This was one of those funny days where I was inside a Costco store as the person I was with shopped there a lot and of course you have to pay a membership fee. While going through some aisles I was asked if I was interested in anything and I usually in these cases when I don’t actually need anything I would only buy it if the deal is really that good. But for a lot items it seemed like it was more expensive or the same as other non membership stores.
For example, I saw similar brands of nuts for about $15 per 2kg and I know the same can be found elsewhere for about $7 to $10 when it is on sale or $15 at normal price. So that is disappointing if you paid for a membership fee not to get prices that are better. I notice this a lot with supermarkets where the member card prices are cheaper than the store listed price but overall it can still be more expensive than what others are selling them for.
That must be great profits for the company to collect all these annual membership fees from customers while essentially charging them the same prices as other businesses for a lot of products. It is basically more beneficial to people who don’t really have a choice as to where to go shopping due to location as an example. You essentially still have to look for sale prices even at membership stores to get the best deals.