It was a warm Saturday afternoon as I pushed my over-sized cart at a snails pace behind a rather plump woman. As I tracked up and down the over crowded aisle searching for a hidden item- if it was even there at all- I kept an eye out for a much needed store employee as this endless maze of products was unfamiliar to me. They must have all been working the cash registers with Disneyland sized lines in front of them, because all I found were other small vendors within this mass of a store.
My parents were elsewhere in the store shopping. I am an adult, and I needed my parents to come with me so I could get into this store. That is because they have this lovely thing called "a membership". How backwards I always thought. Yeah, let me pay you so that I can go shop and give you even more money! Yet, here we were fighting the crowd for "an incredible deal", you'd think it was Santa's workshop.
Now I have a confession, Costco may save you more money than the membership, and since I was there, I must have thought it was worth going. I now have enough garbage bags to last my family for years and I was thrilled at the price of string cheese. That being said, bulk is not always better and it often comes with a hefty price tag.
With only nine items in my cart, the bill totaled well over a hundred dollars! That was practically our entire food budget for the month. Lucky for us it wasn't all food, therefore we weren't going to be stuck eating string cheese for every meal. I did however learn much from my shopping experience.
- Stores that require a memberships take a certain amount of purchases before the membership has paid for itself and you actually begin saving money. Living on scratch, I buy very little. I'm not even sure a membership would ever pay for itself much less save money.
- As I wandered the store I noticed the bulk items were all name brands (except a few select Kirkland items). A little math, a knowledge of generic prices items at other stores, I discovered buying in bulk, while cheaper than the small name brands in the stores, was not cheaper than the generic brands.
- Impulse buyers beware! I buy things that are not on my list, I admit it. Difference is at a regular store the items are like $1-$3. At a bulk store like Costco, that impulse buy is going to cost you more like $15. Ouch, and then you wonder how you grocery bill got to be so high.
- If it will go bad, the price you pay is for wasted food. I walked by the fresh fruit, but honestly, we don't need 8 pounds of strawberries. It would be cheaper to buy 2 pounds, that I know we will eat then pay more money for food that will go bad. In that regard, the "good deal" becomes 3 times more expensive than the smaller package.
- Similarly, will you really eat it? Look at expiration dates. You have to buy a lot, will you use all of the syrup, mac and cheese, or yogurt before it expires? If you don't eat mac and cheese very often, don't buy it in bulk, you'll end up overpaying for the portion you actually did eat.
- Be prepared for a big price tag. If you really will go through 50 pounds of flour, five dozen eggs, or 60 string cheeses before it expires, be prepared for a big price tag. You pay a lot up front, so hopefully you will not have to go to the store very often.
- They also only accept American Express credit cards. I don't know if you have to get credit card to have a membership, or if you can pay always pay with a check or debit- certainly you don't want to walk around the store with hundreds of dollars in cash. Be leery of getting another credit card, it invites more opportunity for debt and lowers your credit score- something to keep in mind if you are going to be making a big purchase (like a house) in the near future.
- For those that like to use credit, make sure your don't rack up a bill that you can't pay off. Wasting money though interest is worse than having to buy your way into a store in the first place.
Beware when people advertise "great deals" for the whole store. Remember, they are making money somehow.
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