SchnookoLoly

SOME things are cheaper at Costco, but not everything. A few things in particular I've noticed and can think of off the top of my head:

Deodorant - the one my husband uses goes for about $4 per stick at the grocery store. A 5-pack at Costco is about $12 for larger sticks.

Milk - 4L 1% Natrel PurFilter is $4.79 at Costco, $5.99 at Metro

Fresh salmon fillet - if you can find it on sale then it's comparable, but regular price is about $20-22/kg at Costco vs $25-28/kg at Metro

Diaper wipes - regular price $21 for a box of 900 but regularly goes on sale for $17 so we stock up. Regular price 2.3c per wipe, on sale 1.9c per wipe... Quick search on Amazon, everything is 2-6c per wipe.

A lot of their gift cards are discounted as well. Whenever we are going to order pizza, we pick up gift cards, there's usually 2-3 pizza options, $100 of gift cards for $80.

Same with cinema vouchers. Around here, the average adult fare is $12-13 or so, plus concessions. You can buy vouchers from Costco for $25 that covers two adult admissions, two regular drinks, and one large popcorn.

Just a few examples.

One thing that isn't particularly cheaper is diapers - Costco ones average 19-20c per diaper, which is comparable at regular price to other places. They never go on sale, so if you can find sales elsewhere then that's cheaper than Costco.

Garden waste bags are pretty much the same price everywhere, roughly 50c per bag.

BristolUK

It amazes me I've never been. It's in the same Mall area as the Superstore I go to most often. That's where driving might come in handy.

BristolUK

Ovaltine biscuits in Shoppers, next to the Cadbury Fingers

Oops...thought we were in groceries.

Former Lancastrian

I just got back from COSTCO believe me you are not missing that much. It opened at 10am this morning and by 1015 the lot was full and the lot holds a few hundred cars. The line ups at the cashiers were 6 deep and of course Im stood in the line that has some ditzy woman having no idea what to do at the cashier so they have to call over a supervisor and redo her bill and cancel this and reissue that.

If you don't like buying in bulk except for the odd item then COSTCO is not for you.

BristolUK

What is there to do at the till that one wouldn't normally do?

I understand there's membership but isn't that just handing over a card like you would with a rewards card?

I buy in bulk when the price is worth it like $10.99 lb for Beef Tenderloin; Campbells cans for 40c; 48-60 Cashmere bog rolls for $9-$10.

That house brick of Baldersons cheese my stepdaughter came back with a couple of weeks ago was well worth it

scrubbedexpat091

No doubt it works out cheaper in the long run for some items, but the upfront money needed to buy in bulk is generally not available to very fixed income households, when you have say a 50-75 bi weekly budget for food and household needs, bulk buying doesn't permit you to buy all you need, per unit cost its cheaper, just the upfront money needed is not always available.

scrubbedexpat091

I have flown AC once to a US destination, I saw nothing special about them, no better or nor worse then the US airlines I generally fly. Delta and Alaska and sometimes Southwest.

dbd33

I didn't find that at all. I sometimes had no choice and flew AC. The flights were never on time, the excuses lame ("crew stuck in traffic" even though the passengers were not stuck in traffic). I found that to get to an afternoon meeting in, say, Chicago, on AC I had to fly the night before. Other airlines could get me there, reliably, leaving on the day of the meeting. Oh, and the staff, elderly women in the main, were terribly officious.

I gave my frequent flyer tickets to my ex-wife. I think that sums up my experience of AC.

caretaker

There used to be a saying 'If you don't care, fly Nor-Can Air'.

Yorkiechef

I wonder what they thought of you...you Really need to read some of your posts.

viajero

The idea that AC flights are more commonly late than any other airline does not ring true to me. I'm not saying you are making it up but it could be that your own biases (i.e. that anything Canadian is inherently worst of the worst) are causing you to misremember.

I'm not sure I ever noticed the age or appearance of the staff on any airline I have flown. If some are aloof, who cares? I don't board a plane to become best friends with the staff. I don't find that AC flight attendants serve orange juice any differently than attendants from any other airline, and at least AC's entertainment options mean I don't have to pay much attention to anything else. I've found the food on AC flights far superior to American Airlines or Delta, and on par with Air France.

dbd33

I don't think that. I think of Canada as one might think of Minnesota; economically and socially it's a part of the US but one with slower speech. Garrison Keillor's pieces, although set among Nordic-Americans offer, I think, good descriptions of life up here. There is nothing wrong with being a stodgy, safe, backwater.

Officious does not mean aloof. Officious is being obsessive about administrivia; a Canadian trait. Aloof is ideal in a flight attendant.

Tirytory

Seriously that much thought?

Davita

I heard your ex-wife married an Air Canada Captain and now gets discount on all interline zed-fare airlines. I think I met her in First Class recently.

She sold her AC frequent flyer miles on ebay and made a killer profit....

Jerseygirl

I've flown various US airlines for the last 20+ years. They are OK at best. One flight we had a 70 yr old flight attendant. For most flights...I got the impression that it was just a job to put food on the table...but they wished they were somewhere else. They more or less threw the food and beverages at you...unless you were flying first class. Then it was...would you like the Grand Marnier warming JG? 'Yes please...as long as you fill the glass.'

So far I have had no complaints with AC...but that could be because they have 'serve yourself' Grand Marnier in the airport lounge.