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I want to live like Costco people

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Re: I want to live like Costco people

#591

Post by insane_dreamer »

jorvi wrote: post #497
heathrow83829 wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the biggest problem with white rice is the lack of fiber, the somewhat high glycemic index, and it has the same problem all processed grains have: lacking potassium, iron and magnesium. these days though white rice and other processed grains all come with added b-vitamins (before that started at the turn of the century, there were massive b-vitamin deficiencies popping up everywhere). white rice has less protein than…

The lameness is that brown rice is more expensive than white rice because it is a healthy choice. I know, price is what the market will bear blah blah. There is just something that feels fundamentally wrong about a product cheaper to produce being sold at a higher price purely because its the better choice for your health. Another cute principle in that category is convenience pricing. The 0.5L cola bottle with resea…

> There is just something that feels fundamentally wrong about a product cheaper to produce being sold at a higher price purely because its the better choice for your health.

You just described almost all food sold in the US. The cheapest stuff is pure garbage. The more you try to escape the preprocessed garbage and get back to the raw, unprocessed, untreated, food, the more you pay. Insane, but true. (And then we wonder why Americans are so unhealthy.)

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#592

Post by insane_dreamer »

whyenot wrote: post #404
henryfjordan wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's 1655 calories in a pound of uncooked rice, so with 330lbs you are sitting at ~1500 calories a day for a whole year. You wouldn't starve to death, but you'd absolutely want to supplement (both for more calories and probably for vitamins). But also you'd be eating that rice every single day pretty much, how else are you getting through that much rice?

Wouldn't you also need at least a little protein? and some lipids? For example, there is a lot more in Soylent than just rice flour. Oh, are we talking brown rice or white rice? That seems like it might make a huge difference, not only in nutrition, but also pooping.

rice and beans is a complete protein

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#593

Post by insane_dreamer »

adolfojp wrote: post #370
type4 wrote: post #199

I have a really mixed feeling about Costco. I hate it, I going there, I hate the crowds, the parking, the people, being hawked a credit card, a cell phone, whatever the vendors are selling. It makes me feel like a pig in a slaughterhouse waiting to get out of the store, I feel like it's the platonic form of consumption. We all go to the nice little consumption center like good piggies to get our sustenance and to get…

These days I just go to Sam's Club. Hear me out. It's right next to Costco, literally in the same mall. Products are kind of shittier but they're good enough. But good enough is better for me because the rest of the experience is just better. Walking through Sam's Club is often a breeze whereas through Costco I waddle like a penguin sandwiched between a waddle of penguins, each competing for enough space and quiet an…

Do they even have Sam's Club in the PNW? I've never seen one.

But even if they did, no way am I shopping at Sam's Club for the same reason that I'm never shopping at its parent company, Walmart. Walmart arguably did more to destroy small town America than any other company, and it also treats retail employees like shit. On the other hand, Costco is one of the best places to work as a retail employee (which is why they have so little turnover).

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#594

Post by insane_dreamer »

senkora wrote: post #171
yabones wrote: post #137

I get the allure, but it's not for me and my partner. We live in a small apartment. We drive a small car. The pantry has a good amount of dry bulk & canned food, but we largely shop one week at a time. Sure, we could "lock in" on two or three foods, buy weeks worth of them at a time, and save some money. But like most people we like a bit of verity. It's just not possible to buy such massive quantities of things with…

Trader Joe's is probably closest to what you want. It targets single shoppers with small quantities and low prices, and it rotates products frequently to keep things interesting. Anecdotally I feel like a lot of TJ's shoppers shift into Costco shoppers as they age up.

We only shop regularly at three stores: Costco (every 2 weeks), TJs (random stuff that we don't need as much of or that is cheaper/better at TJs, like organic peanut butter, or sometimes their cheeses and marinated meats, oh, and the kids love TJ takis, also wine), and our local grocer (makes fresh bread daily, and we get meat, milk and eggs there because they source locally).

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#595

Post by com2kid »

defrost wrote: post #551
ishouldstayaway wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me guess: you're also the kind of insufferable (and similarly incorrect) pedant who insists that "decimate" still means "reduce by one tenth"?

