Well, I don’t drink alcohol or go to seafood restaurants (unless I’m at the beach) or eat steak/go to steakhouses so your local chain would probably not be of interest to me. I’m not sure why you “don’t get” that other people don’t like the same things as you, such as chains? I said I would check at my Costco next time I was there in person and see if they had any gift cards I liked, but looking at their online offerings there is nothing that I would ever use. FIWW, I also never buy milk. We don’t drink it or use it, but I understand that lots of people do like it.
I buy mostly locally grown produce so am not interested in Costco’s mega quantities of berries or other produce. I can get locally grown strawberries at my co-op and have some in the fridge right now. We’re big farmer’s market shoppers.
I like Costco for some frozen stuff and shelf stable stuff and sometimes their non-food items. They have a yummy frozen vegetable Yakisoba that is great to have on hand in the freezer for a quick lunch. They also have a great deal on seaweed snacks. I’ve gotten some good deals on laundry detergent there and sometimes buy fizzy water. They had really good Toblerone bites at the holidays. I just like to support Costco because I like them as a company.
Our local Costco currently has gift cards to this 3 location “chain”. They’re incredibly dog friendly, bringing bowls of water, etc. There’s a location on our island!
I’m in NC and our farmer’s markets slow down in winter, but run year round. All produce is grown within 60 miles. My husband went today and brought home spinach, tomatoes, onions, kale, lettuce, fresh baked bread, a fresh bialy, carrots, garlic, and maybe a few more things. The local strawberries I have are NC grown in a greenhouse and I got them at our local natural food co-op.
That’s a good list. For Costco gift cards, I think one of the primary goals is increased sales volume, much like the in store products. Costco has a large enough customer base to have notable sales increase of almost anything sold at Costco, and many sellers are willing to reduce their margin on specific products in exchange for this benefit.
This isn’t the same as broadening customer base. I expect most people who are buying gift cards in Costco’s bulk $100 sizes are not new customers choosing to give the restaurant a try because they saw a gift card. They are primarily existing customers who are familiar with the restaurant. While they are familiar, there are still many similar alternative restaurants they could choose, so the restaurant with the gift card discounts gets chosen over alternatives more often.
Unlike simply offering lower menu prices, the discounted gift card also allows the restaurant to offer price discrimination. The restaurant can charge full price for their normal customer base who is willing to pay full price, and can offer a discounted price for the customers who wouldn’t purchase as much without the discount. Costco discounts also do not cheapen the brand name the same way as regular sales and such. Customers seem to treat Costco discounts separately from traditional sales.
Many of the restaurants have high enough margins that they are still going to have notable net profit after the discount, particularly when you consider that a significant portion of gift cards go unused, and customers rarely stop spending at exactly the gift card value.
Some of us don’t have room in apartment size refrigerators and cabinets.
My Costco has lactose-free milk, but all milk is in gallons. I drink a lot of coffee with one-percent-ft milk and their milk is super-fresh, kept cold so that works for me.
I was thinking of stopping membership and sharing a friend’s but decided that it’s worth it for me for another year. I am typing on an HP laptop that I just bought, as my previous HP laptop purchased at Costco several years ago started to die. Free concierge assistance on the phone which helped when the old one started not charging. Help person suggested that I buy a new charging cord. $8 from Amazon and I got another six months out of it.
Just came from Costco excited about all my “savings.” Our protein powder was $15 off/bag and it’s normally about 2/3 of what we used to pay at Walmart. I got generic Flonase that I use year round. I used to in the old days pay $20/month for generic. Recently I was thrilled to pay $35 for 6 months on Amazon. Today it was $16 for 5 months! And my 2 pack of peanut butter was half price from Walmart.
Of course savings is in quotes because I was so excited I picked up a bag of protein to gift each kid and also Flonase for older S. And then I got got a big (men’s) hoodie for myself. So probably no savings for me. I don’t care. I’m smiling
I went to Costco in Nashua, NH yesterday. Bought stuff we needed and wanted that were on sale. Came across a rack of winter coats, the Jones of New York brand. It cost $4 a piece. I had to ask a fellow shopper if the price posted was correct. It was. I bought 6 of them in various sizes intended to give to relatives.
I told my friend group about this deal. One of the friends went to that Costco this morning and bought 10 of this coat to donate to her company’s clothing drive. What a deal. A good-looking coat for $4!!!
Interesting. One vial for me, lasts my cat at least 3 months and costs €53,40 for 10ml. I do notice that the bottle says to use within 28 days, while my vet said it should last 2-3 months. It would be great if Costco could open its own vet practice and then I’d feel more comfortable bringing my cat there on vacation.
I have Costco on my list today. I use to buy fish, etc., and wrap in smaller pieces to freeze. Now just trying to use up all the freezer food. My sister suggests I buy a food saver. I need a newer tv. I bought my LG washer and dryer there. I like their vodka. Fun is seeing what is new. Last visit I bought mushrooms that light up path to house, a big $20.00, and quite cute.
Anyway, I have my sister and son/DIL on my card. I use to have my parents, and two aunts on my card. I called that their Hanukkah gift. As long as others benefit, I will keep my membership forever.
That is what I meant - more than one besides the card owner themselves. H is not on mine but D could not use our membership even when she was living in our household.
Both mine get their mail here. If that’s the case (I’ll find out), I’ll get them added but I’m sure my wife asked which is why we had to spend another $60. I’d kill to get 2% back of what they spend Not kill but…
Their website says:
A membership is available to all qualifying individuals 16 years of age and over. Primary and Affiliate Members receive one additional card for one designated member of their household, who is over the age of 16 and living at the same address.
You only get points on the main card and one additional card in the same household. We had my mother as a third person but it was really stupid to pay for her membership and tie it to my brother’s business account because she never, ever, went to Costco without me and we always used my card because it was the 2nd card and we wanted the points on the account.
You can tie the accounts, but you don’t get the points. My sister bought a separate membership for her kids, both listed at her address, when they were in college. Not sure which one got the rebate checks.
Not kill but…