Costco

[Jess from VA]

I don't go there as much as I used to.  I live alone and don't need to be buying the giant food quantities they sell (except big boneless skinless chicken breast packs).  My last impulse buy of good all beef hotdogs will eventually go in the trash.

I got my good big Honda generator there, and a couple pieces of nice furniture and lazyboy chair and some other big things, but I need no more of that stuff.

But I get bored (in days of rain) and go a few times a year just to wander around and look.

I thought to go at opening Sun morning, but so did everyone else.

There's almost no employees around to help you find anything.

Then I remembered what I did need; one of those all heavy cotton 6-packs of men's crew neck Tshirts.  I've been wearing those for years, but all I have left is a few rag bag condition ones for yard work.  And I always go a size up for comfort, so now that I'm a medium, I got large, and they are a perfect fit.

But I was disappointed to discover they are no longer heavyweight cotton.  I got one of my almost decent old ones out and though washed and worn many times, there's no mistaking the difference.  They're still nice T shirts and I'm going to refrain from doing yard and other work in them.

I suppose it's to be expected these days, smaller quantites (a half gallon of ice cream is no longer a half gallon), cheaper quality, yada, and the same or higher prices.

And with only those T shirts, I made it through self checkout without waiting behind long lines of piled-high shopping carts.  

I should know better than going down there on weekends, even at opening.

Two solid days of rain and thunderstorms and I'm bored sh!tless.  So just for some excitement, they just issued a Tornado watch for NoVA.  Also in West Virginia Berkley and Jefferson Counties.   Marvelous.  

  

[Serk]

We used to go to CostCo a LOT, but kept getting less and less stuff there, eventually let our membership expire...

No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded! 

(That, and some of their corporate political policies I found rather distasteful. But mostly the crowds.)

[f6john]

Please tell me where you can go and not be in a crowd???

[Jess from VA]

Please tell me where you can go and not be in a crowd???

Well John, when I hit Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, or my big Wegmans grocery store at or near opening (6am) on weekdays, it's never crowded.  I consult my list, go around and get my stuff and done.  The internet will even tell you that some weekdays are better than others (like Tues, Wed) (maybe even for your own particular local area).

Also, all grocery stores do most all their restocking right after the weekend crowds, so produce is new and freshest in the early weekdays. 

I just about never go shopping for anything on the weekends, unless I'm working on something and need it right now.  Like I needed one quart of oil for my generator midday weekend, so I went to Auto Parts around the corner to avoid the cheaper big box (crowded) stores.  I didn't care what it cost.

Costco doesn't open until 10, and that's another reason I rarely go there, and should have known better on a Sunday.  It was a complete zoo at 10:15. 

Fairfax County VA (where I live) population is around 1.2 million (the highest of any county in Virginia) which is a lot of humanoids that I do my best to avoid in stores and on the roads. 

Now motorcycle riding is best on weekends.  If I ride on a workday and am not home by 3:30PM, I am screwed. 

Some people do stuff at night.  Not me.

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

I don't have a Costco close to me, but we have BJ's Wholesale (our local warehouse store). Back when my kid was a young'un, we used to buy diapers and wipes there, because they were less expensive in bulk. We also used to buy other things, since we were there.
A while back, I let our membership slide because we weren't going very often anymore.  We actually went yesterday, as my wife and I thought it would be good to start buying meats in bulk and portion/freeze as needed to try to lower the cost of meat (beef, mostly). Knowing what prices in our local grocery stores are, I was kind of surprised to see no price differences with buying large packages there. Kind of took the point out of us going there, but we still somehow ended up spending about $300. I remember when $300 would be like 3 cart's worth of stuff. Sure isn't anymore.

[Jess from VA]

I don't love food shopping, so I also buy meat (chicken and ham, not beef) in larger quantities, parse it out on the cutting board making single guy meals to freezer bags, then boxed in the freezer.  You just have to remember to move tomorrows food out from freezer to fridge the night before. The Cod already comes parsed out to single servings. 

Interestingly, a packed freezer uses less power, but a packed fridge (to the point of blocking circulation) uses more power. 

