Is a Costco Membership Worth it?

[bjl584]

The general consensus seems to be that it can be valuable for buying bulk nonperishable items, especially if you have a large number of people in your household.

But always check prices. Just because you are getting a large quantity doesn't mean you are getting a good deal.

Single people may not get their money's worth, and may be better served shopping where smaller quantities are the norm.

What does everyone here say?

[myrdale]

I'm not a member. My mother was a Sam's Club member when I growing up, so I've been there dozens of times.

First consider membership fee of $65 to $130 per year. Before anything else you have save enough shopping there to cover that membership cost.

Second with membership cost (similar to Amazon) there is some psychology that says "I need to spend more to justify my membership".

Third consider shelf life and storage. A 25 pound bag of chicken wings is nice, but you have to have the storage space in the freezer to keep them. Most other stuff is non-perishable, but do you really need a gallon of ketchup?

Fourth is location. It was an hour drive to Sam's club in Montgomery growing up. If you had other reasons for that drive it made sense, but a trip just for groceries is definitely questionable.

[disneysteve]

A number of years ago, we joined both Costco and BJs using Groupons so we paid next to nothing for the memberships. We spent the year shopping at both and comparing their offerings. For us, BJs is a much better option. Costco didn't sell enough items that we use regularly and they tend to sell them in larger packages that are impractical for us. For example, BJs might sell a normal size bottle of mustard in a 2-pack while Costco sells a double size bottle of mustard. The bigger bottle doesn't fit in our fridge and we don't use it fast enough. At the end of the year, we dropped Costco but have maintained BJs ever since. We go there about once a month and stock up on the items that we like from there. They also have the cheapest gas prices in town so I try to fill up anytime I'm over that way.

[ua_guy]

It's worth it for us. I forget what our membership level is called but it comes with a rebate at the end of the year based on our spending. We don't track it throughout the year and still come out with a rebate that just about covers the membership. And that's on top of the savings.

Eggs and milk are super-savers at Costco compared to the grocery store.
So is coffee.
Their pre-made meals can be economical, for example the $15 tub of Chicken Noodle Soup makes 3+ meals for two during the week. It can be frozen too.
Frozen chicken breasts and burger patties are a bargain, and they're high quality.

Costco can be good for periodic replacement items too. Bed sheets if you don't mind neutral, solid colors. Other linens like bath towels, dish towels. Not that those get replaced too often, but we did so recently which is why it's still fresh in my mind.

We bought a patio furniture set through Costco this year and they were the best deal around for what we wanted. In the past we've used their contractor services for a furnace/heat pump replacement, and the service/quality were excellent.

I've used their auto-buying program to buy a new car.

Their pharmacy has some of the lowest prices for some things which aren't covered by insurance.

[Fishindude77]

I think where you can really pick up the savings is buying gas there.
Nice place to shop regardless.

[riverwed070707]

DH has a costco membership that I feel like he primarily uses for their vision and pharmacy services. Whatever his Rx is, he can just go in and pick up a box of contacts for cheap and its always in stock. I have no idea if the savings offsets the membership fee. I went once and was overwhelmed by the crowd. Costco is approx a 20 min drive, while Aldi is 3 minutes from our house so I can't imagine saving on essentials above what we save at Aldi, and even if there were savings, its not worth dealing with the people for me

[LivingAlmostLarge]

So I live 1.5 miles from a costco. They have a gas station. We have 2 EV as of this September but it's the cheapest gas around and with 1 gas car the savings alone is still worth it. I have an excel sheet that tracks fills and for 1 year of owning the Subaru Impreza we filled 300 gallons of gas. Assuming 10 cents that's $30. We had around 500 gallons in the minivan for the year. That's $50 at 10 cents savings. So without stepping foot into the store, not to mention we also have their auto/home/umbrella insurance, we probably saved $80 a year. That covers for us the cost of the regular membership.

We have the $130 executive membership. Then adding in what we spend on food - eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and meats. Then add in dog medicine which is $50 less per 6 months both online and with vet. It's $149 versus $199 chewy/etc that's $100 a year. It's $149 for the 6 month 44-88 lb dog price.

But YMMV mostly because it's pretty much the closest grocery store to us. But even when we used to drive 20 miles to it, we used to go because the diapers, wipes, etc and milk and gas were worth going 1-2x a week. At that time we needed the savings more and it was even more worth it.

Now I'm lazy and if I don't want bulk condiments and bulk stuff I go to safeway across the street from costco so 1.5 miles as well. And I buy it there. But otherwise I pop over to costco and pick up most groceries. Clothes are cheap, we always buy winter gloves for kids. The helmets, jackets, etc. Socks are super cheap too. I also now buy the kids sneakers for $30 and I used to always buy the rainboots and snowboots every year.

I've been a membership I checked since 1999. guess I'll be one forever. The toilet paper and paper towels and tissues are also good deals. The nearest target is 8 miles and walmart about 20. No aldis or any budget store otherwise. But i'm not sure it'd be worth it over costco for us. But maybe i'd have to learn how to use those other stores. I've just always lived relatively close to costco. When it was 20 miles away the nearest walmart was also 20 miles and target was 10 miles (we lived in the city/super close suburb) so big box stores were not close. And prior to that in another suburb we lived about 3 miles from a costco.

My suspicion is we like nice, expensive suburbs that costco targets.