Current Events > Is COSTCO the most overrated grocery store chain in America?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In my childhood I used to go grocery shopping at Costco with my parents every few weeks.

As an adult I havent stepped foot in a Costco. I dont find the membership fee worthwhile.

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Yes, you save money in per-unit costs by buying up large quantities at once. I guess it works if you have a large family to feed, but otherwise your food will be sitting in the freezer for months. Youll likely get sick of the frozen burritos, dumplings, whatever by the 20th package, no matter how tasty it was initially.

Because of the large boxes, its like moving houses every time you unload all the stuff from your truck to your home.

Food court is cheap but unhealthy, mediocre food. No one ever says Costco pizzas are the best in the world, its cheap because it tastes like cardboard.

FrEe SaMpLeS. A small taste of something isnt really enough to make a wise purchasing decision about buying 50 units. There are so many samples that were delicious at first taste but once you buy the real thing its not as good. And then you have to eat 50 more. You often end up buying things you dont need.

The vast majority of Costco shoppers dont shop enough to cover the opportunity costs of their recurring subscriptions. Thats why the company makes so much profit.

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I think the real reason yuppies love Costco so much is it tends to attract a wealthier clientele than Walmart or Target.

HEB

Overrated? I dont know if Id describe it that way. The Costcult doesnt talk about the store like its just a place with good deals on good products, they talk about it like its their child. Its weird as hell.

Store itself is alright.

Never been in one. It's one of those membership type places that sell a lot of stuff in bulk right? Kind of like what Sam's Club copied? There isn't even one in my immediate area. So I can't form an opinion but for a single person like me I don't see any appeal over my 4 options in a small town of 10,000 people a few miles down the highway.

You're not necessarily wrong about food but they sell more than food.

They're pretty solid for household products and toiletries and whatnot, especially if you want to get enough to not worry about running out for a while.

Theyre paying me 45 an hour today to push carts around a parking lot. I'd say they're appropriately rated.

Every grocery store sells paper products in bulk. Even CVS has giant toilet paper packs.

One thing I always make sure to have in the house is a bag of Kirkland frozen popcorn chicken. Its very cheap, quick to cook in the air fryer, and can be served in a lot of ways.

Costco pays me 1300-1500 a year minus the 200 dollar executive membership.

Nah, I hate to say it, but it's Trader Joe's.

I wouldn't know. There isn't a Costco anywhere near me.

i think so. i was surprised when i finally got a Costco membership last year as part of comp shopping ingredients and supplies for the mini cheesecake business i was making an attempt at starting up and found that the prices on things i needed weren't any better than Smart & Final, or in a few cases even Aldi and Walmart. when the membership renewal came up earlier this year, i just didn't renew. i spent the entirety of the $50 digital gift card i got for signing up on food court pizza. which was good, tbf.

Sorozone posted...

Nah, I hate to say it, but it's Trader Joe's.

I have only been in there one time. I don't get the hype. It is a super small store. Not even worth comparing to actual sized grocery stores where I live. The one I was in isn't even as big as the cold section at my normal grocery store let alone the rest of the store.

Yadoken posted...

Costco pays me 1300-1500 a year minus the 200 dollar executive membership.

pays you how?

I eat the cheap hotdogs for lunch fairly regularly

DoesntMatter posted...

pays you how?

I'm assuming some kind of cash back card through purchases there.

Yeah Costco has a great cashback CC.

keep costco's name out of your mouth

It's not even a grocery store, but it's surely not overrated in a negative sense. You buy bulk items at a lower price. The membership fees (that is annual) ensures that they can keep their prices lower. You also get discounted services with the pharmacy, vision and tire maintenance. On top of that, they will always sell you gas at the lowest cost compared to the competition. This is all on the consumer side.

If you happen to be a worker there, they're considered to be one of the best corps to work with. They will work you hard, but they pay handsomely well and offer great benefits to the average worker.

Them being overrated is a positive to me.

