Costco: I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco. I live 27 miles from the store. How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and...

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

warrior wrote:

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

You can justify it by actually shopping there, not just using it for prints. I shop there for many food and pharmacy items, household appliances and casual clothing items, as well as printer ink, batteries, printer paper, computers and printers and thousands of other items. I save a couple of thousand dollars a year compared to buying those same things elsewhere, and they have a terrific and extremely generous return policy. By the way they also sell cameras in kits as well as memory cards.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

How far do you live from the nearest store ?. I think that was the thrust of the OP's post. I live over 30 miles from the nearest store to me & that is a major reason I don't shop there... Any savings would be negated by gas costs...

mwsilvers wrote:

You can justify it by actually shopping there, not just using it for prints. I shop there for many food and pharmacy items, household appliances and casual clothing items, as well as printer ink, batteries, printer paper, computers and printers and thousands of other items. I save a couple of thousand dollars a year compared to buying those same things elsewhere, and they have a terrific and extremely generous return policy. By the way they also sell cameras in kits as well as memory cards.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

warrior wrote:

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

Costco is a very large organized store that is different than Walmart, also very large. Both have competitive prices. The photo department is better at Costco IMO. You have to buy a membership at Costco, not so at Walmart or Target. Costco is a large quantity buying store. If you have 20 kids in the house Costco is for you. I don't go there anymore. But you can get cheap gas and enjoy a good all beef hot dog or pizza. For certain .

NormanHarley Loc: Colorado

warrior wrote:

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

We live 20 miles from the nearest store or gas station. We signed up for Amazon Prime and get free two day shipping, free movies, special pricing, and we don't even have to leave the house. I have PSE 14 and two 8GB memory sticks showing up tomorrow from them. And the UPS driver is a sweetie!!! Well, the other driver is sweaty, but he is funny.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

warrior wrote:

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

Forget Costco, I think you should try even HARDER and use B&H!! It could be a really nice drive with lots of photo ops along the way!!! :lol:
SS

Basil Loc: New Mexico

We live 30 miles from Albuquerque, which is where the nearest Costco is located. We shop there for our bulk items, which in the long run saves us money. Also, I get gas there are a pretty good discount which alone more than pays for the membership fee. I recently bought a 4TB portable HD there as well.

Gifted One Loc: S. E. Idaho

Kirkland toilet paper if for no other reason! Polish dog while waiting for prints. Get exertive membership and it pays for itself.

J. R.

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

NormanHarley wrote:

We live 20 miles from the nearest store or gas station. We signed up for Amazon Prime and get free two day shipping, free movies, special pricing, and we don't even have to leave the house. I have PSE 14 and two 8GB memory sticks showing up tomorrow from them. And the UPS driver is a sweetie!!! Well, the other driver is sweaty, but he is funny.

I use B&H and Adorama. I do not use Amazon any more.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

I do due diligence & buy where it's cheapest for any hard goods that I want or need. Soft goods & food are different & I normally shop Sam's club as it's closer & the annual fee is less.... That usually precludes Costco & Sam's clubs as their prices can't compete with any number of online retailers...

Basil Loc: New Mexico

Then there's always the Dollar Palace :)

gym Loc: Athens, Georgia

NormanHarley wrote:

We live 20 miles from the nearest store or gas station. We signed up for Amazon Prime and get free two day shipping, free movies, special pricing, and we don't even have to leave the house. I have PSE 14 and two 8GB memory sticks showing up tomorrow from them. And the UPS driver is a sweetie!!! Well, the other driver is sweaty, but he is funny.

Now THAT'S funny. :)

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

Gifted One wrote:

Kirkland toilet paper if for no other reason! Polish dog while waiting for prints. Get exertive membership and it pays for itself.

J. R.

And that's no crap - their tp is the best on the market; won't use any other brand.. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

NormanHarley Loc: Colorado

warrior wrote:

I use B&H and Adorama. I do not use Amazon any more.

I normally buy most of my equipment from B&H, Adorama and Cameta, but I bought PSE 14 from Amazon because it was cheaper with the Prime membership. I didn't save a lot of money, but every little bit helps in retirement.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

warrior wrote:

I have been trying hard to get myself to use Costco.
I live 27 miles from the store.
How can I justify the cost. There is the yearly fee, 54 mile round trip, when Walmart and Target is just a 2 minuet drive.
I do my own printing.

What do you want to buy there? How big is your family?

Costco had a promotion a couple years ago so I tried it out. The store is a 15 minute drive each way. They were selling gas about $0.10/gallon cheaper than local.

After a month or so I decided it wasn't worth it to me. My truck gets 11 mi/gal and it cost as much to drive there and back as I would save on buying gas there. Almost everything in the store was in superlarge sizes and there are only two people living here. I'm not a big consumer of random stuff. And if you like particular brands, you take your chances. Sometimes they have the brand you want, sometimes not.

I shop locally now.