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For us with 2 kids Costco is definitely worth it. I'm not sure if it would be worth it without kids.
Certain items by themselves can almost justify the entire $55/year membership:
Gas - When I was in the Bay Area, Costco gas was easily 20 cents cheaper than the cheapest readily available alternatives. There were a few other gas stations I knew of with similar prices, but they were far flung and in shady neighborhoods. Assuming I buy 10 gallons of gas every 2 weeks, that's $52/year in savings right there.
This doesn't seem to be as much of a difference now that I'm in Sacramento, and gas stations with similar prices to Costco seem to be all over the place. Check the difference in your local area.
Beer - High quality craft beer to be had for $24 for a 24-pack. Same brands in other stores would be a minimum of $8 for a 6-pack. If you drink 3 beers per week, that's another $51/year in savings.
There are some food items that are available in Sam's Club only but not available in Costco or most supermarkets.
My favorite item is beef tongue. Sam's Club has two beef tongues in a pack and sell at reasonable price. Beef tongues are delicacies especially good for yakiniku (Japanese style BBQ).
its just my wife and I but we love our costco card we live in the country so its convenient to stock up on certain things we usually grab lunch meds and fuel while there as well also the quality of items they carry is always top notch and we have an executive membership so we get money back also!
We finally joined Costco and we're getting a second fridge for garage so we can put the extra stuff in there. For us it pays off for certain things. I use Sams club for dog treats, muscle milk and hot dogs
I love Costco. I bought my mother a membership once one opened up near her house, I love it so much.
Some of the bigger benefits are not grocery related - rather their tire and vision centers, travel desk, pharmacy, gas station (almost always much cheaper where I am), the fact that they will take basically anything back if you don't like it, no questions asked. Bought a cruise from Costco and were surprised on the ship when we were told that our package came with previously unmentioned onboard credits in addition to the ones we did know about!
One of the more interesting surprises during our trip to Hawaii was how cheap food and gas were at Costco compared to basically anywhere else. You could still get a huge food court pizza for the same low mainland price. Also, like a previous poster mentioned, lots of cool and tasty Hawaiian only things there like spicy ahi jerky (omg...).
The only thing that annoys me about Costco is how items will disappear suddenly, either temporarily or permanently, with no real notice.
hi for oroweat country buttermilk bread does anyone know when costco get those bread in? so I can get it as fresh as I can? like is there a certain day of the week they get it or it's random. I order from google express and it often expire in 2,3 days. thanks for the help
Does shopping at Sam's or Costco save you a good amount of money? Is it really worth getting a membership vs shopping at Wal-mart or like SaveAlot? What are some of the reasons you shop there or don't?
for one person probably not, otherwise there are many reasons. I can't imagine life without our Sam's card. We go about once a month. They have meats cheaper than any quality grocery store; paper products are worth the cost of them membership alone. This goes for almost all staples and you do not have to buy the canned goods that come in huge amounts ; We leave those for people with large families. The secret is knowing prices and knowing what to buy and not buy.
Didn't realize the OP posted years ago, but what I am saying still holds true even though she got her answer way before today. I will add, i know a lot of people are loyal to Sam's over Costco and visa versa. We used to have both, say very little difference except Costco stores seemed less crowded. Sometime one will have brands other does not. We did give up our Costco card only because we didn't need both and had belonged to Sam's longer. Now living in Wal Mart land we do even have Costco.
hi for oroweat country buttermilk bread does anyone know when costco get those bread in? so I can get it as fresh as I can? like is there a certain day of the week they get it or it's random. I order from google express and it often expire in 2,3 days. thanks for the help
you need to check with the local Costco about their delivery schedule, there isn't going to be a single answer across the country.
I love Costco. I bought my mother a membership once one opened up near her house, I love it so much.
Some of the bigger benefits are not grocery related - rather their tire and vision centers, travel desk, pharmacy, gas station (almost always much cheaper where I am), the fact that they will take basically anything back if you don't like it, no questions asked. Bought a cruise from Costco and were surprised on the ship when we were told that our package came with previously unmentioned onboard credits in addition to the ones we did know about!
One of the more interesting surprises during our trip to Hawaii was how cheap food and gas were at Costco compared to basically anywhere else. You could still get a huge food court pizza for the same low mainland price. Also, like a previous poster mentioned, lots of cool and tasty Hawaiian only things there like spicy ahi jerky (omg...).
The only thing that annoys me about Costco is how items will disappear suddenly, either temporarily or permanently, with no real notice.
All good things to keep in mind/ I love Costco too!!
Edited to add:
PS
although I have been a member for over 10 years I just started buying their steaks- normally I try to get meat on sale at the local grocer, its a little cheaper- well this past year I saw NY strip for $5.99/lb which is pretty competitive and thought I would give it a try--
wow even though it was Choice grade not Prime (they sell the restaurant grade Prime cuts too)- so much more marbled and tender than the same "Choice" grades that I ever got at my local supermarket- Safeway or Fred Meyers-
now I keep a package of these in the freezer ....
Last edited by CAjerseychick; 01-09-2017 at 08:28 PM..
Reason: more info
We love Costco (their employees are actually paid a living wage and offered good benefits that they can afford) and find it useful even for a household with 3 adults.
Gas is about $0.20/gallon cheaper than anywhere else in town. It's the only place we all buy gas and it happens to be in our path to/from work. Their paper towels are highly rated by consumer testing and I like the ones they have now with the smaller "select a size" sheets, very economical compared to the brand names. The toilet paper is a bit more flimsy than the brand names but is rated to dissolve well in septics which is important to us. Our Costco has a fair amount of organic fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices (vs Whole Foods or other organic markets). We always get a $4.99 rotisserie chicken. They are plump 3 pound chickens. $1/dozen for eggs is pretty reasonable in our neck of the woods. I can't buy Kleenex cheaper anywhere else in town and we seem to go through a lot of Kleenex around here for some reason. I used to buy milk at Costco but 2 gallons just doesn't get used up as quickly anymore...but the price always beat the grocery stores.
Contact lenses are cheaper than any of our eye docs charge. All of our maintenance prescriptions are at Costco because I have price checked and found them to be the cheapest. You may get enough ibuprofen to last until the next apocalypse but they don't go bad if stored properly.
The concierge service (tech services) for electronics can't be beat. And they have a great return policy on everything, with electronics being a little less generous but understandable.
I find it is an advantage to go with a list and stick to it as there are plenty of goodies to fill up the basket. On the other hand, eventually everyone will need a mattress set, tv, laptop, blender, iron, towels, blankets, rugs. And their prices, if you watch the sales are excellent. We keep the executive membership so that we get a cash back reward. Then we use that rewards check towards any big ticket items we may need that year.
Lastly, the cost of a hot dog and soda hasn't changed in the 30 years of our membership...$1.50.
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