President Biden has begun to accuse stores of overcharging shoppers, as food costs remain a burden for consumers and a political problem for the president.
If you’re not buying in bulk a lot, it’s not worth it. I’ve been tailgating on my mom’s membership for years and I don’t think I’d have one if it weren’t for that.
I just want to throw out there that Costco also has some weirder, niche services that may be more worth it to individuals, based on their individual lifestyle, such as travel booking, where the packages tend to be really cheap. They also used to have a freaking MORTGAGE SERVICE until 2022, presumably shut down because of the rate increases (I really, really hope they open back up when rates go down again…)
The optical department is worth the price of admission alone. I recently bought 2 sets of glasses, 1 regular with transition and 1 sunglasses with the bells and the whistles. Costco doesn’t charge extra or up sell for most of the add-ons, they are just part of the package. I paid $287 for those 2 pairs before my insurance reimbursed me. Not even accounting for the higher end frames, I would have probably paid $500+ for those 2 with all of the extras.
The pharmacy is worth it as well if you have meds that can be expensive. They can’t get everything cheaper but the ones they do are way less expensive than most other places.
Also for those who happen to live in states where ABC doesn’t control everything, Costco has Kirkland brand vodka and other alcohol that I’ve heard great things about (my state is an ABC state). For the alcohol and maybe the pharmacy you don’t have to have a membership, they escort you to the alcohol and then through checkout.
If you are willing and able to put out the extra cash to front load your food needs for awhile and are capable and willing to do the work to repack and freeze the large amount of food you get, you can find yourself with a lot of extra cash on hand with fewer visits to the store. These days Aldi, Lidl, Teeter, etc are mainly about little things we need day to day and Costco is our big shopping trip once every couple of weeks.
Costco has other services that definitely more than pay for the membership fee. I won’t go into detail because I have covered it in two other comments but optical is worth it alone, their pharmacy is usually a lot cheaper than elsewhere and their tires are top quality at the price of mid tier at other shops.
I’m not meaning to shill for Costco. I was a skeptic until I started comparing their offers to others and realized that for almost anything you need, Costco is usually the best option. My wife has been a member for something like 20+years, I’m more recent convert but now we check Costco first for things like appliances, coffee makers, etc.
If you’re not buying in bulk a lot, it’s not worth it. I’ve been tailgating on my mom’s membership for years and I don’t think I’d have one if it weren’t for that.
I just want to throw out there that Costco also has some weirder, niche services that may be more worth it to individuals, based on their individual lifestyle, such as travel booking, where the packages tend to be really cheap. They also used to have a freaking MORTGAGE SERVICE until 2022, presumably shut down because of the rate increases (I really, really hope they open back up when rates go down again…)
The optical department is worth the price of admission alone. I recently bought 2 sets of glasses, 1 regular with transition and 1 sunglasses with the bells and the whistles. Costco doesn’t charge extra or up sell for most of the add-ons, they are just part of the package. I paid $287 for those 2 pairs before my insurance reimbursed me. Not even accounting for the higher end frames, I would have probably paid $500+ for those 2 with all of the extras.
The pharmacy is worth it as well if you have meds that can be expensive. They can’t get everything cheaper but the ones they do are way less expensive than most other places.
Also for those who happen to live in states where ABC doesn’t control everything, Costco has Kirkland brand vodka and other alcohol that I’ve heard great things about (my state is an ABC state). For the alcohol and maybe the pharmacy you don’t have to have a membership, they escort you to the alcohol and then through checkout.
If you are willing and able to put out the extra cash to front load your food needs for awhile and are capable and willing to do the work to repack and freeze the large amount of food you get, you can find yourself with a lot of extra cash on hand with fewer visits to the store. These days Aldi, Lidl, Teeter, etc are mainly about little things we need day to day and Costco is our big shopping trip once every couple of weeks.
Costco has other services that definitely more than pay for the membership fee. I won’t go into detail because I have covered it in two other comments but optical is worth it alone, their pharmacy is usually a lot cheaper than elsewhere and their tires are top quality at the price of mid tier at other shops.
I’m not meaning to shill for Costco. I was a skeptic until I started comparing their offers to others and realized that for almost anything you need, Costco is usually the best option. My wife has been a member for something like 20+years, I’m more recent convert but now we check Costco first for things like appliances, coffee makers, etc.