Costco
 

I am wondering what is the huge fuss about Costco that it is always so full of shoppers buying trollies after trollies full of groceries every day. Recently I got a membership after almost a year long deliberation on if I should do it or not, but having shopped at Walmart and Superstore all my life I just did not find anything special about Costco, especially in terms of the prices. It is not 'cheaper' at all IMO. Another down side is that they sell everything in bulky packs which are way too much than a normal sized family needs over a week or so. And you cannot buy perishable stuff more than you need at a given time cuz it will go bad on you and kill the whole purpose of shopping altogether. This particular store that I went to was quite short of options too. Something that a normal supermarket will have in six different brands Costo hardly had it in two on its shelves.

So yeah, why do people shop at Costco? Is it their quality that pulls people towards ti? Is it the convenience? ....Or is it just an illusion?

Re: Costco
 

I like Costco. I find it convenient to buy toilet paper annually, we have a couple of freezers and can deal with large packages of meat. When I've checked the prices they were, at least, competitive. The firm is an outstanding employer and that's a consideration for me. If you don't like Costco then to another shop.

I personally diskike Petro-Canada because they've removed the pump catches and so, in order to clean the car windows while the pump is pumping, I have to jam the pump with my wallet. That's a bother. I deal with it by not going to Petro-Canada.

You didn't know that because my not liking Petro-Canada is such a lame topic for a thread that I haven't made one.

Re: Costco
 

Good for you but we the BEs know that your standards are quite hard for everyone else to live by.

Although I must add that sometimes your posts can be quite helpful when you want to be nice :lol:

Re: Costco
 

I find Costco membership most useful if one can go to the US and shop there.

We let our membership expire, didn't go often enough, small monthly food/household budget means only getting a couple items at Costco vs a couple weeks at a normal store.

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Costco - love it. Prescriptions are less than $4.00 versus $10.00 at Walmart or $13 at the local pharmacy. Their prices are much lower than the competition, especially with their coupons - there is a reason that the store is jammed.

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I noticed on last visit to Vancouver that they will not automatically accept the card if the owner isn't in the store.
As now visiting from overseas, and having let our own card expire, that is a downer.
I was refused as the card wasn't mine, but it would have been accepted if the owner was in the store. When a lady behind me in the line said I could use her card..it was also refused...I begged.."What is the difference between this lady offering or if my friend had been in the store?" confused reply made no sense...
I should have objected, but didn't want to fuss, so thanked the lady and apologized for the hold-up...and volunteered to return the produce.:nod:

Re: Costco
 

I found that although some things were cheaper such as loo roll, coffee, kitchen roll, I was sucked in to buying stuff I didn't really need. Now we're on a lower income it's better to spend cash only and buy things weekly.
For prescriptions we were getting the cat's meds at Costco but the village pharmacy sort of pricematched and taking in to account the cost of gas and time involved then it was worth using them.

( Not sure if that all makes sense they seen very clumsy sentences)

Re: Costco
 

Cheese and spinach and strewberries - love it.

I also get a large bottle of laundry detergent that lasts me months and months and months.

My card is from the UK as my mum also uses a secondary card over there but I've never had any issues using it at the Vancouver cost-co - they just ask me if I'm visiting.

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Like any store.cheaper for some things. Not for others.
Meat selection and price is worth the membership alone IMO.

Despite the sometimes long queues. I find the checkout staff incredibly efficient and quick. Unlike our local supermarket which seems to delight on having as few checkouts open as possible

Re: Costco
 

I suspect that's not universal across Canada. It's been a few years since I collected a prescription from Walmart but the last time I did so it was because their generic price for the drug itself was cheaper, not the dispensing fee.

Shoppers Drug Mart's fee, here, doesn't appear to be a fixed rate so sometimes it may be lower than an alternative and other times higher. It seems to depend on the cost of the drug. They also "pay" the co-payment for those on the provincial drug programs and charge seniors less too. The pharmacy at Superstore does something similar.
Something disputed by many. Could be the convenience...people certainly argue that bulk purchases are worth it but maybe other stuff less so.

We're four so we may use bog paper at a rate quicker than other households. We have no difficulty buying good quality stuff for under $9 for the 50/60 roll equivalent packs at whichever store has that price.

There seems no doubt they have the best price for the better cheddars.
We get the ones that do around 100 loads for about $8.

Have you not heard of their sanctions for such deceit? It involves half an hour in the stocks and rotten fruit in the car park. :rofl:

http://www.readthehook.com/files/wor...ga-pillory.jpg

Re: Costco
 

I think I can live with it lol

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Seems to be around $4.50 here in BC, but still about 50% lower then London Drugs.

