During her most recent visit, The Ravishing Mrs. TB raised the question of our Costco account - a fair question given the last 12 months we have had.
Costco, as most may know, is a warehouse style membership shopping chain. Its claim to fame is that for a fee, one gets a discount on many sorts of common items, anything from food and paper goods to electronics to household goods to tires and medicines and glasses and fuel. There are three catches:
1) It is a membership service and thus there is an annual fee;
2) The items are typically sold "in bulk" or in larger packages;
3) They do not always have the best prices.
The question came up due to a fourth factor, that of location.
Costco suffers from two other potential detriments. The first is that the farther away one is, the less convenient it is. The second is that their parking lots are all seemingly ill designed: getting in is a struggle, getting out is a struggle, and it is never ever not busy.
For the last few years we have suffered from the latter issues: we are not terribly close and it is never convenient. Add to that the fact that with Nighean Bhan and Nighean Dhonn still employed at Produce (A)Isle and getting both a regular 10% discount and a periodic 25% discount on store brands, we have scarcely had a reason to go.
With the move to New Home 2.0 that has changed. We are now close enough that it could function as our regular fueling station (and with prices about $0.50 cheaper on gas than anywhere else close it is worth our while). And so to evaluate the current "value" of our membership, I stopped by.
I am well aware - perhaps as aware as any - about the increase in prices over the past two years. What I did not expect was the percentage of that increase.
Almost everything was up from things we used to buy there. It has been too long for me to remember percentages, but I would easily estimate 20%. Certainly my stalking horse protein powder was up that much (20% right on the nose) - enough of an increase that the days of it as a regular supplement are now long in the past.
I had already been making changes to my diet, based on a combination of following Orthodox fasting practices (no meat or dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays) and ease of preparation. A third factor is now present: the simple cost of food.
If this is a good economy, my hands are too small to grasp it.
Never lived close enough to a Costco to consider a membership. Decades ago I had a membership to Sam's Club because my MIL owned an art store and had a business account. I worked there part time so she gave me a card. I don't recall that I bought more than some bulk groceries. Some things were cheaper elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy observation is that places having the discount reputation are no longer the cheapest place to shop. I have the sense that they are riding the reputation and the shopping habits of their customers. I'm finding more and more that the small business often has the better prices and sales. I used to think them more expensive because they can't buy in the same bulk as the corporate owned businesses. On the other hand, they don't have investors to keep happy, and I suspect realize that their income is very much customer based rather than stock holder based.
Leigh - We briefly had a Sam's Club membership. They are effectively the same.
DeleteYour observation seems spot on to me - in a way surprising, as there is a whole secondary retail market of second hand things. Books (my biggest touch point) are usually cheaper, but not always. Clothing can be - but the last time I bought jeans they were cheaper than new although still what I would have paid 10 years ago. So to some extent they are all coasting on the "discount" reputation of years past.
And certainly smaller businesses have much better sales.
Having a real life discount on regular grocery stores is a MAJOR Blessing. More valued (If not limited by the store) than the paycheck.
ReplyDeleteI've neighbors that work at Walmart more for the 3 or so big discount days than the job. Whole families pushing carts that day.
Michael - Completely agree. And the only "differences" we notice are matters of (literally) taste.
DeleteEvery trip back from New Home 2.0 now includes the question "What can we bring from the store?"
But....but.....but.....inflation is under control TB, MSM and local news are continually telling us that "fact"! Keeping track of the items you purchase over the years gives a person facts to rely on, not the claims made by media.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - I laughed bitterly this week when I saw an story from the "Media" assuring us that the Economy is much better off than we the plebs believe it to be and we are just too stupid to know it.
DeleteSadly, chuckling with Nylon12. But I keep my receipts for 18 months (to the annoyance of my beloved sometimes) and can show real world examples of our awesome "inflation under control" story.
ReplyDeleteGV canned pinto beans 15.5 ounces (still same size) a year ago 59 cents, last month 89 cents. And so on. Fearfully Warren Buffet whom I watch has gone to historically high cash as he sold a LARGE bit of his Apple Stock. He's been pretty on it over the past few decades.
From Barrons: Berkshire Hathaway Could Pay $15 Billion in Taxes on Apple Stock Sale
Warren is famous for saying his holding period for a stock was "Forever, unless major changes in its profitability". He HATES taxes.
I suggest folks look at what they eat often and secure the shelf stable elements of that for a year. Don't go into debt as the history shows even in a Great Depression the Banks and Tax man always get's their.
Folks hoping that inflation will make their debt cheaper haven't read much history. Only a Nation that prints their own money can do that. They ADJUST the debts to match for the Old Bolivar vs the New Bolivar.
That is a great exercise Michael.
DeleteI had seen that Buffet had made the sale. That he is willing to pay those kinds of taxes says a lot, as does the fact that many companies in my industry are having lay-offs even though they have plenty of cash in the bank.
Something Wicked This Way Comes.
I've never even seen a Costco but maybe 20 years ago, I went into a Sam's Club a few times with someone that had a membership. Fortunately the nearest either are require a 160+ mile round trip so I'm not tempted. Besides, I have never seen the utility to buying things in such large quantities and then having to buy a bigger house to store them all in.
ReplyDeleteSuch stores, just aren't my thing. The local Walmart Supercenter is enough to cause my heart to palpitate. The parking lot is always full and people are everywhere. I prefer my early morning visits to the grocery store everyone else in town deems the most expensive (and it is for processed foods which we don't buy), because I'm often the only one in the store at the time and at most, there will be a handful of others.
Ed, your description of shopping describes me as well going shopping: I hate it. The most convenient time for me is right after work, which of course is the worst time to go - although any day except Friday works okay. In terms of traffic, Costco is the same: Thursday and Friday nights work out better.
DeleteThe Ravishing Mrs. TB and I did the quick math last night. Just on fuel alone we would save more than the cost of the membership so it is probably still worth it.