This is the type of thing that matters to each of us. We don’t buy rotisserie chicken at all from stores, so no savings there at all for us.
I’ve never understood the mentality to pay for a membership to buy things at an exclusive place (or to pay for Amazon Prime). Going into such a store once reaffirmed there’s no need for us. We don’t buy in bulk. We don’t buy a lot overall. I’m happier shopping at other places and just getting what we need.
I think if I felt like I had to get my money’s worth to make it work I would spend more money, not less - esp with Amazon.
But for other people who need/want bulk (or cheap chicken or have to have many things delivered quickly for whatever reason), differing desires produce differing results.
For us with Amazon, we buy so little off of it that I can easily pay for postage and pay less than a Prime membership. Many times if you’re willing to wait a couple days for delivery, it’s free anyway.
So does Walmart for a no fee card, and our local grocery store using my fee free AmEx card for 3% off the groceries to get points off fuel, then an additional 3% off getting gas.
“You do you” of course depending on your shopping needs/desires. Especially in this time of food inflation $$$, most every food item I’m putting in my cart at Costco is saving me time and money over a “regular” grocery store. We (I) cook/prepare 95% of our meals at home. Our restaurant spending is pretty minimal - that alone is a savings especially if you are trying to eat healthy. From bags of frozen chicken tenderloins to Rao’s pasta sauce to berries to whole grain bread to milk to bags of chips I’m getting more for my $ at Costco and less trips to the grocery store. Less trips to the store probably also saves $ because less impulse buys.
This should be the meme of all threads! A reader should take from it what works for them, then just get a larger understanding of how others live - all without judgment (assuming nothing illegal or similar, of course).
When we all share, there are the most options to choose from pending what fits or what we want to change.
Eons ago when I worked at a grocery store stocking and/or cashiering it was interesting to see what other people bought due to it being so different from our purchases. I even discovered a few new foods that way!
Same here. We have permanent platinum status on United due to his travel, including many trips to Japan so tend to fly United, unless the price (miles or dollars) are much higher than the competition. Also, we live near a United hub.
We love Amazon Prime here and do most of our non grocery shopping this way. They are return friendly no questions asked and that’s the most important part for us plus whatever you order will be here in a day o two. If they change their return policy, then of course we will reevaluate
On you do you, … My octagenarian mom grew up always comparing the price per ounce on everything she bought, and she loves Costco. She completely mocks me for walking through the (fancy) supermarket buying whatever I want to eat with minimal regard for price (although I will use my monthly % off discount coupon.). We are empty nesters so don’t need the volume, and I feel like I eat better and less if my options are the food I actually want and like. Bring on the figs, the Biscoff butter, the fresh caught salmon! Rhubarb is out of season?-Who cares! I have a hankering!
With that said, when we were a diaper-using house, I had and used a BJs card.
Yet we have bought only one new car - ever - and have driven every one to its death.
I operate on “I want what I want for as little as I can pay for it.” Not really interested in changing my preferences for the savings. And yes, super-privileged to be able to be this way.
You and I have a similar mentality. I’m glad we’ve reached the stage of our lives where I don’t have to worry how much I spend on food. I can get what we like, wherever we want to get it.
FIL (94 years old) will drink coffee or eat sausage he doesn’t like because it’s 10 cents cheaper. He doesn’t need to - not even remotely. H will inherit a bit within the next decade, but we wish he would use some to get what he likes instead TBH. When we come visit I bring things I know he likes. I paid $2.99 for grapes recently. He won’t buy them unless they are 88 cents/lb. For three lbs he would have saved less than $7, and of course, most days he goes without grapes unless we’re visiting. If one needs that $7 to pay bills it makes sense. If one needs $3 to stretch a food budget it makes sense to shop elsewhere and hopefully get them for less, but beware of miles traveled since gas spending to a more distant store can eat up some of the savings.
Yes, it’s a shame that elderly still keep miserly habits even when not necessary. But perhaps loosening the purse strings is hard emotionally, admitting that the end is nearer than they’d like.
Or it’s partly how they define themselves. And at a point in life where so much of who we think we are – athletic, interesting, adventurous, pretty, etc – is no longer, this can still be. My mom feels that way. (Of course, she’s delighted if I show up with something frivolous and lovely, whether flowers, imported chocolate, or a fancy bag she can stash on her walker, but she’s not the one giving up on that frugality she prides herself on – it’s just that reckless kid of hers!)
Rotisserie chicken was an arbitrary example. I save on many other items, including gas. I was curious about my actual savings and on which types of products I saved the largest amount, so I looked up my specific item purchases via the Costco website. My Costco savings in the past ~year have been as follows. I am defining savings based on the difference in price of things I would have purchased elsewhere, if I had not been a Costco member. I am including sale prices on both sides of the comparison. My overall estimated savings of $767 is worth the price of “$60” membership to me (my actual membership cost was ~$20 due to discounts).
By far the largest single component was hearing aid benefits. The previous year’s hearing aid purchase itself was also a large savings at $1500/pair . I was quoted at least double for comparable technology at every alternative I compared, so savings on initial purchase were $1500+ from the purchase in a previous year. However, the financial savings extend further beyond the initial purchase, as discussed below. The downsides includes Costco audiologists often have inferior training and can be slow to take appointments. Fortunately, I found a specific Costco audiologist who I consider to be excellent.
Gas is often praised as a key financial savings, but varies wildly depending on how much gas you use and alternative prices for gas in your area. There a few gas stations in my region that match Costco prices, likely making profit in convenience store items, rather than gas. However, they are far enough out of the way that I wouldn’t make a trip unless already in the area, so I average significant gas savings, although not as much as savings on rotisserie chicken or frozen food.
