary money.

If you want to see an actual loss leader, go to a grocery story in mid-November. They'll sell you a frozen turkey for (depending on competition) 20 to 50 cents a pound. Wholesale cost will be 80 cents to $1.20 a pound. They take an actual loss on the turkey in order to get you in the store where you will buy three times your usual weekly grocery budget in special holiday foods -- all of which are marked up more than they will be right after Thanksgiving.

If selling at less than the market is willing to pay but more than what covers your total costs is a "loss leader", then every sale to attract customers is a "loss leader" and the term has no useful meaning.

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

#122

Post by veebat » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 10:52 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #84

wtfreally wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you get sick eating Panda Express? You can get veggies and noodles in addition to meat there...

I haven't been to one in quite a while but my impression is that there is lots of added sugar in all the sauces they use, in addition to a lot of fried food.

Many of the sauces are sweet, and the recipes tend to incorporate every major food allergen you can think of. I still visit regularly because you can opt out one portion at a time: You can go half-and-half veggies and chow mein, broccoli beef, mushroom chicken and have something a bit plain, but far more balanced than most fast food. And while the service model is extremely scripted and doesn't accommodate larger orders gracefully, my average time from getting in line to finished service is faster than Mcdonald's and more consistent since the order is put together right in front of you.

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

#123

Post by abawany » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 11:22 PM UTC

myself248 wrote: post #62

intopieces wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither being a member or being accompanied by a member is required to walk in the door. You don't even need to be a member to shop there provided you have a Costco Cash Card [0]. As well, there are at least a few Costcos where the concession stand is outside [1] [0] https://www.costco.com/Costco-Cash-Card.product.10024438.htm... [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Costco+Wholesale/@37.25296...

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...

I tried that for a while in lieu of membership. Their employees certainly gave me a hard time over this: stink eye, calling the manager, chiding me for doing this loudly and openly, etc.

Thus, while it is possible, their devout employees don't like it and go out of their way to make one feel like a leper for not being a member.

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

#124

Post by mmt » Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 11:49 PM UTC

nightski wrote: post #119

mmt wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

To clarify, my point wasn't about the driving itself, but rather, what both driving and Costco (and bulk purchases in general) represent, which is incompatible with a walkable, high-density city.

I'm confident some people also object to the car use itself, but that's way too general a topic.

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

#125

Post by birdman3131 » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 12:30 AM 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?

Using Sam's prices. They have cheaper hot dogs but Nathan's is what they actually advertise as being in the concession.

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

#126

Post by awad » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 1:26 AM UTC

a_t48 wrote: post #68

thecosas wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few things you can do at Costco without a membership: * Eat at the food court * Buy alcohol (in certain states, see below) * Get an eye exam * Get your hearing checked * Fill prescriptions at the pharmacy States where you can buy alcohol w/o a membership: * Arizona * California * Connecticut * Delaware * Hawaii * Indiana * Massachusetts * Michigan * Minnesota * New York * Texas * Vermont P.S. Looking for a better s…

San Francisco's Costco does not let you into the food court.

I think I once read somewhere that they allow it if the food court is located outside

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

#127

Post by chiefalchemist » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 1:45 AM UTC

Avshalom wrote: post #99

chiefalchemist wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if the objective is to reduce sugar consumption shouldn't there be a sugar packet tax now, as part of the soda tax? Butt for butt my local Starbucks isn't any different than BK, MD, etc.

This is actually a follow up to the next paragraph in that it doesn't address your specific point but it's also sort of more important: "poor people" go to BK and MD, and we can't be having with the idea that poor people are equally rational but existing in a world of different circumstances/choices. Nope, they need to be told whats best for them. On the left we tax junk food, on the right they demand SNAP/TANF/WIC o…

The problem with the tax is that it's a short term symptom-centric "solution" - bandaid on a fleah wound - but it doesn't actually address the root diseases. Unfortunately, the Nanny State is more popular at the voting booth.

Eventually, we'll run out of band aids. Then what?

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

#128

Post by chiefalchemist » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 1:49 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #93

chiefalchemist wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if the objective is to reduce sugar consumption shouldn't there be a sugar packet tax now, as part of the soda tax? Butt for butt my local Starbucks isn't any different than BK, MD, etc.

> But if the objective is to reduce sugar consumption shouldn't there be a sugar packet tax now, as part of the soda tax? I think the objective of soda taxes is to reduce childhood habituation to sugar, which is why they focus on a product heavily marketed to children. > Butt for butt my local Starbucks isn't any different than BK, MD, etc. Most of the sugar moving through Starbucks probably isn't sugar packets, anyw…

I drink my coffee black so I'm not sure. But annecdotally, there are plenty at Starbucks who could probably let us know how sugar fulfillment works there.

Yet the higher and higher cost of healthcare is a mystery?

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

#129

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 5:35 AM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #112

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Perhaps, I have no idea, I certainly wasn't!

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

#130

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly » Sat, Jun 16, 2018, 5:35 AM UTC

washadjeffmad wrote: post #103

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That's local to your area. We still have the hand crank onions and ketchup/mustard/brown mustard/relish dispensers, and the dogs have been the same in my region for at least the last six years.

And where do you hail from, good sir?!