Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Costco Memberships


I don’t own one and I don’t miss it.  Let me tell you why. 

I had a membership for many years.  My dad was a business owner (he’s retired now) and we all had one through him.  We paid him the $35 per card per year fee (at that time, it’s more now) and shopped our little hearts out.  As time went on it was obvious to me that when I shopped at Costco I spent a lot of money at one time and that made it harder to stay within my budget. 

My mother and I tried to economize by “splitting” things and I cut down the number of visits all together.  For a single mom with one child (at that time) the sheer quantity of each item didn’t make a lot of sense either.  It was too much.  I decided to conduct an experiment and see if I would miss my Costco card.  I didn’t renew it and I’ve been without one for well over 10 years now.  I don’t miss it at all. 

The other night I watched a one hour program called “The Costco Craze” on one of the news channels.  If you haven’t seen it, you should.  It lends some great perspective.  In that program, right off the bat, the recently retired CEO and founder of Costco readily admits that his customers way overspend and buy too much stuff. 

I had to admire his business philosophy, however, and the fact that compared to other retailers Costco does a lot of things wrong.  They are very successful because of it too.  If you have been in a Costco you know what I am talking about. 

The store itself isn’t pretty, it’s a warehouse.  There are no shelves to shop from.  The selection is extremely limited.  Costco stocks 4000 items.  Compared to the 100,000 items Walmart stocks that is a mere pittance.


Everything is stacked on pallets – in the cut open shipping boxes they come in!  There are no fancy displays even at the jewelry counters.  $1000 TVs sit on top of boxes of TVs. 

After you’ve maneuvered the store and loaded up your cart or flatbed then you have the pleasure of standing in line to check out – for a long time!  And all they do is scan and dump your purchases into another cart.  No bagging here.  If you are lucky, and quite often you are, some of your smaller items will be put into one of their cut open shipping boxes.


The biggest thing is that millions and millions of people pay Costco $50 to $110 per year just to be let in the door and they have a 90% renewal rate on existing memberships!  Those membership fees are their biggest profit maker. 

Costco claims to only have a 15% mark up on their products which is really admirable when you think of it.  Most retailers have at least a 50% mark up so that is a considerable savings.  They don’t accept coupons, unless they are Costco coupons.  I’m sure this is because of their low mark up. 

My parents and a couple of my friends have memberships and they are always happy to offer to pick up things for me at Costco if I want them too.  I appreciate it very much.  Over the years I have taken them up on their offer. 

My mother picks up a bucket of their Kirkland brand laundry soap for me about every 18 months.  It really lasts me that long!  She also gets me a 3 pound bag of yeast, which I keep in my freezer, about once a year.  The other day she grabbed me a 4½ pound bag of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips because she thought they were cheaper.  I did the math and they were 20¢ a bag less than the store brand I would have purchased otherwise. 

The biggest problem I have now is that I have a 4½ pound of chocolate chips in my pantry and a rabid sweet tooth.  She suggested I put them in the freezer.  I just looked at her in amazement and rolled my eyes.  Really, you don’t think I could eat a frozen chocolate chip?  Sheesh! 

Yes it is fun to shop at Costco and they have some really great products but for me it is a complete budget buster.  Many times I have wanted to renew my membership and head on in there but I don’t.  One Costco membership is nearly half my monthly grocery budget. 

I love Costco but I choose to stay away and I just don’t think about it.  How to you feel about Costco?  Do you shop there and do you think it saves you money or costs you money?


5 comments:

  1. We have "Sam's Club" here, but I think it's pretty much the same thing. I've never been inside nor bought a membership. I don't really think it would be worth it.

    I would also certainly eat frozen chocolate chips, too:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to have a Sam's Club here too until they closed it. I understand they are very similar but I never went in it either.

      Those chocolate chips are trouble! :)

      Delete
  2. We've never had a Costco membership. Years ago they let you shop there without one, but you paid a surcharge. We did that once or twice. Then we stumbled up a restaurant/institutional supply that sells to the public. They have all the large sizes of basics like grains and legumes, but none of the spendy temptations.
    Those chocolate chips would be trouble for me, too! When I was first married, I would stockpile all kids of groceries, including chocolate chips and potato chips, soda pop and cold cereal. I found we plowed through that stuff about 4 times faster than if I'd bought a modest amount each week. Since we learned that lesson, we only stockpile the non-tempting stuff. No one goes crazy for dried beans, tomato paste, whole wheat flour or vegetable oil!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a restaurant supply store here that sells to the public. I go there about three times a year for rice, pasta, ground beef, potatoes and onions. I love that place.

      I agree with you. We don't go after the oil and flour like the chips and junk so I just don't buy it to begin with. I don't need the temptation. Thanks for your comments! Enjoy your day!

      Delete
  3. We have had our Costco membership for years. We still love it even though we do overspend sometimes - But only on non-perishable items! What is the point of going to Walmart every other week and paying 2 times the price of let's say paper towels when I can get them for sooo much cheaper at Costco! In reality shopping at Costco helped us to pay down our debts! Just make sure to stick to your list!

    ReplyDelete

Your kind comments are always appreciated. I love hearing from you.

**Note: Comment Moderation has been turned on due to spam.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...