Welcome to the blog. I'm the other half of the membership. And, I have been the reluctant part of our duo to make the leap into warehouse shopping.
What's my beef with buying in bulk?
Certainly I'm not opposed to good prices relative to value on items you need or want. That's a no-brainer.
Rather, my reluctance has been a desire and long-held belief in simpler living and not getting swept up in the high tolerance we Americans seem to have for buying, buying, and buying more! Don't you get the sense in talking with friends that sometimes we buy to, well, just to buy!? That kind of buying (and spending) gives me a money hangover. To better illustrate my ideas:
* A few years back, a coworker and I both commented on a Monday morning about our delicious (albeit separate) dinners of Lamb over the weekend. I purchased our Lamb at Lunds, our local grocery store (and definitely not a warehouse or bargain shoppers mecca), he bought at Cosco. "HA!" he exclaimed, "You paid WAY too much!" To which I replied, "No, I purchased $20 in lamb (our per pound price was about $2 different) and you walked away spending $150 on lamb and bulk toilet paper," (He sheepishly conceded that one).
* I've had friends tell me a trip to Costco garners great savings on milk and gas. By my estimation a gallon of milk is about 20 cents cheaper and gas is about 5 cents cheaper per gallon. 2 gallons of gas (40 cents) and 15 gallons of gas (75 cents) barely makes it worth the 11-mile trip.
* We live in a 2,000 square foot house with limited storage.
* There are only 3 of us (2 adults and one 6-year old child); bulk isn't a true need for us.
* I've recently switched a lot of our shopping from Lunds to Target and secured the Target Red Card for 5% savings at each visit. Target is a short drive and I can cover grocery and household needs in a convenient trip.
* I try to avoid buying processed, prepared foods.
O.K., so why did I succumb to the lures of the Warehouse? Well, why not. As my better-half noted, a $50 annual membership isn't a hardship for us. Further, I am in the market for a laptop and having my specifications in hand, we found a laptop on our first trip to Costco for $100.00 less than on the HP website.
Our first visit was a lot of fun. We bought the Lamb we're both fond of and had a great time walking the aisles and enjoying the free samples. We bought some items we use (Bananas, Olive Oil, Contact Solution); some items we didn't need but knowingly bought as a splurge (Chicken Wings for watching the Super Bowl), and passed on some items (I love laughing cow cheese, but it was the wrong flavor, the bulk grapes would have gone bad, I didn't want 4 packages of butter).
Our first trip was fun. Will I go back? Sure, but Target and Lunds have nothing to worry about.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Joining the warehouse shopping phenomenon
My wife and I finally decided to join the warehouse shopping phenomenon. We've started this blog to outline our experiences as new members; neither of us has belonged to a warehouse store before (although I have been a guest shopper at both Costco and Sam's Club).
It seems that everyone we know belongs to either Costco or Sam's club; most seem to belong to Costco and I have visited Costco more often than Sam's Club. Everyone we know raves about the savings and the quality of the grocery items at Costco. We've eaten the steaks and rack of lamb from Costco and agree about the quality, although the savings were something we had to accept on faith at the time as we had no data to compare.
We've both been skeptical about the savings at Costco, my wife more than I. Partly because the volume & quantities associated with Costco make the savings somewhat less than transparent. Instead of buying a traditional sized portion -- pound of ground beef, bottle of lotion, 12 pack of soda -- you're offered 5 pounds of ground beef, a 3 pack of lotion, a 32 can flat case of soda -- at increased prices over what you'd normally pay. And even if the per-unit prices are better, the quantities involved often represent a storage or spoilage issue. Even when the pricing is very good, the quantities may just encourage over consumption.
So why did we join? I encouraged us to join Costco for a few reasons. I was already pretty familiar with the store by "guest shopping" either with a friend or with a friend's card and the locations are reasonably convenient. Two, I'm not a fan of Wal Mart and Sam's Club, owned by Wal Mart, has the feel of Wal Mart to me and I know a couple of people who switched to Costco from Wal Mart.
The biggest reason, though, was that when "guest" shopping you can't really get a feel for what it's like to be able to shop there regularly and use your credit card instead of paying in cash. Since a one year membership is only $50, this gives us a year to pay closer attention to the prices for things we buy, whether the quantities involved offset the volumes often required and whether the somewhat further location is convenient enough to make the savings worth the effort.
More later on the signup experience and our first trip as members.
It seems that everyone we know belongs to either Costco or Sam's club; most seem to belong to Costco and I have visited Costco more often than Sam's Club. Everyone we know raves about the savings and the quality of the grocery items at Costco. We've eaten the steaks and rack of lamb from Costco and agree about the quality, although the savings were something we had to accept on faith at the time as we had no data to compare.
We've both been skeptical about the savings at Costco, my wife more than I. Partly because the volume & quantities associated with Costco make the savings somewhat less than transparent. Instead of buying a traditional sized portion -- pound of ground beef, bottle of lotion, 12 pack of soda -- you're offered 5 pounds of ground beef, a 3 pack of lotion, a 32 can flat case of soda -- at increased prices over what you'd normally pay. And even if the per-unit prices are better, the quantities involved often represent a storage or spoilage issue. Even when the pricing is very good, the quantities may just encourage over consumption.
So why did we join? I encouraged us to join Costco for a few reasons. I was already pretty familiar with the store by "guest shopping" either with a friend or with a friend's card and the locations are reasonably convenient. Two, I'm not a fan of Wal Mart and Sam's Club, owned by Wal Mart, has the feel of Wal Mart to me and I know a couple of people who switched to Costco from Wal Mart.
The biggest reason, though, was that when "guest" shopping you can't really get a feel for what it's like to be able to shop there regularly and use your credit card instead of paying in cash. Since a one year membership is only $50, this gives us a year to pay closer attention to the prices for things we buy, whether the quantities involved offset the volumes often required and whether the somewhat further location is convenient enough to make the savings worth the effort.
More later on the signup experience and our first trip as members.
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