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Costco
Sept 30, 2015 23:56:47 GMT -5
Post by rachel on Sept 30, 2015 23:56:47 GMT -5
I visited Costco for the first time today. I think I need to debrief.
The first Costco in the state opened about an hour away from me earlier this year, and my sister and I went with a friend of hers' mother who has membership. It was certainly... an experience. A strange one. I felt sort of like it was trying to forcibly convert me to extremist consumerism. I think it worked on my sister, who is now espousing the virtues of Costco and saying we should buy membership and what have you.
I'm just... it was all a bit overwhelming, to be honest. So much stuff. Useless stuff, mostly, as far as I could see. Even ignoring all the electronics and creepy, creepy toys, it was... I think the only thing I found that actually worked out cheaper than shopping at a normal supermarket was soap, which was surprisingly good value, but as for the rest, you know, I know what I pay for everything normally, and even working out the unit pricing most of it was much the same as the normal cost. Except the labels sort of made me freak out at first, because it all *looked* so expensive.
I worry about people who do this regularly. I've had the discussion with my father a lot before, because for a long time (possibly still), he was of the belief that shopping at Rite Price was really good value... I'm still not sure I've convinced him that all it is is the same price and more likely to be out of date and has less variety. But how many people are there who just shop at Costco under the belief that it's cheaper and better, when really it's just the same price, plus they're being tricked into buying so, so much sugar, and buying junk-food at the café on the way out? I'm studying at a Bible college this year with lots of American faculty and their wives who talk about Costco like it's the best thing since sliced bread... I almost wonder if they've ever been into a Foodland or a proper market!
I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I didn't realise I could have such a culture shock in my own country. And, you know, I've been to the US, and just visiting Walmart was overwhelming enough, but... I think I understand the rest of you a lot better now.
So I'm not convinced. Actually, I'm recoiling in horror and shuddering at the memory, to be honest. Maybe I'll recover in a few days. I'm sticking to my local-chain supermarket with it's open-air-market feel, staff who know me by name, and products with labels that I recognise as a farm in the next town. Such radical consumerism.... simply not for me.
Sorry if anyone's a Costco shopper and I've offended you, this was just... such a strange experience.
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Costco
Oct 1, 2015 9:00:55 GMT -5
Post by Guadalupe on Oct 1, 2015 9:00:55 GMT -5
We agree with you, Rachel. We also applaud your honesty and intellectual acuity in recognizing a marketing ploy that many don't know exists.
Costco, Sam's and other "warehouse" stores rely on two things: people obsessed with getting a 'bargain' and exploiting those who like to stock up in case of emergencies.
The membership fees feed into that because no one wants that money to go to waste. So off to the warehouse they trot and spend several hundred dollars to justify the fees. It's easy to spend that much because many of those products are packaged in cases or packs. You can't buy just one package of noodles, etc. Then up pops the rationalizations, "it won't spoil" and "I can always use it throughout the year" or "in case of emergency" or....
I've come across people who say they find it saves them money but in every case, these were large families with 4 or more children. One honest large family though said they quit the warehouse because when they actually sat down and figured out the cost per unit of a case of beans and a case of ramen noodles, the individual cans and packages cost more from the warehouse than they did from the local grocery store. Let the buyer beware: take the cost of the case and divide it by the number of the individual packages or cans inside to see if it's really a bargain.
Household items like furniture and lighting are leftovers that didn't sell from other stores. Sometimes there's a bargain, many times there isn't one. The stores still seek a profit. As for eyeglasses and hearing aids, our firsthand experience is that the warehouse stores are selling inferior products that can be bought cheaper elsewhere.
Good for you for catching this psychological marketing ploy, Rachel.
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Costco
Oct 21, 2015 12:35:42 GMT -5
Post by moseshelper on Oct 21, 2015 12:35:42 GMT -5
I'm glad you have a local store where you can shop. Ours recently closed down and I miss it, but I shopped there to support it. It was almost twice the price of shopping anywhere else. As for a warehouse membership, it is going to depend on what you usually buy. My husband and I have had a membership at Sam's for years (even before we had children), because we saved more than the cost of membership when we bought tires there. Things that are cheaper to buy at Sam's -- cheese ($2.25 a pound, versus 3.50 anywhere else except Winco where it is $2.50) Plastic bags -trash and ziplock- and spices. I don't generally buy canned goods or paper there. Of course, if you walk into any American store between September and December, you will be overwhelmed by the consumerism of Christmas and now Halloween, which is quickly becoming just as big . We looked into a Costco membership about a year ago because of their organic selection, but it is really the cost of cheese and tires that keep us shopping at Sam's and Costco didn't have that same benefit. I have learned to be picky about where I buy just about anything and it will depend on your location as to what costs more where. I like Aldi's for some things, but meat is more expensive and the canned goods are very poor quality. I think anyone who is expecting any particular store to save them money is going to get caught somewhere. The stores have to make money and while some can cut corners by not bagging your groceries for you etc., they all basically have the same overhead and cheaper is generally going to mean poorer quality. I wish I could buy at a neighborhood store, they're worth any extra expense, but those are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Crystal
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Costco
Oct 24, 2015 23:12:09 GMT -5
Post by rachel on Oct 24, 2015 23:12:09 GMT -5
Foodland's actually a state-wide chain (along with IGA, owned by the same group), but they're keen to support local industry, and each individual shop is owned and managed by a local, so each shop has a very individual flavour and local products... The best part is, it's actually one of the cheaper supermarkets around - the other ones being Coles and Woolworths.