The quantities arent that large. Youre often buying 8 units of something that comes in 4 units at a regular store, not 20 or 50. Or just a larger single bag of chips that is outright cheaper than a smaller bag elsewhere.

Then theres tons of single clothing items and other household things that are good deals.

With my son at college and my husband in the Navy, its mostly my daughter and I at home now, but I/we still love Costco. I buy a lot more than groceries there.

Sorozone posted...

Nah, I hate to say it, but it's Trader Joe's.

Id go to Trader Joes a lot more often if their parking lots werent always such a disaster zone.

This is probably a uniquely East Coast problem for them though.

BloodyBenten posted...

Id go to Trader Joes a lot more often if their parking lots werent always such a disaster zone.

This is probably a uniquely East Coast problem for them though.

Nah I've been to T Joes in the midwest, southwest and west coast. They all have pretty small parking lots unless they are in an outlet mall type of situation.

And I only say Trader Joe's because while they have a select few items I love, it's just that a select few. All the other stuff is either overpriced, or I can find better alternatives elsewhere.

No way. They are great, and fairly rated. Great for customers, great for employees, and not so profit driven they put pennies and nickels over quality. 10/10 really miss the one I used to live by and hope to move somewhere with a coatco again soon.

Unknown5uspect posted...

Theyre paying me 45 an hour today to push carts around a parking lot. I'd say they're appropriately rated.

Yeah, they are a company that pays time and a half for working Sundays. And after a certain amount of time working employees get bonuses twice a year.

I like shopping at a store that treats their employees well.

Sorozone posted...

Nah, I hate to say it, but it's Trader Joe's.

could be, but its probably Aldi the quality at half of them is crap(for anything fresh)

Unknown5uspect posted...

Theyre paying me 45 an hour today to push carts around a parking lot. I'd say they're appropriately rated.

Is that your only/primary responsibility or do you usually do other types of work too? Whats the official job title or classification of a shopping cart pusher?

They opened up one near me in Aus and they are great. Dunno the American disdain for them

Rika_Furude posted...

They opened up one near me in Aus and they are great. Dunno the American disdain for them

There isnt; most of us love Costco.

costco is awesome. go shop at walmart haters, we don't want you in our store

Rika_Furude posted...

They opened up one near me in Aus and they are great. Dunno the American disdain for them

Were just jealous that the food courts are all better outside the US.

Costco is worse than Walmart ever was about being overcrowded. They have to be violating a billion fire occupancy codes.

Um, why are we supposed to hate Costco?

My family had a Costco membership for a few years because it was closer to us than Sam's Club, but eventually we realized that we didn't like enough of the products they carried to buy them and were basically just paying the membership for toilet paper and bottled water (my parents were on a HUGE bottled water kick that I finally managed to break them of)

I got us a new Sam's Club membership last October because they had a promotion that made it really cheap, and we haven't been back to Costco since. It's about twice as long a drive to get to Sam's but there are so many more things there that we ACTUALLY buy, it feels like we're getting a lot more value out of the membership.

Humble_Novice posted...

Um, why are we supposed to hate Costco?

You're not supposed to have strong opinions about grocery store chains.

BloodyBenten posted...

You're not supposed to have strong opinions about grocery store chains.

Where I live in the Midwest in the middle of cornfields and cow pastures one of the subjects that brings out the STRONGEST opinions is debating about local grocery store chain preference. The Hy-Vee vs Fareway (more localized chains) vs Wal-Mart vs Aldi will never die. The older we get the more fiercely it gets debated haha.

People seriously have super strong opinions on this here.

Aldi
Now there's a good contender for most overrated.

Not even close, you just have to use it for what it is and remember that they aren't the answer to everything.

I feel like too many people who question the value of Costco somehow think that it will always be superior to its competitors like Wal-Mart for every product every month... just no.

You have to look for a good deal (they also have many essentials for extremely reasonable prices). The difference with Costco is that when you find a good deal you are buying that shit in bulk.

TheShadowViper posted...

