I have been telling people about my trip to Costco last weekend. Many of them have been dying to know how it went. One of the most common questions I get asked is “Is it worth $60/year membership?”. Well, this post should give you some ideas if it’s worth or not.
First thing you would notice about Costco is the amount of parking. It’s a big car park but they get filled up real quick too.
Second thing you would notice is their oversized trollies. You don’t need to insert a coin to use it. They are still new so to push them around should be easy but because last weekend was their first weekend in business, too many people flooded the warehouse with the oversized trollies. I overheard many women complained that they were hard to push around. I think it’s just because the place was packed with people. To maneuver around them with those trollies would be impossible. So I think the trollies are pretty easy to push around. They are big because you are buying in bulks. 
The things you can buy from Costco… they sell almost everything. (I said almost… I’ll get to that in a minute.) You can buy electronics, computers, cameras, computer accessories, external storage drives, jewellery, clothing, food, sweets, fresh produce, meat, bread, frozen food, drinks, juice, detergents, pet food, gardening tools, books, toys, dental care and personal hygienic products, tyres…etc.
The list goes on… So everything is in bulk? Pretty much except of course, books, computers, electronics, clothing, garden tools, toys and jewellery, which makes sense (who would get the same book by the dozen? 
).
Is it cheaper? Well, it depends. I did what everyone did, which was comparing prices on every single items on my groceries bills. (This was probably the reason it was flooded because no one was actually moving on quickly from aisle to aisle.) Everyone asked me about the toilet paper rolls. To me, it’s cheaper. It works out about $1 per roll if you buy the 24 rolls pack. But my friend told me she found it cheaper outside Costco. My theory is you may find better prices now outside of Costco because they’re on sale in conjunction with Costco’s opening. This is understandable because other superstores need to cut their prices in order to compete with Costco. At Costco, we are talking about these prices are all year round.
“So if you buy in bulk, you save.” That’s the long term benefit of Costco. The daily products you buy are in bulk sizes. So, if you eat a lot of meat for example, you buy in bulk, freeze them, and it’ll last you a while before you need to shop again. Buying in bulk means shopping less in a long term. If you work on this principle, you will save in a long term. So work out what you need from Costco, buy them in bulk and then only need to shop again when you need them again. 
The downsides of buying in bulk are storage space and paying large sum of money. If you don’t have the storage space including freezer space, you’ll end up cluttering your home. Can you afford it? When I shop for groceries, I’m paying a weekly bill. So, I might only pay about $80 a week. But when I shop in bulk, we’re talking about shopping for a month or more, so the whole bill comes into one lump sum of money. So, spend wisely. I know some people can’t afford that kinda lump sum payment. If you can, look at the bright side, you don’t necessarily need to shop for a few more weeks.
On another kinda cons, the whole “buying in bulk” idea encourages impulse-buying and increase food intake. If you don’t see it there, you won’t eat it… right? So if you buy in bulk, for example you bought a dozen of muffins, you know they’re in the fridge, could you stop yourself from munching when you feel snack-ish? There might be chocolates in the fridge too. 
Another factor some people may not have noticed, a lot of the food products you find in Costco is their homebrand, Kirklands. I don’t know about the quality of the products but I’m just suggesting that you may want to read the nutrient label information before buying.
Lastly, my trip there was an eye-opening and also kinda made me wonder the amount of unnecessary packaging goes into all the products. We’re talking about packaging for apples! They’re apples, what are they doing in individual plastic package? 
The only explanation I can think of is, they’re imported. Why are we importing apples when we have Australian grown fresh food and fruit?
I’m not saying you should or should not shop at Costco, but think about what you are supporting. I am not against the idea of saving money in a long term. I’m thrilled that Costco has opened up a lot of jobs in Australia. I’m just slightly concerned about why we can’t see more Australian brands in Costco? I suppose that’s because Costco is an American superstore. It’ll be very interesting to see Woolworths is moving next door to Costco in Canberra in Easter 2012. Can’t wait to follow up on this post then.
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