Buying diapers at Costco seems like a decent way for parents to save money, but eagle-eyed Consumerist reader Eric noticed that he’s no longer getting quite so much bulk for his buck.
Eric recently noticed that the big box of Kirkland Signature (Costco’s house brand) had been zapped by the Grocery Shrink Ray (patent pending; all rights reserved, all wrongs reversed). He’d previously been getting 212 diapers in a box and was now only getting 208.
Of note: Eric noticed that the most recent box he’d purchased was back up to 212. It’s likely that is an older box that should have been sold before the Shrink Ray was turned on.
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Sometimes the Huggies at Costco are cheaper than Kirkland anyway.
Negative posts about Costco will not be tolerated – The Hive Mind.
At least they shrunk the quantity not the size of the diapers “Used to hold 4 ounces, now holds 2″
Box says holds 16-28 pounds. That’s how much I intend to make it hold.
Maybe the baby grew therefore the diapers got smaller therefore there are less in the box therefore no shrink ray. No?
should read: got bigger
No editing feature yet?
The 3 on both boxes are the size. Since both boxes are threes, diaper size doesn’t come into play.
That’s less than a 2% drop. I wonder if it was even worth the effort redesigning the boxes, etc. for such a small change.
And leave the 212 count on there?!?
Ahhhh Crap!!!
Website still says 212. Maybe the 208 was an older box?
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11317020&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|48022|56098&N=4045549&Mo=35&pos=1&No=19&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=56098&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC5397-Cat48022&topnav=
As far as I know, costco has always done this with their store brand. This was recently evidenced by fluctuations in the cost of maple syrup — the container got bigger or smaller depending on the price. I felt really savvy that I had made something like $15 by accidentally participating in the maple syrup market (when I noticed the container I bought for around $15 was now half the size)
Coupled with the new “redesigned” formula cans, I haven’t very please with Costco’s courting of the infant market as of late. Of course, everybody else is letting the GSR fly, so they still look good in comparison.
Diapers are a scam!
Right. What do you use for your diapered kids?
I personally just use grocery bags and a pooper scooper. I mean, he’s already living in the back yard anyway, so it’s quite convenient.
Right. What do you use for your diapered kids?
intresting, they are probabably doing it a little at a time to see what peopel will tolerate. next month you will see a 204 pack
So buy them from whatever store sells them for the lowest per-diaper price…
Wow, that baby just got smaller!
For fun, I would love a law that forced stores to display as “NEW: FEWER IN A BOX FOR THE SAME PRICE” over items that changed like this.
They are really the best diapers. Super absorbent. Huggies second best and pampers avoid avoid!
Target has their store brand cheaper than costco. I made the same mistake in thinking Costco would be cheaper. Target’s diaper are much cheaper.
Thanks for the info, I’ll have my daughter check that out.. She usually gets hers at Walmart, and they’re like $25 for 108 (Size 4) diapers.
We have 2 year old twins, so the cost of diapers is something we researched heavily when they came home.
We found that the local grocery store (Meijers) brand diapers worked as well as the Costco brand and were a bit less expensive. I think we pay $15 for 72 size 5 diapers.