No doubt if we had to pay dispensing fees we would go to Costco, looking at the prescriptions picked up last night dispensing fees alone were almost $40 dollars.

Luckily dispensing fees are fully covered so nothing out of pocket.

Re: Costco
 

They are well paid.
They somehow time them on their check out time for each customer.

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Do the checkout staff do the same as other supermarkets where they leave something at the front of your shopping (selecting stuff behind to price read) preventing the belt moving further stuff near the front so that more shopping can't be added too quickly for them in the space created?

Re: Costco
 

If you have School age kids at home, you cannot beat Costco for value. Food, clothes, School supplies, printer ink, wiper blades, engine oil...I could go on and on. The best thing is, if you get one of their Capital One mastercards you get money back on top of the Costco money back.

Only drawback is you need to store stuff for a few months before you can use it. For example, Christmas Trees come out in September, Winter jackets in August, canoes and camping gear in March.

For brand name Winter tires, I could not find a place locally that could match the quote from Costco.

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I'm sorry Oink....but I DO like Costco! It's also probably different here, we are such a small population....we are lucky to have Costco....we won't get an IKEA....that being said for cheese, paper products and all sorts of every day basics like kids school fruit juice boxes, it wins hands down. It has a good delicatesan, they have nice quality cold meats and I can't buy Proscuttio anywhere else here...

Re: Costco
 

What's this got to do with me? I haven't contributed to this thread. Although I have seen tons of cradles all lined up at the Costco hotdog window stuffing their snouts before a sports game at the BC Place.

Re: Costco
 

We used to have school age kids but they never needed wiper blades and engine oil. :lol:

More seriously, I'm pretty sure we did beat them for value for kids related stuff.

Surely Sobeys and Superstore has it?
Walmart's website has it and they list it as available at Fredericton stores too. In this form.
http://www.marcangelofoods.com/wp-co...TO_package.jpg

Re: Costco
 

I love Costco. If I can buy it from Costco I will. Costco has replaced M&S for me.

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Costco seems to fall into 2 categories, and people either love them, or don't care much about them.

I think they are best for those who can spend a hundred or 2 on things in one shopping or buy a few months of toilet paper at once.


I generally found their prices to be no lower on most items, bigger yes, cheaper no.

The clothing detergent pods last time I went about a year ago, if you divided the price per pod, the price at Costco was no cheaper, you got a lot more of them in the package, but the unit price was no cheaper.

Same with toilet paper, per roll it was no cheaper, just a larger package of it.

Fruit was a good price, but I found bread cost more there vs the store baked stuff at a normal store.

Really depends on what your buying and your budget, for a low budget shopping family where we might only have $50/week for food, Costco makes no sense.

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Bloody hell, you must have friends in high places for them to do that for you. :rofl:

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Apologies...over goodness knows how long on BE you come down on Costco...if you hadn't ....yet...I'm sorry...I saved you the effort!

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We used to have a Costco membership, but found ourselves going less and less.

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Good to know!

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Product garauntess and return practices second to none. Larger sizes and bullk buying save me going shopping as often, save in travel and sanity. online pricing good for many harware and office items as well.

Re: Costco
 

agree.

illusion for sure:eek:

I have been to Costco on a walk through recently with someone that has a membership. I did the comparative shopping list against what all is available locally in my area. Costco for quality or price on a full shopping cart of what we buy in groceries could not compare to my locals with price match.

And yes, we have a year supply of bog paper on special/price match to Costco Canada that is 23% cheaper from my local Canadian owned stores

On the Costco Gasoline price, well I suppose a yearly membership might be a break even, then again my closest Costco gas station is 12KM from my house.

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Costco is good for families that shop mainstream brands- heinze ketchup, Campbell soups, kellogs cereal etc.

They're almost optimised for the advertising "mainstreamer" category.

For everyone else, not so good.

Now the ex has moved out I won't qualify for the card, and apart from the petrol I won't miss it.

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Regarding the membership fee....if you aren't satisfied with it Costco will give you a full refund. I have executive membership...the annual refund they send me more than covers the membership fee.

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Why won't you qualify - just a matter of signing up.

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I dont think its cheap, however they do have good "one off deals" on stuff, and i think the food is good, always like the Kirkland products, and their meat is always good but pricey, whcih i dont mind so much if you paying for quality.

Im not actually a member myself as its not feasbile for someone living alone, but i do go in there form time to time with a friend, i bought some ski equipment there last year, and some boating gear, decent quality stuff and reasonably priced, i like it for deals like that.:thumbsup:

Re: Costco
 

Is that you in the stocks Bristol?

