Costco is the anti-Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#421

Post by windowsrookie » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

NavinF wrote: post #268

paulryanrogers wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The incremental cost of an extra stop is near zero. This assumes folks get deliveries on the same day and largely only from Amazon. And that we cannot build more walkable / bike able infrastructure.

Amazon already gives a discount if you're willing to wait for them to batch deliveries. Personally I would still have an order arriving every other day regardless of walkable/bikeable infrastructure. Same as most Americans.

"most americans" absolutely do not have "an order arriving every other day".

I order amazon on average once every 3 weeks. My mother (who has full time career and is under 60 years old) has never used amazon. Other members of my family also seem to rarely use amazon.

Also, having an order arriving every other day is incredibly wasteful.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#422

Post by hk1337 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

Backslasher wrote: post #19

The part about Costco choosing to avoid the last mile shipping problem reminded me of a proverb, roughly translated as: A clever person solves a problem; a wise person avoids it. I think it holds a lot of truth in engineering.

Avoiding a problem doesn't necessarily make the problem go away.

A wise person knows when to avoid a problem and when to solve it.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#423

Post by windowsrookie » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:11 PM UTC

matthewfcarlson wrote: post #325

shawn_w wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People go to Costco and only get a couple of things and not a cart load? You've got more self control than I.

When I lived closer to a Costco and had my membership, I used to do what I called cartless runs. Go into Costco, only buy what you can carry. Usually just the thing I needed and maybe one or two other things.

I do a similar thing. Stop at Costco to fill the gas tank, then buy a few things with no shopping cart.

Prevents wasting money on things I don't need, and makes the trip quick.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#424

Post by hx8 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC

jstanley wrote: post #420

tstenner wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a walkable quarter and I can reach three full supermarkets and 2 specialty supermarkets within 5 minutes. Doesn't matter whether I need to stock up on milk, vegetables or hand peeled shrimp in garlic sauce, I can get it. Same with public schools (5 within a 2 mile radius), childcare (3), hospitals (2) and the park.

Ok but that doesn't come close to the variety of products you can buy online.

I think this is the point I was trying to make, but didn't make as clearly as I wanted.

Sure I could buy two or three different types of keyboards within walking distance, but none of them used my favorite mechanical switches. I was constantly facing choices where I would either need to travel by vehicle to a speciality store (train, bus or car), or I would order the item in. Judging by the flow of packages into my multi-residential building others were facing the same choice.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#425

Post by windowsrookie » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC

bethekidyouwant wrote: post #198

imoverclocked wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go to Costco when I have something else to do in the area; It's almost never a "trip to Costco" for me. Others have mentioned the parking lot sizes. If we wanted the best of both worlds, we could have online shopping at Costco with curbside delivery. There has to be a warehouse somewhere which means there are trucks/trains/planes moving goods around regardless. Even Amazon builds warehouses closer to where things n…

Nobody does Costco and something else. That’s insane. Like going to IKEA and then somewhere else. Impossible.

What? Like you plan a day of shopping at Costco? That's insane to me.

I have never spent more than 30 minutes inside a Costco.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#426

Post by fragmede » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:19 PM UTC

windowsrookie wrote: post #425

bethekidyouwant wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody does Costco and something else. That’s insane. Like going to IKEA and then somewhere else. Impossible.

What? Like you plan a day of shopping at Costco? That's insane to me. I have never spent more than 30 minutes inside a Costco.

Why the rush? Why even plan? Just go in and wander around without a mission.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#427

Post by amelius » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:21 PM UTC

Ok, let them both commoditize their complement.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#428

Post by hx8 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:22 PM UTC

goosejuice wrote: post #336

hx8 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that has lived in a walkable neighborhood with a lot of shopping let me tell you, it doesn't solve the problem. Realistically you aren't going to reach more than 250k skus within a 20 minute walk of your home, and probably less. Even this is very heavily biased towards using retail space instead of space for anything else (homes, restaurants, parks, offices). You can only build up to add more space within…

250k skus seems pretty arbitrary. What's the significance of this number? A bodega goes a long way for most people's daily needs.

I picked 250k sku because I think that is really close to maximum sku density, based on my experience designing planograms for certain retailers known for sku density. This maximum number of skews leans heavily towards spending space on retail instead of the other things you'd expect from a city like homes, restaurants, parks, service based business, offices, etc.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#429

Post by hx8 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:25 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #390

beAbU wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bodega is often (and usually unavoidably) more expensive than a bigger grocery retail chain that's further away. Price conscious buyers will opt to drive to the bigger, farther away store because it has more variety, and the essentials are cheaper. I know I do this.

There's a full supermarket a 10 minute walk from me because it's a dense area.

This is the ideal situation, and common in most west cost dense areas, but not true for every dense mixed use area. Specifically it's common in low-income high-density housing to not have sufficient super market coverage.

Re: Costco is the anti-Amazon

#430

Post by Insanity » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:42 PM UTC

card_zero wrote: post #409

tstenner wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a walkable quarter and I can reach three full supermarkets and 2 specialty supermarkets within 5 minutes. Doesn't matter whether I need to stock up on milk, vegetables or hand peeled shrimp in garlic sauce, I can get it. Same with public schools (5 within a 2 mile radius), childcare (3), hospitals (2) and the park.

I don't get the argument either. Perhaps if you can't walk very far? If I put half an hour into walking I can easily buy all the essentials, such as a crash cymbal, oil of violets, steel nibs for my dip pen, a CD player, and a teapot.

I live in a metropolitan area and can walk to many stores within a 30 minute radius. (First supermarket is less than 5 minutes away).

But there is the added complication of weight. I can’t buy food for a week without driving there. Nor can I go and buy a TV by just walking to the hardware store.