I have never been to the store so i have no idea if it is worth to join and pay the 60.- for it.
Any experience with them? Are there anywhere some catalogs available for download or so? Live 2 hours from Melbourne and would like to go there tomorrow if it is any good.
Anyone maybe got a recent catalog as a scan or pdf or so?
I had a membership I didn't save enough to justify the membership and due to the half price specials by the big 2 and Aldi having a fairly good cheap range didn't justify my time and petrol to drive down.
But their Kirkland brand stuff is quite nice if you're into that.
I have to disagree, but it depends what you are buying. A few examples, some of the health food items are significantly cheaper than can be found anywhere else, a workmate recently bought some berries for about 25% of what they can be bought in a supermarket ($/kg wise anyway). We buy roti breads there and probably save 80% over what a supermarket charges. I also saved about 50% on some exercise equipment recently, more than double what the annual fee was saved on one item (did an online price compare while in store).
Also worth keeping in mind that a lot of items may be similar price to the supermarkets but you get better quality at that price (items like cheese & meats).
On the most part I agree, general grocery and cleaning items are about the same as when the supermarket has it on special, but so many things are cheaper (if you have storage space for bulk) that I save the membership fee many times over.
What are the main things people go to Costco for (because they're cheaper / better quality / not available elsewhere etc.)? I'd like to go to Costco one day just to browse but I can see myself purchasing a membership and then getting a refund straight after due to it not being worth it heading into docklands again. Prices / product ranges being so secretive is a big turn off.
You don't need to be a member to go in. Just sign up for a free daypass in the membership section or make friends with someone outside and go in with them.
Supermarket specials are always cheaper than Costco. But Costco regular prices are cheaper than supermarket regular prices.
Check out Loaded Trolley which has price lists and compares the prices with supermarkets.
You don't necessarily need to justify the membership costs. You can just go there to experience what its like.
This is sort of a bad example but say you spend $60 on a magazine/gaming/console membership and compare it to a membership with Costco in which you can potentially earn back the $60 over a period of time. It's not the worst thing you could ever pay membership fees for. If I lived 20min away from it then I would spend the money to join up - and get a refund if I didn't like it. But in the end, it's better than other crap people pay to be a member of.
They have coupons on their website.
I was a member for a year. My take away from the Costco experience is that it's very much about value. Unit pricing is key. You'll almost never find products being sold in the same quantity as the supermarkets. It's all about bulk. Most of the time I found the unit prices to be cheaper but some were about the same and rarely a bit more expensive (back in 2009-2010 anyway). I was a bit wary of the fruit/vegetables. I don't think the bulk mentality works particularly well with these anyway. I would say that you can always expect competitive prices at Costco but don't buy blindly.
There's also a company called Fairdinks which sells Costco Docklands products (at a 10-15% premium over Costco's prices). Their website gives you an idea of what Costco has on offer.
The membership isn't bad value, so it might be worth it for some people, but the real question I have for most people is, is the experience worth it, massive ques, to get into car park, to check out, to get through the people who have licenses to drive a car but surely need one to drive the oversized trolleys, watch those toes! U will have to add an extra hour to ur normal shopping experience going to Costco.
I tagged along with a friend once - found that a lot of the products were aimed at families and bulk buying - for example packs of 24 toilet rolls, but only one brand; huge plastic containers of washing powder, cases of drink (24 cans minimum), massive fresh pizzas that probably would not fit in the averge size oven, lots of American imports (Hershey's chocolate sauce in 1kg bottles etc). I did not buy much as I lack storage space, but if I had a big house and teenagers it would be a great place to shop. We arrived about 15 mins before opening on a Saturday morning, but there were already heaps of people waiting, and it quickly turned into trolley gridlock and chaos. Was an interesting experience, but I havent been back.
Will be getting a membership eventually as I'm looking for a new TV
recent offer of Sony 42inch tv for 720$? Sells for 899 on jbhifi online… and 998 at JB hifi store(though im told that shouldn't be different)
I hear they sell diamond rings at costco overseas, will be fascinating to see what else they have, that I havent been told about
They sell diamond rings at Costco here too. $160,000 ring at Auburn, the last time I looked at their jewelry cabinet. Gotta wonder who would go to Costco for a ring that expensive.
We joined up because my partner was contemplating getting a hearing aid, and the $60 membership allows you to get a free hearing check, and the hearing aid ended up being about $1300 compared to $3000 you might pay elsewhere. I think that's pretty good value, particularly given that you'd still have the option of cancelling your membership later. But the jumbo box of Ghirardelli brownie mix makes it all worthwhile. ;)
If you don't like it you can receive a full refund no questions :)