No. Try harder. Gourmand still, in large parts of the English speaking world, carries large overtones of excessive eating under the guise of quality eating. If I were to make a guess, I suspect that in your part of the world some of the French persuasion made frequent reference to those that overstack their plates as gourmands and it has since locally become synonymous with gourmet as the troll escaped them.

American here, only every heard it meaning someone who likes fancy food.

Never heard of it being a fat person, except in so far as the word is old fashioned enough to conjure the image of a fancy dressed fat person eating fancy food.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#596

Post by com2kid »

fragmede wrote: post #353
giwook wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. What about cars or houses?

The real question is what about toilets. You'd think they're all the same, but a $700 Toto bidet with a heated seat that cleans your butthole with warm water is a better experience than using toilet paper.

My $200 home depot bidet does the same.

Toto survives by brand name reco only nowadays.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#597

Post by gottorf »

jatora wrote: post #540
Spooky23 wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re probably a professional with a good wage. The working poor are too poor to have much and too rich to be poor and get benefits. They are cashflow constrained. When I coached little league, we had parents who walked miles to games because the bus fare (1.50) for 3-4 people would push them over the edge. Vulture companies like dollar general exist because they sell consumer staples in smaller quantities at a slig…

Shit I guess I'm out of touch lol

No, you are not out of touch. Functionally everyone can afford a Costco membership and buy staples in bulk at a higher upfront but lower unit costs. The GP's comment about a family of four walking miles to a Little League game because they couldn't afford the bus fare is an extreme outlier.

There's a large overlap between people who cannot "afford" to shop at Costco and people who spend hundreds of dollars a month on scratch-offs. Whether or not someone shops at Costco is mostly a function of preferences and behavioral choices, not dollars.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#598

Post by wespad »

kemitchell wrote: post #503
austinl wrote: post #361

Feudal Japan had a measurement called the "koku", which is roughly the amount of rice needed to feed a person for a year: about 330 lb. You can now buy 50 lb. of rice at Costco for $30, which is a few hours of work at minimum wage. To me, that is a modern marvel. I don't want people to buy things that they don't need, and I also don't like the crowds, but I can't help but feel grateful for a stocked grocery store tha…

I wish Costco were accessible to basically everyone. Among some poorer people I've got to know in the SF Bay Area, having the card and confidence in the means to use it are a mark of the middle class, an aspirational thing. Membership is an up-front cost. That excludes those who can't part with the cash for no immediate benefit. Depending on what you buy, and what else is available around you, breakeven can take a go…

In San Diego, we have a discount store called GTM that buys Costco closeouts and scratch-and-dent items and resells them for less. It has a loyal base of bargain shoppers, and it feels a bit like a treasure hunt.

You can buy normal or even individual quantities, like a single roll of paper towels, with no membership required. I imagine other big cities have similar stores, probably in lower-income areas, that fill a similar role.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#599

Post by krige »

shaftway wrote: post #98
giwook wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. What about cars or houses?

That fancy Lamborghini is going to be sitting in the same traffic as my Honda.

It's going to be sitting here in my garage in hollywood hills. (and seven more lamborghinis in my lamborghini account)

In other words, it's still perceived as a sign of status.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#600

Post by gottorf »

kenhwang wrote: post #369
jerf wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A specialty shop can probably survive Costco much more easily than they can survive Walmart or any other conventional (American) grocery store. The grocery store carries 20 or 30 different olive oils, to select one example. Odds are all the snobbiest will find something they like... odds are even decent that in a blind taste test even the snobbiest would find something that they would be horrified to discover came fr…

Costco is for bulk staples and commodities for me. Products that I really don't need the best of the best for, good enough is good enough and as long as I can use it all before it goes bad, I'd rather not waste more thought than needed for it. Milk, eggs, flour, flowers, microfiber towels, batteries, salt and pepper. Then for all the niche stuff that I do truly care about, there's the specialty stores or really the f…

> Costco is for bulk staples and commodities for me

> Milk, eggs, flour, flowers, microfiber towels, batteries, salt and pepper

If you can walk out of Costco month after month with just those essentials, and never pick up any of the nice-looking and reasonably-priced goodies there, I think it's safe to say that you have the level of discipline required to be financially successful and not have to care about whether you're getting the best price per unit of whatever it is you're buying. :-)

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