Oink

Its $55 a year for naff's sake. I spend more than that on lunch.

evets

True!!!

Liquid lunch by chance!!

SchnookoLoly

IN addition, you can check to see if you would be better off with the $110 membership at any point during the year. There's obviously a break-even point where the 2% cash back becomes cheaper than the membership. My 2% rebate cheque this year was notably over the $110 membership fee. However, when we first joined, we weren't sure how much we would be spending, so we just got the $55 membership. About 7ish months in, when doing a return, they checked our account and said that we were only $200 away from the point where the $110 membership was better value, so we switched. We paid a prorated 5 months for the remaining time of the year to upgrade to the $110 membership, and paid the next year at the same time for simplicity. So you can always just start with the $55 and see how it goes and make a call from there.

Costco is amazing in that regard. The staff loves working there (as you say they are treated very well, very low turnover and incredibly competitive to get hired) and customers are treated very well. I usually prefer to do my shopping at Costco because it's so simple and straight forward. And you can't beat the returns policy.

And I completely agree with not taking advantage of it. If you're going to use their services and take advantage of the cheap pricing, then pay the membership fee. Don't try to rinse the system.

Zoe Bell

I'm happy to pay the membership fee just to get checkout people who are fast and efficient.

Sometimes the line ups look bad but you are still out quicker than you would be at my local supermarket with just a couple of people on front.

we had the standard membership and then something triggered ( spending levels)that we might be better off with the upgrade so the nice young man processed that for us with the assurance that if if didn't save us money they'd refund the cost for us.

not2old

why would anyone be upset with using the cosco policy to its advantage - in my case my mention of getting the $55 membership, then a stack of $50 gift cards to use for gas?

Then again I suppose the hassle of doing this in my case wouldn't be worth it since the membership fee & gas cost savings would be a wash over 12 months

So, I won't be I doing the 'buy the membership, then buy the gift cards to then get a membership refund - but will, on the prescriptions, I will definitely be doing it & getting those does not require being a costco member

I have done the cost comparison of costco pharma for prescriptions to all the other pharma's & as it works out the saving for the non-covered seniors ODB in Ontario for my wife is a savings of $253/yr ... costco from here on in on those.

No membership needed... we're good & thanks for the input on how valuable it is to shop at costco without being a member

SchnookoLoly

Just wondering, if the gas offsets the cost of the membership, doesn't that mean that any other shopping at Costco would mean you're up on the deal? So even if you just buy one package of chicken that year, that means that you've saved money?

not2old

Thanks for that & I understand what you are saying, yet I'm still not convinced

When in the area I have been to the store at various times to do a walk around to look at the prices & costco doesn't do the pricing for us to our lifestyle shopping habits including all of the grocery purchases that we consume that we get on a 'price match' with the flyers in other grocery stores.

Same as being referred to a certain 'cell phone' provider that cannot be matched for pricing packages, service & quality

On that I'll stick with our (current) old public mobile unlimited minutes all Ontario call plan of $19.95/mth + tax, since we do zero texting or data usage.

Internet & home phone package sorted (I was looking at several options including WIND), now sorted - with a no contract priced fixed for 2 yrs $54.29/mth tax included (everything all in) that works for us

Any suggestions anytime from anyone on anything that saves a senior like me & mine or others a few dollars to go towards paying the utility, grocery, property tax & gasoline increases would be appreciated

Aviator

A down and dirty calculation, but fronting $2600 in gift cards for a year of gas is around $102 opportunity cost if the money was conservatively invested in an ING balanced fund for 12 months at 4.02%.

On top of that Costco MasterCard gives 2% back on gas purchases and an executive membership another 2% rebate. Last year we were ahead by around $50 just from the rebates. In addition, the phone we just got was free, we got extras and $300 in Costco gift cards.

Hands down we come out ahead. Bulk buy when the price is right and store it. 20% off and buy a years worth. Not much is going to give me a 20% return.

dc koop

Costco do have good deals on furniture and other household items but the trouble is that the selection is very limited. If you wanted for instance to buy a sofa or recliner you're probably looking at on one color, one texture etc.

On the other hand I pay $2.19 a gallon on gas and get substantial rewards for using my Citi credit card for purchases and their new car buyer program is worth checking out.

Photoplex

This again... there are plenty of 24 hour gas stations around, despite what you've heard.

Costco isn't one of them. If you need gas at 3am, you'll be paying market rates.. because it's 3am for heavens sake.

bats

I can get gas at the reserve at prices cheaper or similar to Costco and it's closer, has a pretty view too.

The village pharmacy almost price matched the Costco prices on our cats exoensive meds. The difference is about the same as the gas would cost to get to Costco, plus I save 90 minutes and support a local business.

I'm generally anti Costco as I hate having my cart inspected on the way out and quizzed on the way in about being a member. I dislike that there are only huge carts available. Oh and did you know that if you say you are going to the pharmacy a staff member is meant to escort you there?

I haven't noticed that we are worse off since we stopped going there

dbd33

I don't think I've heard of people being anti-Costco before. It's a reputable business, treats the staff well and, as far as I know, isn't involved in any sort of widespread corruption. I can see that people might think it's not worth going there or just not like it, in which case there are lots of other places to buy groceries but, since it's not a dodgy organization like, say, WalMart or Bass Pro or Trump Resorts. "Anti" seems a bit strong.

BristolUK

On the other hand, as badly as they may be treated what might happen to the staff if they were unable to work there?

dbd33

They would be badly treated by another employer, probably another shop, and I wouldn't go there.

scrubbedexpat091

I spent a time at Wal Mart as did my wife. Wasn't too bad. Pay was above what most retailers paid. She made 11.75 and I made 12. ( We did not work there at the same time or same store.)

Most big box and small retailers only pay min wage or a tad above.

It was no worse vs other retailers I worked for.