Tell me about Costco...

[xlxo]

Mixed feelings too....

• love the price on photos
• love the price on pharmacy
• love the Polish dogs! Great price after a long hike/workout. Great stop before going to a sports game to save $$$!
• love the price on gas.... don't like the long lines... anyone want to comment on the gas quality?
• I would say their products are "average". High end consumers will see more selections elsewhere. We have some large grocery stores that can sell you the same thing without the membership
• where do the returns go? I sometimes shop at discount stores where you can get their openbox return items with savings
• I shop when they first open or minutes when they are going to close to avoid parking lot congestion
• some stores have bigger lots than other
• love the rebate credit card

 

[Disneylover99]

I've been very happy with the Kirkland and other brands I've bought from Costco.
But beware. Shopping at Costco will probably cost you hundreds of dollars each time you go.

 

[minniecarousel]

No Sam' or BJ's anywhere near me.

We bought our new heating/AC unit thru them, as well as a new water heater. We've bought our artificial Christmas tree, all our paper goods, rotisserie chickens...Just so many things. We got our last vacation rental car thru them. I love to buy See's Candy GC there, then drive to the strip mall adjacent and get the candy at a little discount! I buy a lot of produce there. We bought a cute table and little chairs for our grandson.

Can you tell I'm a fan?!

 

[NFLDERS]

I've been very happy with the Kirkland and other brands I've bought from Costco.
But beware. Shopping at Costco will probably cost you hundreds of dollars each time you go.

And a gain ongoing of a few pounds.

 

[tinatark]

We shop at Sam's and Costco. Weekly. We prefer Sam's for business, Costco for personal. FWIW, rotisserie chicken is better at Sam's Club! Costco has brownie brittle and lemon-filled gingerbread cookies. Costco only has furniture in Jan/July. Sam's has it year round.

 

[aristocatz]

We belong to both BJ's & Costco (no Sams Club where we live). Overall, we find Costco to be alot cheaper on many items, but BJ's has more of an organic selection, which is important to my family. We end up shopping at both, but we buy way more at Costco than at BJ's.

If you have babies, the Costco brand wipes are top notch. Other Costco brand products are great as well. They also offer wonderful cakes & party platters for very reasonable prices.

FWIW, the food court at Costco is far superior than at BJ's.

 

[Sabeking]

We are getting a new Costco built near us and I have never been. Is it similar to BJ's/Sam"s Club? Is it better or worse than those?

I hear a lot of people on these boards talking about the travel part-is it better than AAA?

Thanks!

I'm glad you posted this, we a getting our first as well and I am excited to try it. I just let my SAMs membership expire.

 

[manning]

We had one built about a year ago by us. It was very nice and offered many products. The only reason we didn't join is we had to sign up for an AE card unless we wanted to pay cash or debit. We use a Disney Visa for obvious reasons and that's why we refused membership. However, I read that early next year they will no longer accept AE or allow AE and will be accepting Visa.

Beginning April 2016 Costco will be dropping American Express in favor of Visa

 

[AJ1983]

Beginning April 2016 Costco will be dropping American Express in favor of Visa

Really? Is that just in the US because here in Canada costco switched recently from AmEx to Mastercard.....would love to see them accept Visa!

 

[buzzrelly]

OP here. Thanks for all of your replies! I'll definitely check it out! But if they don't take my Disney Visa, that's going to be a problem. Fingers crossed!

Somebody mentioned the photos…do you know if I can get my Matte prints? It seems most places these days have only glossy so I usually order from Shutterfly. It would be great if I could go in and develop them!

 

[Christine]

OP here. Thanks for all of your replies! I'll definitely check it out! But if they don't take my Disney Visa, that's going to be a problem. Fingers crossed!

Somebody mentioned the photos…do you know if I can get my Matte prints? It seems most places these days have only glossy so I usually order from Shutterfly. It would be great if I could go in and develop them!

I got matte prints at Costco before, but it's been awhile since I developed any pix with them.

I believe they will be taking all forms of Visa in Feb/March 2016.

I will be sad to lose the Costco AMEX. Great cash rewards and fabulous customer service at AMEX.

 

[OhMari]

The only thing I do not like about Costco is the amount of food you need to buy, especially the produce. Me and my dd will split items, so they do not waste. Like bananas or avocados. The butter is cheaper, but you have to purchase a four pack. I learned to freeze certain items, and when we get home, I spend at least an hour sorting, separating and freezing produce and meat.

COSTCO will get seasonal items, and the prices will be low. I got food saver containers, you have to push down on a button to seal. JCPenny's wanted over $100 dollars, and I got them for $48.

To be honest, we let our membership expire. The closest one is 45 minutes away. There are 2 new ones being built, and they still are 45 minutes in either direction.

 

[vikster1]

I have a Costco and BJ's within 5 miles from home. Both stores opened around the same time. I do have membership to both stores. I like each one for different reasons.

BJ's
Cheaper membership
Deli Counter- Land o Lakes cheese 3.79 lb
On my way home from work.
Self check out
Many lines open
Produce section


Costco
Photo Center
Eyeglass center
Meat selection
Samples throughout the entire store
Gas cheap
Sheets cakes 18.99 with fill
Kids like the food court

Milk is cheap at both places. Last week paid 2.19 gal skim.

 

[dotfurio]

I've never been to BJs,but we have both Costco and Sams Club in town and we've been members at both. Costco and Sams are very similar in set up and products, food court, photo depts, etc.

