Any Costco members - is it worth it?

When I bought my quikjack lift, the savings covered the membership and it was delivered free. We tend to shop for the sales. Cascade pods at 15 cents each, we bought the limit. Love the Kirtland Orange Juice. And DW loves the paper towels. Caught Vanilla extract on half price, and that stuff and cheap.

Priced my Michelin LTX's there but Discount Tire beat them.

But most important is the Footlong Meal in the food court.

 

I live in a small AZ town of about 7,000 people and right next to another town of 13,000 people. When we moved here 6 years ago I was just pleased there is a Home Depot for all of my remodeling projects. For grocery stores we have Brawlmart, (large % of PD calls are there), Safeway, Fry's and Food City. We get most of our meat from Safeway as they have the best cuts and selection. We have a Dollar General about a block from us where we pick up a lot of get by items like milk during the week. The dollar store has quite a few groceries and they are decent priced if not lower than the other stores.

 

Howd that TurboTax work out for you……

 

Pretty good. I try to get it at one the warehouses every year be it bjs,sams or costco. Usually save $10 with the instant rebate.

 

Oh I forgot to add our “membership” made shipping free and a $500 reduced price on our massive wooden swing set we put up in 2019.
The non member price was $600 shipping because it was freight and on three pallets.

 

EXECUTIVE MEMBERS UNITE !!!!

 

Paper products etc as many have mentioned + free shipping from their online shop make it worth it, imo.

if you don’t have a local butcher, and/or farmers market, take a yeti and load up. Best meat and produce over any regional grocery chain. Also well worth the membership. At that distance, I wouldn’t sign up specifically for gas savings, but take advantage if you’re gonna make trips there.

 

Kirkland brand seltzer water
Kirkland baby wipes

so op joining the cool kids Club now ?

 

Our nearest Costco is 3 to 4 hour drive.

Every year our executive Costco membership is free, and with there cash back program we get extra money back on top of paying for it for using Costco.

We buy almost everything there , you can shop online we buy appliances , tvs, large items , then we do 4 or 5 trips year to the city and buy in bulk. Pretty much everything for the house like paper towel, toilet paper, dishwasher soap ,
Well worth it. Check your local online shop you may be able to get grocery delivery and other perks online if your in a big city.

If I was close I'd get gas there as well.

It's nice to buy from somewhere the employees are paid well, that give extra warranty on items and takes abything back.

 

Costco is great. We’re executive members and use the Costco credit card giving us 4% cash back on our purchases there. We make runs every other week. This easily pays for the membership on its own. Our growing kids have bottomless pits for stomachs so we burn thru a lot of food. A food vacuum sealer and a garage freezer will serve you well with the membership.

The optometry dept is loads cheaper. I hear good this about their hearing aids. The Kirkland brand baby wipes are better than all the other brands. Great price on meats, produce, and dairy. I’ve purchased several sets of tires and large appliances from them and have been very satisfied. They’ll also accept almost all returns.
https://abc7.com/woman-returns-dead-tree-to-costco-christmas-santa-clarita/2929173/

That said, there is a Costco etiquette:
Mind your cart
Don’t block intersections
Don’t stop in the middle of the pathway
Pull off to the side when looking at an item.

A vote for Costco here.

 

I really hope a Costco sub thread is created from this so we can share deals. My family used to make fun of me for my affinity to Costco till they as well started shopping there.

 

You drive a truck that gets 15 mpg and you are wringing your hands about spending $60 on an annual Costco membership? Too funny. Yeah the gas is cheaper and it is “Top Tier”, but I rarely buy it because I am not willing to wait 5-6 cars deep in line to do so. I gladly pay an extra $2 a tank for no waiting at the shell station about 1/4 mile away. All that said, huge Costco fan, both buying their products and Stock.

 

I try to make smart decisions. I drive a Tundra for its known reliability not its fuel mileage. I have a chest freezer in my house but also limited pantry storage and there are just two of us. If Costco wasn't 40 miles away over a mountain pass it would be an easy decision to join.

 

I have a Costco on my way home. Convenient

Gas is cheap. I have to drink the top-shelf octane, so this helps.

