Costco is everyone’s favorite warehouse store, and for good reason. They sell everything from bulk groceries to flatscreen TVs to designer clothing. It’s truly a one-stop shop and offers some of the best deals of any grocery store. Costco even loses money on a few of their items to keep customers coming back year after year.
If you want to save even more money and have a better shopping experience, here are 5 mind-blowing secrets about Costco that you need to know.
5 Mind-Blowing Secrets About Costco
The Best Deals Are in the Center of the Store
Costco doesn’t mark up their products as much as other grocery stores, so you can feel confident you’re getting a good value. For example, supermarkets usually inflate their meat prices by 30%. But Costco only marks up their meats a maximum of 15% higher than the wholesale price.
However, if you want to get the absolute best deals Costco has to offer, try to stick to the center of the store. Employees say that the items with the lowest prices are usually in the heart of the store, while the ones with the highest markups are located in the front.
Pay Attention to the Price Tags
Costco’s price tags have lots of hidden messages you should pay attention to if you want to score great deals.
If you see an asterisk on the sign, that means the item won’t be restocked, so you should load up your cart while it’s still available.
Costco also has a special pricing structure that you may not know about. The last two digits of the price indicate whether an item is on sale or not. Items ending in .99 are regular price, but ones ending in .97 are marked down.
You should also look for prices ending in .88 or .00. They’re items that the manager is trying to get rid of, so they may be an even better deal than the other sale items in the store.
Costco Offers Price Adjustments
Although Costco doesn’t price match with other retailers, they will give you a price adjustment if something you bought recently goes on sale.
Anything you’ve purchased online within the past 30 days may be eligible for a price adjustment. Just put in a request online to get the difference refunded.
Costco Has a Generous Return Policy
Costco has one of the most generous return policies in the business. They’ll usually take back any item you’re unsatisfied with and give you a full refund. There isn’t a hard time limit on returns either, so you may be able to get your cash back even if you bought an item several months ago.
One of the most mind-blowing secrets about Costco is that they’ll refund your annual membership fee if you don’t end up liking the store. Since trying out Costco is truly risk-free, you should definitely sign up and give it a shot.
Costco Loses Money on These Items
Did you know that some of Costco’s items are such a great deal that the company actually loses money on them? In 2015 the CEO said that the company sacrifices $30 to $40 million in gross margin by keeping their rotisserie chickens priced at $4.99.
The chickens are one of Costco’s most delicious and popular items. They weigh up to two pounds more than their competitors’ rotisserie chickens and are free of preservatives, MSG, and artificial flavors and colors.
Another item that Costco reportedly loses money on is the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo. The meal has remained the same price since 1985. If the price had been raised to keep up with inflation, it would be $3.65 today. So if you want to feed your family on the cheap, bring them to the Costco food court and buy a round of hot dogs.
Hopefully these 5 mind-blowing secrets about Costco will help you save money and enjoy the store even more.
Are there any surprising secrets we didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.
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