Leaving the Costco today with only a 6-pack of Tshirts was a first.   

[scooperhsd]

Sam's Club is much the same. WE maintain our membership there (Plus Membership) mostly for using the pharmacy, LOVE their rotiseray chickens (we get 3-5 meals out of one - you can't buy raw chicken and cook it for what they charge) and some items that we like to get in bulk (36 pack of Diet Pepsi for me, a few other things). I'd have to lookup where our nearest Costco is located.

[cookiedough]

we have 3 costco's within 35 miles from my house is GREAT,  the closest one is 15 miles north and is less crowded smaller town than Madison WI and Sun Prairie.  NEVER going back to Sun Prairie one eastside of Madison is CRAZY INSANE busy on weekends and NO parking spots left on weekends EVER LONG lines, so  one in middleton is also super busy but doable on weekends.  I refuse to spend 30 minutes in checkout line for a few items in sun prairie area Costco one.

However, we do LOVE shopping at costco found some GREAT buys but like most, spend WAY WAY too much money their per year on stuff that although are GREAT buys, do NOT really need.  big bag of lemons or limes are great buy and so are a lot of the frozen items like pizzas and costco french fries 4 lb. bag for only like 6 bucks is a STEAL and are 2x's better than ore ida french fries.    Their 1lb. pkgs sealed chicken breasts are hard to beat and just got back on saturday got 5 bucks off per pkg of boneless pork loin roasts ended up being like 1.50 per lb. GREAT buy bought 2 large packages enough to make for 2 of us 8 meals easily. 

to top it all off, costco gas, which we use a ton of gas weekly between my wife and I use up about 70 bucks of gas per week  we save about 10 cents off per gallon using costco gas vs. any other in the area.  that alone per year is worth the executive membership costco level.  5% cash back on gas is great and I think 2% back on all costco purchases is good as well we get a yearly check of at least 300 bucks to spend at costco and even if we spend 100 bucks per outing, they give us back 200 cash of that 300 cash back. 

their clothing is hit or miss some good, some terrible, but me being XXL is very hard to find clothing their that fits most male clothes only go to XXL and even that size is rare and runs small usually.  for pizza, chicken, pork, ketchup, olive oil, maple syrup, avocado oil, fries etc. etc. no where else can touch their pricing.  Their bacon use to be under 4 bucks per lb. but now over 5 bucks per lb. not that great of deal anymore at all, but VERY good quality bacon.  their snack pricing is hard to beat in terms of huge jar of m&ms if on sale or any type of nuts like I love pecans, macadami nuts, cashews, great deals.

yah u can tell we go near weekly to costco since drive right by daily the one going to and from work and that one is smaller town so less people there always vs. other 2 stores.  NO idea why they need 3 costcos within 15 miles from each other, but the closest one is GREAT for all my gas and a lot of food purchases.

[ridingron]

The most expensive vehicle to drive is a Costco shopping cart.   

[Hook#3287]

Just like Ken, Bj's Wholesale is closer than Costco, and there's more of them semi-near by.

Plus their building a new one closer to me.

At one time a had memberships at both and I felt Costco had just slightly better food product and BJ's had better stuff.

I usually hit BJ's once a month after my regular scheduled meetings, getting there on Wednesday's around 3pm.  Usually not busy at all and restock from weekend is mostly done.

I always think I don't really need any thing and also always spend over $200.00 

I try to schedule rotisserie chicken for dinner that night.

I also bought prescription glasses once and that turned out well, but now I go to a local optometrist to support local business.

Now if they sold Honda motorcycles.........

[Serk]

Evidently BJ's is moving into Texas, just found out they're about to build one very close to me.

Unlike CostCo hoping they'll stay out of politics, and I'll give 'em a try and see how they are...

[f6john]

I’ll probably keep going to Costco for the hotdogs and drink for a $1.50 and a slice of pizza for $1.99 if I’m extra hungry! Please don’t give me details on their politics, might give me indigestion.

