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Love Song to Costco

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Re: Love Song to Costco

#41

Post by legalcorrection »

wlesieutre wrote: post #31
legalcorrection wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also much easier for anyone to shop at Costco with a spouse's/friend's membership card now that they have self-checkout. You used to have to worry about the cashier flagging you if the cardholder wasn't there, but now there's no one who even looks at your card. Or how about don't be a liar/cheater and buy your own membership. It's not expensive and it pays for itself fast. Shame on whoever does this.

I don’t know about the food court, but alcohol is definitely true for legal reasons in some states. In Connecticut our local Costco had its alcohol sales in a separate entrance next to the main warehouse, on the opposite end from the tire department. To add another one, the same is true nationwide for their optometrists, you can get your eyes checked there without a membership but won’t be able to buy glasses. If you…

I mean using someone else's membership card. Nothing wrong with using services that don't require membership.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#42

Post by labster »

gnicholas wrote: post #39
labster wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just buying gasoline at Costco is more than enough to pay back the membership fee in California. It’s about 50¢/gallon cheaper than other fuel in the same city.

I used to think this. The Costco in Redwood City is a good deal compared to most stations, but the cheap station on Woodside Rd. (< 2 miles away) is basically the same price. It also never has long lines, which I often find at Costco.

I used to think it was false, and that the price drop wouldn’t pay for the extra distance to Costco, but times have changed since the invasion of Ukraine. It’s probably location dependent. I’m in Ventura County.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#43

Post by alliao »

cyberge99 wrote: post #19
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…

Costco also works out deals to sell “special” revisions of major brand offerings. One example is a Sony Bravia that has a physical microphone disable switch.

wow. I'm sold.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#44

Post by lbrito »

edmcnulty101 wrote: post #4

As a native born and poor American without any parents I feel the same way going to Costco. Its miraculous. After being homeless a few times as a native born American I still feel like showers are the ultimate luxury. I'm always happy to see immigrants with jobs in America and Europe but I can't help but wonder what can we do to make other countries as desirable as America? Theres billions of people. Why aren't their…

No post body was provided.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#45

Post by karlding »

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…

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) / 0.02 = $3k/year.

[0] https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8...

Re: Love Song to Costco

#46

Post by 8ytecoder »

cyberge99 wrote: post #19
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…

Costco also works out deals to sell “special” revisions of major brand offerings. One example is a Sony Bravia that has a physical microphone disable switch.

Or the Sonos Arc SL that doesn’t have a microphone at all.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#47

Post by lbrito »

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.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#48

Post by ernestns »

In some areas where it can be costly to import goods, like Hawaii, Costco tends to be one of few reliable stores to find products at relatively reduced prices. With this type of reputation, it's understandable why their following is loyal and enthusiastic.

Re: Love Song to Costco

#49

Post by lotsofpulp »

wyldfire wrote: post #40
lotsofpulp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they are higher trust societies with less low level corruption, allowing one to have more peace of mind in day to day life. Simply going out in a vehicle is magnitudes riskier in the country my parents come from. My whole extended family can afford maids, cooks, and drivers, yet they all moved because they wanted a lower volatility life for their children, even if it meant doing your own laundry, cleaning, co…

> higher trust societies with less low level corruption Without a doubt this seems like a big/major factor. But we have corruption in the US. Do we have less corruption because of enforcement of anti-corruption laws? Or do we have those laws and an expectation that they're enforced because of some other factors? Not rhetorical, I just don't know. Casually it seems like many European countries have the same or greater…

> Do we have less corruption because of enforcement of anti-corruption laws? Or do we have those laws and an expectation that they're enforced because of some other factors?

Neither answer is complete. Laws and enforcement can only go so far. It is not feasible to police every single interaction between people.

My amateur hypothesis would be a combination of a wealth of resources, growth outlook, shared struggles, traditions and cultural outlooks that provide utility and propagate downstream, etc. Probably impossible to intentionally recreate. And of course, very possible to lose.

If everyone in society decides they want to screw each other, then no amount of laws will help. Unfortunately, in many societies, the game is very adversarial with dire consequences, and you have to play that way.

On the other hand, a society where people are mostly out to engage in good faith transactions can greatly benefit from reduced friction, enabling more transactions and each actor wasting less energy in preventing themselves from being screwed.

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