Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Costco has a 90% renewal rate. But it has a 10% non-renewal rate. I happen to be in the 10% who did the analysis, and decided it was not worth the time and aggravation to save some money.
I get back my membership fee just with what I save on quart jars of pickled herring - Costco is ~$5 and the grocery store is ~$9. And I get my rebate on my Costco Amex which also more than covers my member fee.
I'm making money! :-)
I'm such a Costco nerd - I like to see what's in the Business Costcos - mmmm big deep fryer! Giant stainless salad bowls! World's biggest roll of aluminum foil! They must be putting the crimp in traditional restaurant supply stores.
Don't make my rookie mistake from ~20 years ago "whoa that's a low price - must be a mistake - better stock up before they catch it...next few visits...sheesh when are they going to notice - better buy more...more visits later...must not be a mistake after all! <sheepish grin> Hey! Costco sells lamb too!
I could be imagining it but the bakery (boulangerie?) at the Quebec City Costco smelled *SO* incredibly good.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
24,445 posts, read 25,978,821 times
Reputation: 59788
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubygreta
Costco has a 90% renewal rate. But it has a 10% non-renewal rate. I happen to be in the 10% who did the analysis, and decided it was not worth the time and aggravation to save some money.
Well Costco's membership keep growing and growing. Your analysis works for the 10% minority. And you should have taken your defective device back and got a new one under warranty or got your money back.
I was going to start a new thread but I will ask here. Do any of the other Costco's still sell the sweet dinner rolls? They came in a large bag with about 18 rolls. They stopped at ours quite a few years ago because the Delaware Costco did not have a machine to make them, which is odd since they obviously make the sweet breakfast rolls. The dinner rolls were delicious and almost every cart would have at least two bags of rolls in them.
I know, I know. It just isn't close enough for regular shopping but i have a craving for crab meat to make my own crab cakes and I was told it is only $21 a lb.
Plus we just had delivered a new garage fridge and I need to fill it up with bargains.
So please list your favorite items to purchase at COSTCO. I guess each area has a slightly different inventory but still I'm interested in what you usually buy at COSTCO and why.
First, I'll note that I'm typing this reply on a computer purchased at Costco. I'm a very careful consumer so I shopped long and hard for the right computer for me at the right price. I could have ordered this same computer at this same price from Newegg, but Costco gave me an additional two years on my warranty and free customer tech support from an office in the USA. I also watch television on a VIZIO from Costco.
I use Costco's Amex card. Since I'm only buying for two, my annual rebate check is only between one and two hundred dollars, but that's more than enough to reimburse me for the cost of membership.
What do I charge on my card at Costco (which I pay off each month, so no interest)?
Gasoline for my car (The only place around here I can get it as cheaply is at my supermarket's station when I have enough points on my buyer's card to get an extra 10 cents per gallon off.)
Prescriptions (Having co-pays, I could get most prescriptionsfilled anywhere. But I take one thing my insurance won't cover and it's far cheaper at Costco than anywhere. Costco offers special drug pricing to customers who are uninsured. They also have BY FAR the best prices on OTC drugs and most vitamins and supplements.)
We get our eyeglasses at Costco and I got my mother hearing aids there. By far the best pricing on top-brand hearing aids and my mother loves her technician.
Books, calendars, DVDs (Choice is limited, but they are at minimum 20% cheaper than other outlets.)
Wine and liquor (Great selection and excellent pricing.)
Already prepared foods (Not inexpensive but an amazing selection. Caterers and restaurants are the main buyers of these foods. You can skip paying the middleman and cater your own party. I always go to Costco when I have company coming.)
Office supplies (Costco stocks everything a home business needs. I get super-cheap photo printing paper, computer software, and have my ink cartridges refilled.)
Home improvement items. Costco doesn't have everything, they have the popular things. If you need a fan, a new faucet, lawn furniture, a recliner, a toilet, kitchen appliances, Costco will have one or two of the most commonly purchased styles at a competitive price. For example, when I wanted to buy a KitchenAid mixer I priced it at Costco. Great price but they only had white and red. I got a custom color at the same price from QVC but had to have it sent to me.)
Sports equipment and luggage. (Great prices on golf balls, tennis rackets, etc., but again a limited selection.)
Clothes (You can get them cheaper elsewhere but Costco has good quality on utilitarian items like men's golf and dress shirts, sweat suits, bathing suits, pajamas, underwear, etc. I buy most of my mother's clothes at Costco ... she's into comfort, not style).
Groceries, paper products, cleaning products (This is a mixed bag. If you have a small family, are willing to read the sale ads for multiple markets, and clip coupons you can usually get things as cheaply or cheaper at regular supermarkets in normal sizes. But that's far more work than most people put into their shopping. So if you have room in your garage for 40 rolls of toilet paper, an industrial-sized container of Tide, freezer space for the 20 chicken breasts and big bags of frozen fruit, pantry space for 200 teabags, you'll save yourself work as well as cash by stocking up. If you have a coffee pot that takes those anti-environmental single-serve cups, Costco has a huge selection.)
Even though I am a frugal, comparison-shopping coupon-clipper, I still find some food and home items at Costco that I buy regularly. The $5 spit-roasted chicken (bigger and cheaper than the ones from supermarkets), soups in plastic quart containers (far better than canned and they freeze well), Cheerios (we eat a ton and it's rock-bottom priced), bagels (at my Costco they are supplied by Einsteins ... not as good as fresh ones, but they come already packed in freezer bags), biscotti and the other baked goods my elderly mother eats instead of normal food, fresh fruits and vegetables if they are a good buy and I have room in my freezer). Mushrooms and low-fat sliced Jarlsberg cheese are real bargains. I prefer the Kirkland anti-bacterial cleaning cloths to any other brand and they're cheaper. Most other cleaning I do with white vinegar and baking soda. I get industrial-sized containers at Costco.
I have a relative who has several rental properties, a self-employed wife, many cars, and several teenagers. He has a business membership at Costco and goes there every week. He buys tires and batteries for his cars; flooring, blinds, and HVAC systems for his houses; computers and office supplies; other electronics; his family's phones and their service contract; plus all the other things I mentioned above. His credit car rebates are in the thousands, not hundreds. In reality, he's Costco's target customer.
Have fun, but use discipline and don't overdo it. Costco's not going anywhere.
We shop at Costco at times since it is a 25 min drive from the house--and there is one about the same 25 min from our vacation house in FL--
we got business membership so our daughter could get a free card to shop there for diapers and other stuff
I don't mind the warehouse aspect of shopping there--I bring a cold bag to keep stuff a little cooler on the longer drive--but the fact that you need to buy in mass quantities means that some things aren't a good deal for us--it all depends on what your needs are...
We have friends with twin 17 yr old daughters--they have business membership and shop there almost exclusively for home stuff--
the girls of course refuse to wear any clothing from there...
I think location has bearing on how often and how much people want to shop at Costco-
personally I find it much better than Sam's--
don't have BJ's in DFW area where we live most of time and BJs in FL is farther than the Costco
I think part of the non-renewal might be from people who have lifestyle change--maybe older couple and one dies or couple who divorces or people who move to area w/o Costco--
and there are still those...
I always enjoy reading the Kate Shugak novels set in Alaska by Dana Stabenow--when Kate makes a trip "ourside the Park" where she lives to Juneau and goes to Costco for her semi-yearly shopping...
Now that is a shopping list
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
