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I want to live like Costco people

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Re: I want to live like Costco people

#751

Post by hn_acc1 »

Kirby64 wrote: post #261
hn_acc1 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A Tesla will out accelerate all but the most niche cars now. Claims presented without evidence. My slightly modified Subaru Wagon from '05 "out-accelerated" base Teslas - dead even in 1st gear, started pulling once the shift to 2nd happened. (Most) EVs cannot shift gears to get torque multiplication, so they start fast, but fall off as speeds get higher. My Kia gas car will outrun all but the model 3 performance - w…

> My slightly modified Subaru Wagon from '05 "out-accelerated" base Teslas - dead even in 1st gear, started pulling once the shift to 2nd happened. Slightly modified is doing some heavy lifting there. No 2005 Subaru wagon in stock config is anywhere close to beating a Model 3. > (Most) EVs cannot shift gears to get torque multiplication, so they start fast, but fall off as speeds get higher. Pretty much irrelevant, b…

'05 Legacy GT - turbo motor from the STI. With a tune, it was 300+ HP. MULTIPLE runs against Tesla model 3s from a stop - I won most of them.

'19 Stinger GT AWD. jb4 (piggyback) - dual model 3 couldn't pass me on track (he had more experience than I did) - he cornered a little better due to low center-of-mass, I pulled on him in the straights. Repeatedly.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#752

Post by Kirby64 »

hn_acc1 wrote: post #751
Kirby64 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My slightly modified Subaru Wagon from '05 "out-accelerated" base Teslas - dead even in 1st gear, started pulling once the shift to 2nd happened. Slightly modified is doing some heavy lifting there. No 2005 Subaru wagon in stock config is anywhere close to beating a Model 3. > (Most) EVs cannot shift gears to get torque multiplication, so they start fast, but fall off as speeds get higher. Pretty much irrelevant, b…

'05 Legacy GT - turbo motor from the STI. With a tune, it was 300+ HP. MULTIPLE runs against Tesla model 3s from a stop - I won most of them. '19 Stinger GT AWD. jb4 (piggyback) - dual model 3 couldn't pass me on track (he had more experience than I did) - he cornered a little better due to low center-of-mass, I pulled on him in the straights. Repeatedly.

> '05 Legacy GT - turbo motor from the STI. With a tune, it was 300+ HP. MULTIPLE runs against Tesla model 3s from a stop - I won most of them.

I'd believe it. I wouldn't call adding 20%+ horsepower to a car 'slightly' modifying it though. The original point still stands that your niche car (a performance version of the Subaru Legacy, with a tune on top of it) still barely manages to go toe-to-toe with a stock Model 3. If you left it stock, it would definitely be slower.

> '19 Stinger GT AWD. jb4 (piggyback) - dual model 3 couldn't pass me on track (he had more experience than I did) - he cornered a little better due to low center-of-mass, I pulled on him in the straights. Repeatedly.

So, you're proving my point? Stinger GT is already a niche car. You then threw a tune on it, which is even more niche. Compare it to a performance model 3 if you want to be fair in that case. I guarantee there's more performance model 3 owners than there are Stinger GT owners.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#753

Post by dghlsakjg »

Scroll_Swe wrote: post #651
hansbo wrote: post #636

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But quality is strongly associated with brand. Showing off the logo might be taboo, but everyone can tell the difference between an IKEA kitchen and a Funkiskök.

Yes, but one is obviously better than the other. I actually like this as someone with a big logo gucci bag is easy to frame right away as a terrible human.

No irony in judging someone as a “terrible human” based on superficial signals because they seemingly care about superficial signals?

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#754

Post by dghlsakjg »

tpmoney wrote: post #693
bschwindHN wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $65 is the cost of one or two fast food meals. Okay I'm really curious, where do you live and what are you eating for a "fast food meal"? That's at least 10x what I pay for a fast food meal, and although I know California and other places are expensive, I wouldn't have guessed they are that expensive.

These days Taco Bell for two people will easily hit $15-20 and that’s at the drive through. If you’re crazy enough to order it through door dash, that’s closer to $40

So two fast food meals is $15-20?

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#755

Post by dghlsakjg »

Gareth321 wrote: post #605
kemitchell wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Costo makes almost no money on food sale, and almost all of its profit from the membership fee. It's required for their business model, which is VERY friendly for its employees. This is an example of capitalism done right.