[LadyDraco]

There  are  no Costco's  with in  100 miles  of  the farm
Sam's club is, I hate  Sam's  club

[cookiedough]

The most expensive vehicle to drive is a Costco shopping cart.   

exactly right on that,  we try since we go near weekly to costco so convenient, to NOT buy much more than we went in the store to buy in the first place, but that rarely happens.  I think in well over 200 trips there,  we came out ONLY 2x's with nothing in our shopping cart.  Usually bill is over 100 bucks per outing and doing that surely EVERY 2 weeks is not cheap.  Usually is on food though or snacks, yet another thing my body does not need in excess of weekly either..

[Hook#3287]

Evidently BJ's is moving into Texas, just found out they're about to build one very close to me.

Unlike CostCo hoping they'll stay out of politics, and I'll give 'em a try and see how they are...

I've never seen any political statements from or pride merchandise in, BJ's Wholesale Club.

Maybe I missed it or just ignored it, but don't recollect it.

[Robert]

The most expensive vehicle to drive is a Costco shopping cart.   

 

[3fan4life]

We had a Sam's Club membership for several years, it was a perk from where the spousal unit worked at the time.

When she changed jobs we didn't keep it up.

I didn't find them to be much cheaper than Walmart and I'm opposed to paying a fee just to shop somewhere.

They built a BJ's in town a few years ago, I've never stepped a foot in it.

There isn't a Costco within 100 miles.

[bassman]

FWIW....

I’ve had all three memberships - Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s.   Finally dropped Costco a couple of years ago when BJ’s opened a club nearby and they offer Veterans discounts on their memberships.  I got their credit card/membership and I get $.15/gal discount on our gas and usually the lines are relatively short and move pretty fast unlike Costco.

Costco:  Great products; good prices; usually crowded and long lines whenever I went; recall them opening around 10:00AM; no self check out (although I heard they may try to add that back after an unsuccessful try a couple of years ago); great hot dogs and pizza; $5 chickens, pharmacy; optical

Sam’s:  Great products; good prices; relatively short lines and not too crowded because they open around 7:30 or 8:00AM for prime members; self check-out and if there are more than 1-2 people ahead of me I opt for using their phone app and breeze through; gas lines are usually fast when I go in the mornings; great hot dogs and pizza; $5 chickens; pharmacy (typically get my annual vaccines here); optical

BJ’s:  Great products; good prices, almost always use self-checkout but also have phone app available and have never used checkout lanes with attendants; gas lines usually short and fast when I visit and the few times I have waited in the long lines they moved pretty quickly; bad hot dogs and no pizza; $5 PURDUE chickens; NO pharmacy; optical.  One thing I DON’T like about BJ’s is they have coupons you have to go online or their app to “CLIP” and put into your account to get the discount.  Not always as some store discounts are automatically included when offered.  Costco/Sam’s does a much better job of advertising/displaying their sale prices; open probably 7:00AM; as mentioned above they offer a Veterans discount on memberships.

I always have enough savings at both Sam’s / Bj’s to cover and exceed my annual memberships but seldom did at Costco because I didn’t use them as often due to crowds and opening times.  If there is a particular item I might need at Costco I have family members who can pick it up for me.  I reciprocate by picking up items from BJ’s for them that are not carried at Costco.

All stores have unique items not carried by other stores.  I think Costco carries more high end items but for the common items i.e.,toilet paper paper towels, Kleenex we prefer Sam’s / BJ’s brands.

It’s all personal, but for us, BJ’s and Sam’s better fits our needs and MY sanity relative to crowds.

I SELDOM go on weekends !!!

[bassman]

Just read where Costco may be opening stores and whole hour earlier (9:00am vs 10:00am) for it's "prime" members.

[Oss]

we rent cars for vacation thru BJ's

When we were in Seattle the car (an Altima) for 3 days was less than the price of Uber to my son's house and back

Alamo was the supplier that trip

I hear their prices on some travel is also pretty good

Bonnie uses the instacart delivery about once a month or so

[scooperhsd]

When we were in Raleigh NC, We were members at BJ's as well as Sam's Club. One plus of BJ's (at the time) was they has a deli counter. We would get Lebanon Bologna there. Other than that - not too much difference between Sam's an BJ's.we keep a Plus membership at Sam's because there have been times that was the cheapest we could get prescriptions at.