Costco up 6% in sales-DEI

[Ms. Toad]

20. As big businesses go, it's pretty good.

If you are expecting relatively universal bargains - not so great.

Their pharmacy is fantastic. They have some loss leaders which are consistently good - gas, rotisserie chicken, hot dog and beverage, fresh mozarella cheese are notable. But other things are as, or more, expensive than competitors.

Jarlsberg cheese, for example, was $5.99/lb - making a chunk $10-$15. The same size chunk at Sam's sells for $5. Not $5 per pound, just $5. (I haven't bought any recently - so it is possible that Sam's Club has increased their prices but for at least two years that was the comparison (my SIL maintained her membership in Sam's Club, so we did regular price checks). That's the most dramatic difference I found, but I was shocked when I first got a Costco membership and discovered that, aside from a few items, I was paying a membership fee to get things at retail prices - or higher. This was very different from shopping at Sam's club, where I didn't really have to price check since I could count on Sam's Club to be cheaper.

We save enough on gas and prescription medicines to be worth buying the the second tier membership (with the 2% back on purchases). But I'd listened to people touting the bargains at Costco for years before there was one in our area, so I was pretty shocked at the high prices the first time I shopped there, especially after our earlier experiences with Sam's club.