I joined Costco a few months ago so I could save a few bucks on my Dyson, but I’ve been mildly surprised that I’ve used the membership more often than I thought.
In college, our house finance officer determined that we didn’t save any money shopping at Costco1, and I had similar anecdotal experience.
Costco is an interesting phenomenon.
- You have to pay to shop there.
- The store is poorly organized and aisles are not marked with what they contain so it can be hard to find what you’re looking for.
- There are no sales people to help you if needed.
- You often have to buy in quantities that are inconvenient.
- You can only use certain payment methods.
- They check to see if you are stealing on the way out.
Anyway, the upside is that there are some good deals to be had. I’ve recently been getting my home office in better shape, adding a printer/copier/fax2, paper, folders, paper clips, envelopes, etc. and I’ve bought much of this at Costco. I’ve been pleasantly surprised – plus I can write off the membership anyway. 🙂