Costco Costco, boogie with a suitcase

[Cockney Rebel]

Does anyone here have a Costco account?

How much do you use it and what do you use it for?

We have the opportunity of getting a discounted membership and wondered if it would be worth the initial outlay.

[rva]

You'll probably get enough out of it to at least make it worth the initial $45 or whatever.  After that, people either tend to love it tremendously or allow their membership to lapse.  Fiscally it's well worth it, but what turns people off is it can be a pain in the ass.

I don't have a Costco account because the Costco is a little too far from my house.  Also, I live by myself in a tiny home, so I don't need things in bulk.  And finally, I live kind of a stupid lifestyle.  No kids, no expenses, and no goals means I have a decent amount of spare cash.  I use this spare cash to live a pretty lazy lifestyle.  I'd rather go to a bar and spend $30 on dinner and drinks than buy stuff from Costco and make a meal for $10.  Most people aren't like that.

My parents go to Costco every week, and they love it.  I suppose I cheat by having a de facto membership.  Whenever I go home, I go to Costco with my parents and I usually end up buying a few things using their membership card.  It's a pretty cool place.  There's a lot of really high quality stuff there for real cheap, unlike other stores where you get what you pay for.

[Kwyjibo]

It's pretty much just Sam's but more expensive and slightly fancier, isn't it?

[whigsgeek]

Wish we had a Costco here. It'd be worth the membership fee just to be able to buy a coffin!

[cuddlyevil]

Their meat case has more variety too. We let our membership lapse because there isn't one all that close to us (esp. when there is a Sam's  5-10 minutes away). But there are several things we could get at costco that we can't get at sam's.

[rva]

The prices are pretty comparable, actually.  The difference is more in what they carry and the general vibe and even then it can be kind of subtle.

You can get cheap Kraft Mac and Cheese or the equivalent at either place.  But then Sam's Club will also carry "Krapt Mac and Cheese" at like $.01 a box whereas Costco will add  in fancy-ass, organic, macrobiotic Annie's Mac and Cheese instead.

Costco has fancier stuff, but also more environmentally-friendly stuff.  They also pay their workers really well.  Basically Sam's tries to be fancy Walmart whereas Costco tries to be the anti-Walmart.

[MissKitty]

Does Costo offer organic fresh veggies and stuff too, or just frozen and/or canned?

[cuddlyevil]

MK, I think it might depend on the location.

[redbobsled]

We have a Costco membership, and I tend to use it most on big ticket items - TVs, digital cameras, etc.  Their prices on those are excellent.  We also used their interior design service to get Hunter Douglas woven wood blinds in our house at a good discount, AND their designer came out to our house.  As far as every day items, their produce can be hit or miss.  I generally prefer farmer's market produce to Costco's, but every so often there is a good deal with good quality.  Their prices on beverages are good, and they generally have good wine selection.   But that could be a function of location, as when we lived in Santa Cruz, the wine selection there was a lot stronger than the Costcos in LA - proximity to Napa, maybe? 

They also have DVDs for super cheap.  I got my sister Seaon 7 of the West wing for $16.  The cheapest I'd seen it elsewhere was around $30.  If you buy a few items like that ayear, membership pays for itself. 

[rva]

I like the Costco "Kirkland" generic line of products more than the Wal-mart generic they have at Sam's.  The Kirkland socks kick ass. 

Costco will have more fresh foods/organic stuff than Sam's will, but there's still a limit to how much you can carry in a grocery warehouse for cheap.  The Costco in Northern Virginia is at about the level of a Trader Joe's with maybe 3-4 aisles worth of stuff.  The Costco in Richmond (although I haven't been in awhile) had pretty much nothing.

The fresh food/organic thing is a big thing for Costco.  They were the first "club" store to carry fresh produce at all, and they've been trying to start a "Costco Fresh Food" chain for forever.