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In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Mario DeFacendis writes:
> <off topic... sorry!>
Yup, we're veering off topic, but I think this is a sort of relevant one,
since the topic of the 8466 deal involves this Costco business...overall,
Costco can give some good deals. But there's some real issues and practices
you need to be aware of when you sign up with Costco. The major danger
(which my family has succombed to) is that we've made Costco a regular
habit. At some point, we were buying a 2.8 kg apple pie EVERY WEEK. And
that ain't healthy or cheap....
> For the uninformed, Costco can definately be described as a scam. BUT, if
> you know your prices (or possess a decent amount of common sense -- e.g.
> who the heck needs 5 litres of mayo?!?!?!!) then there are definate bargoons
> to be had. The Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is priced nicely and tastes good.
> Calum can back on this one. It comes in huge blocks, but unlike mayo I eat
> the stuff like it's going out of style. Poor arteries.
Don't knock me as someone who doesn't know his prices-god only knows I used
to track soda pop to the CENT (ran a pop machine at the University)-but in
the long run, Costco ain't so great. Let me lay the smackdown on Costco's
three major "scams":
a) Large, multipack, bundle pricing
b) Spontaneous/intermittent deals
c) Product Obfuscation/Grey Marketing
a) I'll agree that the cheese is excellent. I feel the same way about
Jarlsberg cheese too. But the problem is that Costco only sells you "huge
blocks"-of ANYTHING. Go in and try and buy a single bag of potato chips.
You can't. You have to buy TWO 900G bags AT A TIME. Sure the price of
those two bags are lower, but you're now eating and paying for yet another
bag of chips beyond the one you were planning to buy originally. Sure, you
can justify this by saying you'd be buying another bag eventually. But what
this does is that it sets up a habit. You'll notice a number of items are
ALWAYS there. Chips. Pop. Juice. 3kg pies. Those are the "regular"
products you're enticed into buying every week. Yet you can't buy what you
need, you have to buy the "bundle" or "supersize" version. Which inevitably
means you'll buy more.
I'll bring this back onto topic: That giant Arctic package they had for
$99. For those non Costco members here in rtlTorontoland, it was like six
Arctic sets in a giant shrinkwrapped cardboard frame. Costco will often
have large "special" packages made up by the manufacturer of multiple things
stuck together. Yes, it was cheap by like $20 less if you bought all the
sets at like, the Bay. But who buys six Arctic sets at a time?
Somewhere, I imagine a Conspicious Soccer Mom (tm) who is thinking "Six
birthday parties, six gifts...hrm...good deal!". But in general, this
practice of Costco bundling stuff together leads to increased consumption,
which means increased spending. You're not saving AT ALL. You'd probably
appreciate the cheese more if you didn't buy 58 pound packages of it.
(And damnit, stop touching it-it'll grow mold! :)
> I've found that it only takes a few good deals to recover the hefty
> membership. I first joined when I needed a car battery. The Costco price +
> membership was less than it would have cost at Canadian Tire, so >I "expedited".
I'll agree here. It does make sense for certain good deals. I think you
can justify the membership on certain things.
> - Their stock moves quickly. And there's no guarantee they'll get more in.
> If you see a new item at a good price, don't hesitate. Expedite/Tally Ho.
And this is practice b) that bothers me even more. Costco often will bring
in a skid of stuff as a "special". Because it's an intermittant product,
you're lulled into thinking "it might not be here next time, so I'd better
buy it!" So exactly as you say, you "don't hesitate". Again, it means
people don't think out their purchase. If you're not visiting the
Zellers/TRU every day and investigating the 8466 prices, you might have as
well, walked up and said, "$129! What a deal!" and bought one
spontaneously. Sometimes they bring in all sorts of stuff no one really
needs like trampolines and pressure washers.*
* - two things, my father and sister thought were great ideas at the time
until I pointed at the price tag.
It's like TV Guide, Archie Comics and candies at the front of the
supermarket cash register-they're impulse buys.
And that leads into point c)-Costco often will bring products in that are
deliberately a different model so that people can't compare with other
retailers. About five years ago, they were grey marketing American Sony
TV's-we were looking for a 27" Sony TV and realized none of their model
numbers were Canadian models (at the time, Canada had just required every
manufacturer to have captioning as standard for 20" and above, IIRC, so it
was obvious). You'll often find "special models" for electronics-often off
by one digit or letter in the model number, or packaged with a "deluxe kit"
of extra ink cartridges or cables so you can't easily judge the worth of a deal.
You say, this doesn't happen with Lego? Sure it does. Ever heard of a
Freestyle 2146 set? Probably not, because it's specific to big box
retailers ONLY. You couldn't have bought it at the Bay, Zellers, or even
TRU. So Costco puts out a product which you can't compare it to, and loads
it with extras that you can't assign a value to-like a bag or a storage
case. There simply was in 1996 no Freestyle set that was even remotely like
2146.*
*-guess who submitted the 2146 Lugnet guide photo? :)
> If it turns out to be a bad price, you can always return it later.
> - Hold on to those receipts. Prices drop all the time.
Oh, damnit, I'm getting my $20 back. Grr... :)
Calum
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Love that Costco
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| I'll just jump in here with my 2 cents USD worth of wisdom... Costco is a good deal if used sparingly and with some intelligence. As it happens, I am usually the cook of the household (as I am an unusually good cook) and as a consequence I tend to (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jan-02, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Love that Costco
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| (...) <off topic... sorry!> For the uninformed, Costco can definately be described as a scam. BUT, if you know your prices (or possess a decent amount of common sense -- e.g. who the heck needs 5 litres of mayo?!?!?!!) then there are definate (...) (22 years ago, 3-Jan-02, to lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto)
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