It's great for getting mondo-sized supplies for my biz. Water, Gatorade, snacks, etc.
Kirkland motor oil is $37 for 10qts. good stuff

I'm not sure if a 40 mile drive would be worth it.


main diff for me is the class of people. Walmart vs Costco.


they also have some very decent PRIME cuts of moo-cow.

 

$60 membership would mean you’d have to save an average of $5 a month to break even.

Veterans get a $20 gift card when you sign up. So as long as my wife and I save $3.33 a month we break even.

We buy a lot there but still go to HyVee, WalMart, etc. for certain things as well.

 

If there’s not a convenient one you can swing by front time to time I wouldn’t bother.

 

Long story short I bought a "Mr Cool" mini split for the work shed but it failed to heat. After a month of back and forth with their customer service they basically said it was on me. The hell it is, I packed it back up and put it on the truck to take back to Costco. I got it from them, it was half the price of a Samsung unit with the same specs. Costco delivered it for free, they took it back no questions asked. I got the Samsung unit installed by local HAVC guys and couldn't be happier.

Yeah, we love it. I'm 1-1.5 hour away from Costco in any direction but we have most of our purchases delivered, for free. We'll road trip one day to get our frozen/fresh stuff we need that's maybe one a month. If you have a lot of stuff shipped it'll pay for itself.

 

I buy a lot of meat and eggs, and my storage unit is just down the road from their warehouse. I go to both about once a month, so it's worth it for me.

 

Yeah I don't get that, I mean what are you going to get between the check out and the door?

Side story to that, I bought a TV from them once, loaded in the back seat of the truck. I didn't notice but the receipt must have blew out into the parking lot. Short while later I get a hand written note in the mail from the manager of that store with the receipt, someone found it in the parking lot and took it to them. He took the time to look up the order and mail me the receipt in case we had any issue with the TV and needed to return it.
Their customer service is top notch for sure.

 

Family of five here. Went from having a Costco 11 miles away to around 30 miles away. I go once every three months. But I buy enough to carry me through those months. I buy bulk necessities, living in a mountain town everything cost more so i take the drive to the closest city. We have two fridges and a freezer chest. I hate grocery shopping weekly. To me it's worth it. Some items I buy Costco online but have to deal with the ton of cardboard boxes to dispose.

 

Etiquette...? Just moved from Southern California and everyone does exactly opposite of what you posted i just started plowing through people because no one listens to "excuse me". Where I'm at now is a retirement area so not as rude but slower paced folks.

 

Costco is run by a bunch of crooks that have devised a marketing strategy that successfully relieves me of no less than $200 every visit
Their business model is tough to beat - 10% profit on goods, memberships are profit gravy.
We tried Sams Club too, but Costco was cleaner and better managed.
Stock does well and pays a good dividend , plus where else can you get a rotisserie chicken for $6?

 

With a trial membership can you just go in and look around or can you purchase? It does sound like getting my money back on my membership wouldn't be a huge deal if I didn't use it.

Also what's up with the indoor parking, is it only for the premium members or just for loading your vehicle. Our nearest store would be in Prescott, AZ.

 

Why not just buy a membership and try it out, if you don't like it just cancel. Just me and my wife at home now and we have one but our store is only 15 miles away.

 

I have an executive membership and it's worth it for me. However, I live less than 10 miles from 2 Costcos. I'm not sure it would be worth it if I had to drive 40 miles.

 

If you can buy in bulk and not waste it, you have a pick-up truck. Load in some coolers and make a day of it.

 

Sorry, but that is really dumb. They are checking the receipt for double billed items. They only are scanning for places where you bought two of the same thing, to make sure you actually bought two.

 

Not a Costco fan solely because the one in our area is an absolute madhouse all the time. I've been in twice (snuck in once - they never carded me at the door, and once with a friend who was a member). Product and store was nice enough, but too damn many people stuffed inside (and outside waiting to get in)! Parking lot is always jammed when I drive by. Basically, I found nothing in there worth battling "Black Friday" type crowds for on a Tuesday in mid June. lol I'll pay more somewhere else where I can "get in, get out, and get on with my life".

Not Costcos fault, I guess, but it's just not an environment / shopping experience I enjoy.