The Costco credit card benefits were negligible in this example. Had I used an alternative credit card, my total savings would have decreased by ~$15.
Hearing Aid Benefits – $300? *
Rotisserie Chicken – $95
Frozen Foods – $90 (many are superior quality to what I’d get elsewhere)
Gas – $60
Paper Products – $60
Discount in Other Stores (Gift Cards) – $40
Medication – $35
Disposable/Picnic/Trashbag – $35 (superior quality to what I’d get elsewhere)
Dry Foods (Quaker Oats) – $20
Pet Products – $20
Water / Beverages – $7
Seasonal – $5
Household Items – $0 (similar cost, but superior quality to what I’d get elsewhere)
Total – $767
*Hearing Aid Benefits include 4 tuning adjustments, many cleaning/filters, and proactively sending them in for replacing all internal parts since near 3 year warranty, letting me use rentals while away. I expect putting in new internal electronics to increase the lifespan of the hearing aids by multiple years. All of this was done at no cost. It’s difficult to quantify these benefit in to $ savings over a traditional audiologist, but it is notable.
But you don’t have to use the Costco visa to get the gift card for travel. It’s using the costco membership to use the travel agency to get the deal. Years ago I booked a Disney cruise thru Costco and at the time Costco retail stores only took American Express, but Costco travel allowed me to use a Visa card so I got whatever deal that Visa card provided (travel insurance? cash back? points toward an airline? I don’t remember) and got the gift card. Other travel agencies award things too like onboard credit, gift baskets, water bottles.
Many visa cards award 2% on groceries or 5% on gas purchases in June or whatever they feature for that month. If the bank classifies Costco as ‘groceries’ than I’d get the percentage my card is giving that month. The Costco named card is just a Citibank affinity card and may be better than my SW Chase card or worse than a Disney affinity card or a college affinity card.
I get enough to justify the yearly fee on my Southwest card per year (enough points for a flight, 2 earlybird check ins. I don’t spend enough to worry about flipping cards every year or chasing points.
I wouldn’t pay $3/lb for grapes either. I usually buy bananas + fruits that are in season or on sale. The variation of fruits that are in season or on sale also results in interesting variation in the types of fruits I eat. For example, my supermarket offered me a personalized discount of cosmic crisp apples for $0.77/lb last week, which I expect is to promote the new apple variety for this supermarket. So I tried cosmic crisp apples for what I believe is the first time. I thought they were excellent, although I prefer other apples with smaller dimensions (cosmic crisps are larger size than I’d like to eat in single serving).
While a specific grape purchase is probably not a large savings, the savings can add up to more significant amounts over time. For example, some fruits that I like have specific seasons when they have higher or lower prices such as blueberries, strawberries, and honeydew. I estimate that if I switched to ignoring fruit prices and just purchased the same fruits I like most every week regardless of in season or sale, the net cost would be an extra ~$1200/year. An extra $1200/year certainly isn’t going to break my budget, but I consider it significant, and I don’t mind having increased variety with different in season/sale fruits.
For us, we have no guarantee FIL is going to make it until grapes are in season. We’re here now due to his health issues, so knowing he likes grapes, I have no problem paying any cost at the moment as long as they look good. These are quite good.
Otherwise, I usually go for the $1.49 - $1.99 price on grapes pending my whims, and we eat our own when they’re in season - cost is free since we don’t do anything special for our vines.
Count me as a Costco die hard. I love it so much that when DH and I were shopping (unsuccessfully) for a vacation home a few years back I frequently told him my two criteria were pool and within an hour of costco. I was only half joking about the Costco part.
I have mentioned on cc before that we have purchased a few homes and refinanced many times. I know quite a bit about that whole process, including that mortgage rates and fees are negotiable. I always shop around and let the brokers know I am doing so. Several times, when I’ve explained to a broker if they couldn’t make a better offer, I was going with another lender I did get a better offer (sometimes I had to provide the written estimates from their competitor as proof though). Twice in the last 5 years, Costco has had the best rates (2 refis lower by an 1/8 and one by a 1/4). Between that, and their flat $200 lender fee, my membership will save me $35K in mortgage payments, compared to what was our 2nd most competitive bids. Costco lenders are also the only ones who haven’t flat out lied to us, tried to sneak in junk fees, miss deadlines, etc. I’m definitely a fan.
Add to that significant savings on tires, car rentals, gas, contacts and eye exams, and medications. The significant savings (even compared to store sales) on some of our regular grocery items alone would cover the cost of the membership but really they are just the icing on the cake.
Then there is their unmatched return policy. Love it.
I also know that their employees are paid more, treated better and have better benefits than those at any of the grocery stores within driving distance of us, so I like that.
On top of all of that, net, the membership is free–covered by the 2% rebate we get every year.
They serve as a source of referral for trusted partners who are contractually bound to provide their services to Costco members at certain discounts. Just like their other services: countertops, carpet, garage door etc. install.
We used Costco’s contracted local businesses to replace carpets and countertops in our house. The workmanship was top notch. We got a boatload of cashback, too. I will let you know how well their custom blinds install service works in a few weeks.
Yes…they have between 4 and 6 lenders (when i was last tracking rates anyway) who service the costco mortgage program. I had ocassion at one point to speak to some Costco mucky muck who was in charge of the mortgage program. It’s been a few years since i spoke to him so I don’t remember all the details except that he explained that Costco exercises strict oversight with their lenders who must agree to offer certain required discounts, quality mortgage products, and meet higher than average customer service related benchmarks.
We laugh and say that they will have to buy our Depends as a payback when the time comes! 
I was only half joking about the Costco part.