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I want to live like Costco people

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Re: I want to live like Costco people

#701

Post by gamblor956 »

adolfojp wrote: post #634
insane_dreamer wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 the…

Not shopping at Sam's Club because its parent company destroys small town America is a perfectly reasonable sociopolitical stance so I respect it. Bravo. But if you're still shopping at Costco then you don't really care about the effects that these big box stores have on small town economies. You're just into performative activism. But Costco does have better working conditions so I'll give you that.

Costco doesn't have any stores near small town economies...

Walmart does, and it achieved its dominance by deliberately targeting and destroying small town America economies.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#703

Post by scottyah »

trollbridge wrote: post #207
Petersipoi wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking Doesn't the fact that the original quote literally acknowledges "bums on the corner" imply that he wasn't referring to housing at all?

I have found the Coke machines at Costco to always have a perfect mixture.

In n Out is my favorite Coke. I think Costco and Chick Fil A are tied despite being pretty different.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#704

Post by scottyah »

bayindirh wrote: post #663
giwook wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point. What about cars or houses?

Personally I don't envy an "high-end" car (RR, McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche, etc.), or a big mansion which needs a horde of people to run. I personally developed a feeling for things which are at the edge of "diminishing returns" curve. I get the things which are high-end enough, but not in the "pay 3x more to get 1% more" region.

I agree, but will say that having a well-built house in a great area is extremely expensive, especially if you happen to like walkable cities along the southern California coast.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#705

Post by hawaiianbrah »

fromMars wrote: post #266
snark42 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate going there and mostly use Instacart to avoid having to, but even with a Instacart mark-up and tip it's cheaper and higher quality than most other options, happy to pay someone else to do my shopping.

Is it really higher quality? I had a membership for a year and didn't find much I was interested in purchasing food wise, at least.

If you use sameday.Costco.com I’ve heard it’s cheaper than actual instacart even though it is instacart, less some fees etc.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#706

Post by hawaiianbrah »

ryukoposting wrote: post #210
don-code wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a point where two friends and I each lived alone in an apartment, and I was the only one who had a (2-door) car. We still occasionally did Costco runs. We'd go in and walk the store - the whole store - aisle by aisle. If I saw something like a 2-pound bag of tortellini, but thought two pounds was too big a quantity for me, I'd ask, "does anybody want to split two pounds or tortellini?" One might say yes, so…

This is what I did with 3 roommates in college. We saved a ton of money that way. After college, I only had one roommate and Costco didn't work as well. The quantities for certain things are just a bit much. Buying 36 eggs for 4 adults made sense. Buying 36 eggs for 2 adults... not so much. I ended up going to Costco for toilet paper and gas, and that's it. To this day, I'm still the "spouse" on one of those college…

Eggs last a long time in the fridge! I could definitely go through 36 eggs myself over the course of 3 weeks. :)

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#707

Post by bayindirh »

scottyah wrote: post #704
bayindirh wrote: post #663

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I don't envy an "high-end" car (RR, McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche, etc.), or a big mansion which needs a horde of people to run. I personally developed a feeling for things which are at the edge of "diminishing returns" curve. I get the things which are high-end enough, but not in the "pay 3x more to get 1% more" region.

I agree, but will say that having a well-built house in a great area is extremely expensive, especially if you happen to like walkable cities along the southern California coast.

A well built house doesn't have to be big, needs multiple staff on payroll, or come with a pool.

Buying high quality things is a thing, but buying things just because they are high end and flashy is something else.

If I failed to convey what I tried to say in my first comment, let me give another examples.

Personally, I'll pay pretty penny for a bass guitar, if its build quality and features is worth it, not because of hype or it's a signature model of someone else's.

I'll buy a high end computer or a car with all (meaningful) options installed, not because I want to show off but I'll need the features or processing power.

I buy high end audio gear (for listening or recording), not because to brag about it but to use it.

And when I buy these things, I use them until they run out of steam, not until they're out of fashion.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#708

Post by scottyah »

fragmede wrote: post #358
patmorgan23 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless they pay for the express lanes

Yeah, those are obnoxious and a fundamental undermining of America, imo.

Thank you! I don't get how many people are just accepting of them. I do hate the pay-to-play lanes ones, but the ones I faced driving out in Illinois where there's no viable alternative and you have to produce exact change are crazy, should be illegal.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#709

Post by scottyah »

fragmede wrote: post #339
shaftway wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not in LA/socal. The secret is out. There's a bunch of underground tunnels that rich and well connected people can use, that the little people can not.

As opposed to New York where they just take helicopters

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#710

Post by ecshafer »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #251
senkora wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My wife and I shop at both Costco and TJs. They are our favorite stores... We're a bit odd though. Highly budget conscious, 4 kidsto feed (including 2 teenagers), and European tastes in food.

I don't think this is abnormal. I think every family in my (middle class+) neighborhood does both Costco and Trader Joes. We don't have a convenient Whole Foods though.
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