I used to shop at Rite Price for a bit, but quickly realised that the prices were basically on-par with Foodland, but the goods themselves were more likely to be out-of-date. They're still good for once-off gourmet items, though. I think we have an Aldi or two in the state, but nothing close enough that I'd consider it sensible to shop there, and I haven't really heard anything about them that would entice me to swap from Foodland... except from people who also shop at Costco. My father doesn't want me spending his money at international chain "duopoly" businesses like Coles or Woollies, so I imagine the same would go for Aldi and Costco anyway.
I'm a little confused by you referring to "Sam's"... Sam's Warehouse here is basically like what we call a "two-dollar shop" or a "cheap shop" - they sell lots of trinkets like toys, cheap books, scented candles, pet toys, and parallel-import sweets from Malaysia. A good place to go if you want cheap crockery or plasticware, but not good for much else!
Oddly, supermarkets seem to be the last ones here to start gearing up for holidays, but cheap shops and such have Christmas stuff out already, and a few have had Hallowe'en stuff (my sister tells me), which is just... weird, and wrong, because Hallowe'en isn't even a thing here, and never was until about 5 years ago when we started getting more American television (and all the old Scottish expats like to rebel by forcing the few children brave enough to try trick-or-treating to sing a song or recite a poem before giving them their peanuts and oranges, in the "real" [they say] tradition of guising. My father likes to keep a stack of Christian witnessing leaflets by the door just in case, but frankly if any kid made it up our street, we'd probably invite them in and give them a cup of tea. Same goes for Mormons and JWs!).
Foodland is great for us because they have a great selection of organic, gluten-free, dairy-free stuff, which is important because my sister can't have dairy or any sort of grain except rice (which means even "gluten-free" foods don't work, because they're mostly corn-based). I know Coles usually has some alternative variety in the bigger shops, but it's pretty much guaranteed even in smaller Foodlands, particularly in my area (which is where the majority of the state's hippies live).
I'll probably start going into Foodlands down in the area I used to live in about a month, because it never feels like Christmas to me until I've walked into a supermarket and been greeted with walls lined with colourful Panettone boxes. It's better than posters of Santa in a singlet and stubbies, surfing, anyway... And definitely better than pictures of snowmen and paper snowflake decorations in summer.
Oh... One of my subjects this year is "Christianity and Culture", and our textbook is "Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends" (Vanhoozer, Anderson & Sleasman). It's quite a good book so far, and I do recommend it as a good guide as to how to understand, interpret, and deal with the world. One of the chapters which was assigned reading last week was "The Gospel According to Safeway", all about "the checkout line" in supermarkets. Checkouts here usually have a selection of about five chocolate bars to choose from (sometimes it's two sorts of water, orange juice and apple juice), and then that's it, although I can remember seeing things like DVDs at checkouts in the US. I was amazed when reading the chapter at how much you have at checkouts there! While we have our own difficulties as Christians here, I can't imagine how hard it must be for you people over there and all the media and commercialism influences you have more than we do.
Anyway, I'm probably "talking" too much. I'm definitely not going back to Costco, though. I don't want to go through that again.
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Costco
Oct 26, 2015 16:55:09 GMT -5
Post by moseshelper on Oct 26, 2015 16:55:09 GMT -5
I'd heard of IGA and just looked them up, apparently the small store in a nearby town is owned by them, but as they rarely have very good prices or produce any more, I don't often go there. Besides, they were instrumental in getting alcohol legal for sale in that town. Sam's Club is very similar to Costco and it has been around here for longer. It is actually owned by Walmart, which I don't really care for, but just about all our options are "duopoly" businesses as your father calls them.
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tracy
New Member
Posts: 35
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Costco
Jul 4, 2016 18:20:05 GMT -5
Post by tracy on Jul 4, 2016 18:20:05 GMT -5
Many stores in general are very troubling to me and my family. When you have to turn your eyes away from some of the trash that is in stores it becomes quite difficult to shop. I try to go to a local market that just sells food products but unfortunately they don't carry some of the personal products that we need. When we have to go elsewhere we get in and get out as fast as we can. I also don't believe the Lord calls for us to stock up on these massive amounts of food.
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