You have to look for a good deal (they also have many essentials for extremely reasonable prices). The difference with Costco is that when you find a good deal you are buying that shit in bulk.

AllCapsKat will always provide the details on the best deals.

Of course it isn't. They offer quantity at cost.

No one told you you have to shop there for everything, just what makes sense to buy in bulk. If you are a single, just get things that'll either last you a long time, or you know that you go through a lot of.

Its amazing for stuff like cat litter, paper towels, etc.

Buying in bulk isn't meant to be the ideal for everything. You should still go to other stores for other things. Go by your situation and what you need.

iGenesis posted...

Is that your only/primary responsibility or do you usually do other types of work too? Whats the official job title or classification of a shopping cart pusher?

Technically I'm a "front end assistant" but no my responsibility is almost exclusively pushing carts in the lot. Very rarely will I have to do something else like bring messed up merch or returns to RTV.

I specified 45 an hour today because Sunday gives me time and a half.

Costco saves us so much money. Diapers, meat, paper products, and some produce are such good deals. Plus calling it bulk is misleading since they sell a lot of things in very reasonable quantity packages

also calling it a grocery store is silly. You can save a bunch of money on video games and accessories too. They sell game store gift cards at 10% off year round and they dont stock a lot of games but what they do stock is ~15% off new. Every new switch game Ive gotten this year was $53 at launch

and at the very least if you want to make your membership fee back right away they sell restaurant gift cards at $80 for $100. Local restaurants too

not too mention the pizza. Their gigantic whole pizzas are $10great for feeding a party or event

Costco isn't a grocery store. It's a big box warehouse membership club.

And just as a single point of comparison we buy organic carrots in a 10-pound bag at Costco for $5.49. $5.49 at the cheapest local grocery store is the price for a 5-pound bag

so on many foods youre paying as little as half the price

I've only been in a Costco twice (maybe three times) in my life.

I don't really understand the appeal unless you have a large family, as the bulk quantities are *ENORMOUS*. Like a 24-pack of Campbell's tomato soup. I mean, seriously, a 24-pack of all the same kind of soup?

How about a 24-pack of six different kinds of soup, meaning you get four of each?

Or the 240-count bags of chicken nuggets. I mean the bag is about half the size of your freezer... in one go.

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I liked BJs much better, as the bulk sizes were still bulk, but nowhere near as big as CostCo's bulk sizes.

Tom_Joad posted...

I've only been in a Costco twice (maybe three times) in my life.

I don't really understand the appeal unless you have a large family, as the bulk quantities are *ENORMOUS*. Like a 24-pack of Campbell's tomato soup. I mean, seriously, a 24-pack of all the same kind of soup?

How about a 24-pack of six different kinds of soup, meaning you get four of each?

Or the 240-count bags of chicken nuggets. I mean the bag is about half the size of your freezer... in one go.

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I liked BJs much better, as the bulk sizes were still bulk, but nowhere near as big as CostCo's bulk sizes.

We're a family of four and we take down one of those bags of frozen chicken in a month easily.

Tom_Joad posted...

I've only been in a Costco twice (maybe three times) in my life.

I don't really understand the appeal unless you have a large family, as the bulk quantities are *ENORMOUS*. Like a 24-pack of Campbell's tomato soup. I mean, seriously, a 24-pack of all the same kind of soup?

How about a 24-pack of six different kinds of soup, meaning you get four of each?

Or the 240-count bags of chicken nuggets. I mean the bag is about half the size of your freezer... in one go.

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I liked BJs much better, as the bulk sizes were still bulk, but nowhere near as big as CostCo's bulk sizes.

There are a ton of things at Costco that are sold in 6-8 packs or even fewer

They don't just sell food. They sell clothes, games, utilities.. gas. I save a ton on gas.

I dont really have an opinion on Costco good or bad. I hear more about Sams Club around here for the membership type stores.

Turbam posted...

HEB

^ This is just blasphemy though.

The only thing that still regularly annoys me for sizes are the fresh danishes

I dont need two fucking packs!