Add us to the list of Costco buyers who go through prodigious amounts of fresh fruit and veggies weekly.
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Joined Costco over the weekend. The Membership staff were nice enough but they really pushed the Executive Membership. We said no but that didn’t stop them from giving a 10 minute spiel from two different people.
I buy a lot of things at Costco, but never fruit. I can find lower prices and higher quality elsewhere, without being required to buy in bulk. While I could freeze Costco bananas or similar, I’d rather just buy fresh ones in the quantity that I’d prefer at a lower price elsewhere.
I was listening to the Acquired Costco podcast earlier today. It’s an interesting 3 hour history of how Sol Price and Fedmart led to what we currently know as Costco and less directly to Sam’s Club, Walmart, and others. They mentioned that Costco sets a maximum margin of 11% on their products. Some products have much lower margins, but none are more. Where I find Costco really shines is on products where alternative retailers have far higher markups than 11%.
An example is hearing aids, which are typically sold through audiologists at huge markups. Customers don’t have the option to buy a discounted version on Amazon or similar, as they need to be tuned to hearing loss by an audiologist When I was comparing hearing aids, a pair of Costco’s KS9’s were less than half the price of any comparable product i found, including if purchased through chains known for lower prices. It was less than 1/3 the price of comparable products sold through an independent audiologist. In addition to the low initial price, there are unlimited audiologist free calibration/customization appointments, unlimited free cleanings, unlimited free filters, … There is also a far superior warranty including things like replacing a hearing aid for reasons such as lost it, rather than broken. My Costco audiologist proactively suggested having all the internal parts replaced when near end of warranty to extend life. Choosing to buy hearing aids at Costco saved me thousands. It’s a completely different business model. This is also an area where Costco and Sam’s Club differ. Both offer hearing aid services, but the specific models, prices, and details of services differ.
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It is interesting because the one thing that I do not like at Costco are their bananas.
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I like the drugs at Sam’s Club. It’s pretty bad when the pharmacist knows you by your first name. 
I know friends who have purchased hiring aids from Costco. We are fortunate that our healthcare plan covers large chunk towards hearing aids every 3 years, and they reimburse more for an in network provider than for an OON provider like Costco. But the constant, multi year-long hassles with the incorrect insurance processing (to the tune of thousands of dollars) was crazy-making, and only because I am in healthcare and know full well how to read the EOBs and find the errors, and was willing to persist and challenge it until it was finally fixed and we were reimbursed for overpayments and that it was rectified. Many do not know how or have the patience to work it through.
FWIW, my providers have also advised to have the hearing aids sent back for a final “repair” before the warranty was up. They also provide loaners when the hearing aids were sent in.
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Oh wow! I bought a big two-pack of shredded mexican cheese for a party without realizing we already had some at home. Cheese didn’t get opened at all - but I am reluctant to try and return it. Don’t feel that it is “right”.
Separate it into ziplock bags and freeze it! You can make cheese enchiladas all summer long. 
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It definitely freezes. I always put the 2nd bag directly into freezer.
I bet it would be good in egg casserole. The recipe I use calls for 4c shredded cheddar.
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Oh - thanks for those suggestions. I will freeze the second bag at least.
I happen to be working on a jumbo bag of shredded cheddar in the fridge now. For a Friday party, I made a huge/7qt crockpot casserole with corkscrew pasta, tomatoes/sauce, sautéed peppers and onions, thawed frozen meatballs (had a jumbo bag in freezer)… and shredded cheddar. Alongside the crockpot I placed a bowl of shredded cheddar in case the guests wanted extra.
We are among the empty nesters who consume the berries and vegetables (and rotisserie chicken and fish and Lactaid etc.) from Costco. But, our food volume is a little higher as we probably have people over for dinner a couple of times a week. Go to dinner (Salmon grilled on a cedar plank, asparagus, Lundberg rice that we don’t get from Costco, white wine that we probably get from Costco).
Per @Data10’s comment on margins that are capped, I recall reading that the grocery products often have a margin of 2% to 3%. This is balanced by the fact that in 2023, they had $4.58 billion in revenue from membership fees. We were in the Costco liquor store and a winery was offering free samples. ShawWife asked if we got a discount for buying a case. He said, “At the price Costco charges, they could not afford to give you a case discount.”
As I mentioned earlier, ShawWife paid $199 plus tax for nice frames and lenses that would have cost roughly $1200 at our local store. Stunning.
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I listened to this Greedflation podcast yesterday, talked a lot about price increases for food (more than double the normal rate of price increase in past few years)
Per above posts, seems like Costo/Sam’s has a markup cap. But many suppliers seem to have milked the Covid crisis. There is a reason folks are leaning more to Costo/Sams deals
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We put off joining Costco for a long time. The nearest warehouse is an hour away, there are only 2 of us…
Last year we decided to join. My husband wanted to buy a water softener. Found out later that they didn’t serve our area, bought another brand at a local plumbing supply. So our initial thought didn’t turn out.
But we found that we bought a lot. We don’t go all the time but we are near a warehouse pretty often as it turns out.
Of course we buy the berries. And glasses. And a tv. A fancy fan. Chicken. We like the products we purchase. Toilet paper, softener salt, sparkling water. It’s not too much. Do I have 3 packages of dishwasher pods. Yes I do. But it hasn’t been that bad and I don’t have too much stored.
It was also nice when we visited my in laws. To stop by the Costco, buy the prepared food, a dessert and we can bring the party food without the fuss and mess. Instead of my mil making the meal (which she really can’t do) or porting a whole meal myself.
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The Acquired podcast I mentioned earlier goes in to more detail about many of these topics. According to the podcast 70% of profit margins comes from membership fess ,and 30% comes from retail. Costco’s revenue volume is extraordinary, even though % margins are small. At the time of the podcast, it was $230B in revenue, with higher revenue per sqft of space than any other wholesaler/discount store – more on par with Tiffany’s than Walmart. Having 10x more revenue per product than Walmart… or higher revenue per product than nearly any other seller allows Costco to work with suppliers to create especially good deals that further improve value to customers. The core philosophy of the store seems to focus on improving value to customers, rather than maximizing profit.
Regarding wine, Costco is the largest seller of fine wine (defined as $20+ bottles) in the world. This fits with their customer base, of which wealthy persons are overrepresented (wealthy persons better able to buy/store buik purchases).
My personal experience with groceries is I buy certain items at Costco, like rotisserie chicken or Quaker oats; but I do the bulk of my grocery shopping elsewhere. I prefer having the wider selection at other grocers and not being required to buy in bulk. While sticker prices are generally higher elsewhere, sale prices are sometimes notably lower. Other grocers may take a loss on a small handful of products, in order to get the customer in the store. Costco doesn’t use this loss leader approach… or at least not the same extent. It’s more creating an atmosphere where customers can trust that anything sold at Costco is going to be a good value.
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It was an eye opening podcast for sure. I will say that I’ve noticed Target seriously slashing prices.
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I noticed that too. That’s why I started shopping at Target more. I still buy prescriptions and some bulk items at Sam’s Club.
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For those of you who were worried…the Costco $1.50 hotdog/Pepsi price is safe!
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It’s been the same $1.50 price since the hot dog + soda price was introduced 40 years ago. According to a former CEO, when asked about raising price of the meal, the Costco founder said, “If you raise the {price of the} effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.” In another interview, the founder was asked “If {the price of the hot dog} ever goes up, what will it mean?” Sinegal replied, “That I’m dead.” Sinegal is currently 88 years old.
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