I wish I’d worn a condom

Let’s start off with saying that I’m not a Costco shopper, never have been and never will be. I refuse to apply for, pay for and be granted a membership just to enter a store. Ridiculous. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. None.

Sure, I might be missing out on a super deal on a 20 Kilo bag of sugary puffs or a 40 pack of chicken legs at a bargain price. Is it really worth it? I’m telling you that you really don’t need that supersized bag of Doritos or that giant bag of Kohlrabi. Hell, you don’t even know WTF Kohlrabi is. But you do know that you are just going to leave that shit it in the back of your fridge, to get all nasty faster than Trump’s next tweet.

So why do people pay to shop at Costco? It’s because Costco is lying to you. I’ve officially polled a half dozen (ha!) or so Costco shoppers and the consensus is Costco has some deals but you have to watch carefully because sometimes the Costco bargains are not really bargains at all. Shocker.JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER STORE.

When Costco first started they rolled out a membership drive that targeted business executives and the upper class. The Costco memberships would then be offered to the employees of these executives as some sort of perk. This gave the illusion that shopping at Costco was something “Special” some sort of secret club. This type of mentality around the exclusivity of their membership fueled Costco’s profit and still does.

While Sol Price the founder of Costco was being interviewed he was asked “how it felt to be the father of an industry” (the warehouse retail industry—Costco, Sam’s Club, etc.) Sol replied, “I wish I’d worn a condom.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Price

The membership is one of the biggest money makers that Costco has going for it. Eighty percent of the company’s net profit actually comes from the membership fees. They are making big money off of you before they even sell you anything. Go ahead and read that again.

Messing with your head even further, Costco got people thinking that they should spend more to make back the membership costs, even when most Costco stores are significantly further away from other options – costing you more just to get there. To top it off Costco has convinced people that buying in bulk is the only way to shop. Potentially spending more money to save money – which isn’t saving any money at all. I’m pretty sure the Costco executives were rockin’ to Stompin’ Tom when they imagined all this up.

The Costco membership is also used to track everything that a person buys but unlike other reward cards – Costco is the only one that makes you pay. In the past, Costco has also denied memberships to the unemployed and people on social assistance. It’s clear that this type of discrimination was an attempt to try and maintain the image of exclusivity.

There are 1000’s of stores out there in the world – GO visit them. They sell the things you need and want. Some of it useful and some of it useless and most of it for a better price than you can find at Costco. No membership required.