There are many good and bad things about Costco.
GOOD:
There are many items you can choose from. The people tend to be nice (at many of the stores - I have been to the Aurora store, and it truly is one I avoid). The return policy is the best you can get. It is so good that you can buy all the food you need for a big party, and return all the leftovers afterwards for a full refund. In fact, I think I am seeing more of a pattern of people returning almost anything and everything. If you are poor or broke, it is better than welfare. Free snacks most of the time at the store, and full refunds mean you can almost eat for free for an entire year for $55.
As a side note, it might be embarrassing to return all those items, but it tends to be the easiest form of welfare, and I see a fair number of people taking advantage of that.
BAD:
Now ya see it, now ya don't. We can't really develop buying patterns. I loved the Acai juice, and bought it regularly (and no, I have never been a Costco Super Returner). I think it could be the that it was too expensive to support the returns. And yes, they offer tons of services contracted through third parties that they call the best of the best. Water softener? No problem, that will be $7000 dollars. Sure, you could buy comparable services from Amazon for $1000, but Costco gives you a lifetime warranty. Gutters? $7000. Again, you could get it for about $2000, but it is a lifetime warranty. Blinds? About $60 / sq foot of blind (not upgraded). Furnace? Double the price. In fact, more often, everything is just more expensive at Costco.
Now, Costco charges $110 for an executive membership. It comes with a guarantee that if you don't get the $55 returned as cash back (2% cash back for paying the extra $55), then they will refund the difference. Problem is, the cash back does not appear to be for the same period as the membership. My cashback is available from the beginning of September, but my renewal is at the end of November. This appears to place a full quarter on the next year's card (Now I have spent enough to get refunds in the past).
This year is the first time that I didn't meet the cash back price. That makes the cost of the executive membership more than it is worth. (To be fair, we moved further away from Costco, and are living in a different area - so different Costco). The fact that the majority of things we buy are being discontinued (Even the cheese was transitioned out for a replacement that we didn't like - we buy chicken sometimes, and pizza sometimes, and that is about it for staples, everything beyond chicken is a luxury we would be hard pressed to justify).
Before continuing on with the renewal issue, I should address that I have the Costco AmEx Card. Costco will be discontinuing the card, and require me to revoke (or pay an annual fee) and apply for a new card in a few months should I continue. The card promises cash back for Gas, but that doesn't apply to Costco Gas. All credit cards with cash back for Gas are ignored at Sam's or Costco. And Sam's is usually the same price for Gas, but their buy in is $35 ($20 Cheaper).
Continuing with the refund: They said that they could refund the difference (which was their guarantee), but if I chose to do that, I would be required to downgrade the service, and would forfeit the refund amount that had already accumulated for the next period. They tell you the amount that you are forfeiting. This seems like a Psychological trick to attempt to get people who are bad at math to devote to donating extra amounts of money to Costco.
We accepted the downgrade, which occurs immediately - before the current subscription expires. We will enjoy our remaining 2 months of regular service, then not renew (we had to explicitly ask for no automatic renewal or they would renew about a month before the service expired). While it is a great form of welfare, we feel that we have no further intention of supporting the welfare. The prices are now fairly regularly more expensive than they are elsewhere. Even the gas is becoming more competitive elsewhere. Even more so for those with 5% cashback on gas. At current gas prices, it is still better to avoid Costco if Costco is as much as 10 cents cheaper per gallon. That means that we are donating at least $55 to what we consider welfare every year, and every purchase that we don't turn into a welfare purchase is becoming a further donation to welfare.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Milk is regularly a dollar more than local stores. Some bulk junk food is cheaper, but we don't need any of that. The pumpkin pie is a great price, not that it is necessary, but worth pointing out. Beyond that, much of the selection is unique. We have enjoyed eating grape leaves. The green chilli chicken salsa is good (albeit expensive). Flautas are great with the salsa (again, expensive). Cheese is a good price, though comparable with Sam's. I often find some of the bread's cheaper at local stores, not same selection. read more