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Shopping at Costco is pretty cheap, at least when you consider unit pricing. But over at Helium.com, writer Suzanne Rose has come up with a handful of things to think about before clearing out the back of your minivan in preparation for a trip to the warehouse store.
1. You may buy more than you want and some will go to waste:
Generally speaking the best unit price deals at places like Costco come when you’re buying in bulk. But Rose points out that you could be throwing good money away if you’ll never use the entire carton/crate/pallet. “This will be especially true if the item is perishable and you literally end up throwing it out because it goes bad or goes beyond its expiration date,” she writes. “Even if you still use it but do not enjoy it as much because it is not as fresh, then that can be a problem.”
2. They are not cheaper on everything:
“Although Costco is cheaper than other stores in many different things, they are not cheaper in everything,” writes Rose. If you’re truly after says, she says, you’ll have to do some comparison shopping, both with other bricks-and-mortar stores and with online outlets.
3. They do not accept a lot of coupons:
Explains Rose, “Costco accepts their own coupons but not much more.” She says that you can sometimes save more cash by shopping at a store that accepts more coupons, so keep that in mind before you head out to Costco.
Why Costco doesn’t always save you money [Helium.com]
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I absolutely refuse to shop at any store that charges me to shop there and then treats me like a crook every time I leave the store. I will pay the 2 cents more per can etc. I always wondered what would happen to a person who just went into cosco or sam’s to use the bathroom and came out with no slip to be checked. Any thoughts?
They wouldn’t say anything as long as you weren’t carrying any merchandise. I work near one, and sometimes grab lunch at the snack bar without shopping.
Generally speaking, you can’t get in to the store without a membership card, so that’s not gonna happen. Of course, there have been a few times I left the store without buying something (like dropping off a prescription at the pharmacy). If you walk out empty handed, they don’t stop you.
I for one love the fact that they check receipts at the door. One time they noticed that I was charged for something that wasn’t in my basket (turns out I left it at the register). On a separate occasion, the receipt checker saved me a return trip to the store. With gift certificates, movie tickets and such, you take a giant piece of cardboard to the register to pay, then trade it in at a window up front for the actual card/tickets/whatever. I had purchased an Xbox live card and the receipt checker noticed that I forgot to pick up the card.
I bought the 1″ boxes of baby spinach a couple of times, but it wasn’t too fresh right from the store, so I quit buying it. Most of the other produce is more than I’d want to buy at one time, except for the 5″ bags of limes that I can squeeze and freeze part of the juice for later.