This is such a misconception/oversimplification that drives me nuts and it is so common. It isn’t at all supported by their filings.

In past years their profits match the approximate amount of revenue from their memberships (which, I suspect is the origin of this idea), although recently their profit exceeds their membership revenue by a fair margin (total membership revenue was less than half of operating income for 2025). Membership is not what causes them to be profitable since the “cost” of the membership is operating the rest of the business. You can’t separate retail sales from membership sales since they mutually require each other in the business model. If they got rid of their retail sales (which are, in fact, more profitable than membership sales on their own) then the membership would be worthless. The reverse is not true.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#756

Post by encrypted_bird »

elzbardico wrote: post #744
encrypted_bird wrote: post #732

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this sarcasm? Please tell me this is sarcasm.

I didn't say that this is their intention. But it surely looks to me like they are accelerating a movement towards a giant crisis of the capitalist system.

So an unintended side effect?

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#757

Post by Gareth321 »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #755
Gareth321 wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costo makes almost no money on food sale, and almost all of its profit from the membership fee. It's required for their business model, which is VERY friendly for its employees. This is an example of capitalism done right.

This is such a misconception/oversimplification that drives me nuts and it is so common. It isn’t at all supported by their filings. In past years their profits match the approximate amount of revenue from their memberships (which, I suspect is the origin of this idea), although recently their profit exceeds their membership revenue by a fair margin (total membership revenue was less than half of operating income for…

It's true that in recent years profits have exceeded membership revenue, but that still comprises 67% of total profit. It is still a requirement for their business model to operate, unless you're arguing that they would be comfortable with significant losses in the lean years, which I would contest.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#758

Post by dghlsakjg »

Gareth321 wrote: post #757
dghlsakjg wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a misconception/oversimplification that drives me nuts and it is so common. It isn’t at all supported by their filings. In past years their profits match the approximate amount of revenue from their memberships (which, I suspect is the origin of this idea), although recently their profit exceeds their membership revenue by a fair margin (total membership revenue was less than half of operating income for…

It's true that in recent years profits have exceeded membership revenue, but that still comprises 67% of total profit. It is still a requirement for their business model to operate, unless you're arguing that they would be comfortable with significant losses in the lean years, which I would contest.

That’s a deceptive 67%. You divided the pretax membership revenue by their post tax profit. If we use the same math we see that they get almost 70% of their profit from sales at the same time.

It falls to less than 50% when you properly compare it to pretax profits.

It also doesn’t factor in the 2% rebate that a huge number of members receive.

Costco’s total net sales for fiscal 2025 were roughly $268 billion. With executive members driving ~73.6% of that, and a 2% rebate on qualified purchases, a rough back-of-envelope estimate would place total rebates issued in the range of $3–4 billion, but Costco does not publicly break this out as a discrete figure in its financial statements.

In any case, I’m not saying it isn’t a significant source of revenue, I’m saying that “they only make money/they make most of their money from memberships” is a deceptive framing that is oft repeated. It makes it sound like they are selling things at cost when they aren’t. Their margins are in line with the grocery industry as a whole. Their pricing is an effect of low opex and volume. They make most of their profit from selling things. If they didn’t charge for membership they wouldn’t lose money.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#759

Post by mixmastamyk »

asdff wrote: post #471
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…

Some stuff like milk is a nonstarter. But most everything else I will go to costco for even living in a small apartment. Big costco thing of olive oil is far cheaper than olive oil anywhere else and not too hard to store. pack of trash bags again easy to store cheaper than anywhere else. likewise for dish soap, just as wide as a standard bottle but square and far cheaper. A lot of stuff with longer shelf lifes that I…

TJs has 1L EVOO for about $12, and was cheaper before the inflation.

Re: I want to live like Costco people

#760

Post by mixmastamyk »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #324
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…

I've been doing most of my grocery shopping at Costco for more than 20 years and I still don't understand this claim. I'm only shopping for my wife and I. I have a normal sized house, normal sized pantry, normal sized car. I just don't buy things in bulk that I can't use before they spoil and I freeze all meats. Most things at Costco are barely larger than standard size. You can buy a single gallon of milk, a single…

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