Overall we prefer Costco's offerings and Kirkland products, so we let Sams Club go and just have a Costco membership now. We get our gas at Costco, print photos, and since Costco has has an excellent return policy on all their products we almost always buy our electronics there. We also get tires at Costco.

We booked our Disney Cruise through them and got a big Costco Cash card - somewhere around $400-500. We also use our Costco Amex to earn cash back every year. (They are switching to Visa soon, though).

 

[manning]

Really? Is that just in the US because here in Canada costco switched recently from AmEx to Mastercard.....would love to see them accept Visa!

In the United States. Got a notice few months back

 

[Patch'sD]

I will go with BJ's as I get 5% back on all BJ's purchases and 10 cents off a gallon of gas. I generally get about 15% in coupon savings with BJs and Manufacture Coupons.

I have no problems with any fruit, produce, or dairy items as I am a digger and will find the freshest component even if I have to climb into the box to get into a second rack. I avoid any item that is in the front of the freezer or fridge sections for fears that it was returned or put back after sitting out for a good period of time.

My question is for what does Costco do with those returns. I shutter that some cookies that were sitting outside at a home coming game were now being put back on the shelves. I still freak out when I bought a cordless phone from target and the handset had earwax all over it.

 

[Jennabeth]

We had one built about a year ago by us. It was very nice and offered many products. The only reason we didn't join is we had to sign up for an AE card unless we wanted to pay cash or debit. We use a Disney Visa for obvious reasons and that's why we refused membership. However, I read that early next year they will no longer accept AE or allow AE and will be accepting Visa.

This wasn't even a blip on my Costco radar. There was no way I was going to let a 1% in rewards stop me from getting many things 10%-40% cheaper. I have 3 visas that offer rewards and it does not bother me to pay cash here because I'm getting things a lot cheaper than 1% off. You'd come out way ahead if you took the cash you saved by shopping at Costco and bought Disney gift cards. Gas alone can be 5-10 cents cheaper. Multiply that by 15 gallons and that's $0.75-$1.50 saved. If I used my Disney visa and it costs $40 to fill up, that's only $0.04 in rewards. Now when they switch it will be better for me, but there is no way I'd give up my membership because of the credit cards they take.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I don't like Sam's and we don't have BJs were I live.

I go to Costco about once every week and a half. Things on my shopping list:

Coffee, organic eggs, organic butter, organic frozen kale, organic frozen berries, organic half and half, rotisserie chicken, frozen chicken breasts, 3 packs of organic ground beef, Ezekiel Bread (in frozen section), bananas, organic spring mix, broccoli or brussels, fresh fruit, popcorn, paper products, wipes and diapers, flavored sparkling water, fill up gas tank if near empty

Occasional buys: baby/toddler clothes, womens clothes, men's clothes, socks and undies, photos, photo cards (for holidays and invites and birth announcements), Honest Co baby wash, shampoo/conditioner, children's books/toys

We moved in May and the one thing I don't like is that their fresh greens don't seem to be as fresh. It's hard to eat a huge tub of salad greens if the expiration date is 2 days from now, you know? That's why I started buying their frozen kale/spinach for our green smoothies instead of their fresh.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

This wasn't even a blip on my Costco radar. There was no way I was going to let a 1% in rewards stop me from getting many things 10%-40% cheaper. I have 3 visas that offer rewards and it does not bother me to pay cash here because I'm getting things a lot cheaper than 1% off. You'd come out way ahead if you took the cash you saved by shopping at Costco and bought Disney gift cards. Gas alone can be 5-10 cents cheaper. Multiply that by 15 gallons and that's $0.75-$1.50 saved. If I used my Disney visa and it costs $40 to fill up, that's only $0.04 in rewards. Now when they switch it will be better for me, but there is no way I'd give up my membership because of the credit cards they take.

That is a good way to look at the savings. I must admit, I'm impressed with the discounts you are able to get. Your Costco must sell things much cheaper than ours or your grocery stores have higher prices than ours. Granted, we were only in there twice, but we didn't see anything close to 40% off that we would buy and couldn't get at a local store. Now, that is almost all food, we probably wouldn't buy anything else like furniture, medicine, clothes, etc... Not to say it couldn't happen in the future but we just didn't spend a great deal of time looking at non food items. The best deals we noticed were the meats and that was at best 15% cheaper than our local stores which is a great deal. Some of the fruit and veggie selections were pretty good but you had to buy in 5lb bulk and that is too much for use in a week. Gas, I won't purchase gas from a store. Not to get into an argument, but there's a reason it is 5-10 cents cheaper, it's cheaper quality gas.

When they start allowing Visa next year we will go back and get a membership to see how it works out. My wife runs numbers like crazy and even with the membership dues we would still come out ahead as a family of 3.

 

[Hrhpd]

This wasn't even a blip on my Costco radar. There was no way I was going to let a 1% in rewards stop me from getting many things 10%-40% cheaper. I have 3 visas that offer rewards and it does not bother me to pay cash here because I'm getting things a lot cheaper than 1% off. You'd come out way ahead if you took the cash you saved by shopping at Costco and bought Disney gift cards. Gas alone can be 5-10 cents cheaper. Multiply that by 15 gallons and that's $0.75-$1.50 saved. If I used my Disney visa and it costs $40 to fill up, that's only $0.04 in rewards. Now when they switch it will be better for me, but there is no way I'd give up my membership because of the credit cards they take.

Not to mention, if you get the executive membership, you get 2% back on all purchases. We shop at Costco a lot so every November, we get a nice fat check. Covers the next year's membership along with more than $200 back. So, our membership is basically free and we get a nice rebate check on top of the great prices already at Costco.