Shard

Is that you in the stocks Bristol?

BristolUK

It might have been from that angle.

Aviator

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.

Jingle

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

scrubbedexpat091

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.

bats

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.

MillieF

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.

Shakyuk

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

dbd33

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.

dbd33

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.

Souvy

Costco isn't for poor people. You have to be able to spend a lot of money in one go (on industrial-scale quantities of Coors Light, judging by the people from Ottawa that frequent my local store).

The meat is certainly good. We buy bits of beef that look like something that should be dangling from a horse. It gets cut up and frozen. We get many meals out of one bit.

dbd33

Writing as someone who frequently observes bits dangling from horses, I hope that's not the case.

not2old

much the same.

I generally put $20 worth in at a time, reset the trip clock to see approx the distance the $20 takes me. With our 2002 Ford Escape doing mostly local commuting, no highway driving, It generally gets 140km average on the $20.

With all the back & forth twice per day to my FIL (nine traffic lights each way) plus his several monthly appointments, we do average 1500km/mth. So its approx a $200 gas bill that I do not want or need to spend on him that could go towards better things.

Said to my wife we should replace the heavy duty 3 litre SUV with a smart car to save the gas money, she won't go for it.

same here, support local owned small gas station



.

Teaandtoday5

The air temperature seems to make a much bigger difference than I realised it would. Using the litres/100km thing that the car measures in the summer was just over 9 litres (8 litres on a very long, hot journey), and I am already up to nearly 11litres/100 km. Got to well over 12 litres last winter.

I despair. The fact that I even know this, let alone post about it is nearly as depressing as the dark evenings.

Shirtback

Costco was great for me, when living in the back-of-nowhere, working silly & weird hours full-time even further into the bonw, & providing for a family of 5. A once a month shop, space to store bulk purchases (big house, humongous freezer, 2 fridges) was worthwhile, even with a 2 hour round trip.

The prices/guarantee on non foodstuff were excellent too, I'm sure they still are.

Now that I live alone in an apartment & work mostly from home, in a town with 5 supermarkets, a wholesaler open to the public & a farmers' market (in the summer) within walking distance, it's not worth it to me. Petrol is consistently cheaper at local station, although Costco petrol is the cheapest in the town it's located in.