Re: Costco
 

It might have been from that angle. :nod:

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Same here, our rebate covers membership fee. Often buy in bulk on discount. Dog food goes on sale, we buy a years worth at something like 25% off (investments wont get close on that return). Costco is 30km trip and shopping carefully saves a bundle. We find some things cheaper some not, even for the same price, the return policy is of value to me.

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I go to Costco about four times a year and stock up on meat, cheese, non perishables and have a look at their current seasonal offerings. Our experience is that their meat can't be beat for quality; their selection of deli stuff is fun to try, wide range of Christmas goodies, summer garden plants are very good value.

Oh and their returns policy is amazing. We bought a jet washer about six years ago; only used it a couple of times each year but it just gave up the ghost this year. A friend told me to take it back (!) I wouldn't have thought about returning it but took the advice and hauled it back with instruction book and receipt (which I had stapled to the instruction book). They refunded the whole cost without question - apparently the key to returns is the instruction book - not receipt - they wouldn't have refunded without the book!

J :)

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Using today's prices, and an average fill of 31 liters once per month, looks like using Costco for gas would be about $6 per month cheaper. $1.10 & $1.15 for the gas prices.

Now the closest store is 30km away, so not worth it and there would be no savings, so its not a feasible option, just wanted to see if there was any significant savings.

Re: Costco
 

Costco gas is usually the same or a cent more than gas at the reserve and since the reserve is closer I go there. Plus they pump the gas for you at the reserve.

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I got 'Free' citizenship photos today in Costco! I went in and there was a 'back in 15 mins sign' so I wandered around for ten and looked at sinks! Went back and a small queue had formed....I joined it, and eventually they found the camera, which was locked in a safe that nobody had the code for...we were kept informed during the wait, provided with drinks and snacks...told we were 'awesome' (with awesome regularity) and then all the passport people (lots) and citizen people (just me) got our photos taken at no charge....this is certainly good marketing.

Re: Costco
 

Oh I must protest I need to know more about this. Will any brand of wallet jam the pump like this or is that also a limiting factor? I need answers damn it!


Also if you could do a thread on your top 5 petrol stations and their location that would be grand :lol:

Re: Costco
 

The wallet deployed is branded SAP. SAP make accounting and supply chain software rather than wallets, this one was a giveaway at their booth at some trade show or other. My acquisition of the wallet didn’t indicate a particular interest in SAP products but a willingness to engage in trade show trinket trading. Our firm’s superior gimmick (of which I truly bought 20,000 from Prikesh(sp?) Jani) who used to sit on the next stall at the Yard) was easily traded for all manner of bric-a-brac such as USB powered fans and lights, t shirts and leather goods. I was also offered a turn throwing balls at the dunk tank but that was several days into that show and, after complaints, the stripper on the plank was no longer nearly naked; it seemed somehow a waste of time to throw balls and dunk someone who was wearing a wet suit. I did trade one for a go at the cowboy themed booth where you had to hit a see-saw with a giant hammer to propel a rubber chicken into a pot in order to win a stuffed toy (I didn’t get a stuffed toy as that firm fixed their stuffed toy giveaway so you only won if you worked for a firm on their list of desirable prospects).

The effectiveness of the wallet for pump jamming doubtless depends on the content, I can’t elucidate on that as the wallet is in the car and I’ve taken my coat off now. It is, of course, stuffed with ultra-premium charge cards, membership cards for elite clubs and licenses to perform activities only feasible if you’re fabulously fit, there’s some blood and guts on it. It’s the Kamloops model.

Re: Costco
 

I don’t have a top five favourite petrol stations! I have a vague idea that petrol is cheap at Costco but I haven’t bother computing how many minutes of queuing up for cheap petrol with the engine running wipes out the saving. I expect Bristol could tell you if you supplied the size of the engine, recent compression readings and the ambient temperature. (Speaking of Bristol, there are no gimmicks at the Costco check out, people put your goods in the cart as quickly as is humanly possible. I recently remarked of a work project that to get it done we’d have to work like the Costco check out people and was understood).

I naively drifted along knowing only that if I wasn’t near the station where the Thalidomide victim works I didn’t much mind except that I didn’t want petrol from Petro-Can due to the broken pumps. Nor Canadian Tyre, all round shitty corporation also with broken pumps. I had a vague preference for independent stations such as Beaver (without having checked the meaning of “independent”) when my wife pointed out that the difference between the 89 cents near home and the 105 cents near work is quite a lot on a tank. (I haven’t paid attention to fuel consumption since they stopped labelling in gallons as it’s too much of a faff to convert the litres to get to mpg and I’m going to drive the car anyway). I now fill up near home and, since the “always less than a buck” station has pump catches it works out very well.

hth.