Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Fri 19 Feb 2010 06:11:39p, George Shirley told us...
>
>> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Fri 19 Feb 2010 05:11:29p, Cindy Fuller told us...
>>>
>>>> Ranee's post about the non-availability of good kosher hot dogs at
>>>> Costco brought up an interesting sidebar. She said that she and Rich
>>>> had let their Costco membership lapse. The SO and I have debated for
>>>> years about the value of getting a Costco membership. I briefly had a
>>>> Sam's Club membership many years ago, but I let it lapse because there
>>>> wasn't one nearby when I moved from Dallas to Ithaca in 1986. Our
>>>> neighbors are big Costco aficionados, and my relatives back east are
>>>> devotees of BJ's and Sam's. To my thinking, a membership doesn't make
>>>> much sense for the two of us. We don't have oodles of space to store
>>>> large quantities of stuff. Anyone in a small household want to chime
>>>> in one way or another?
>>>>
>>>> Cindy
>>>>
>>> For the two of us it's hard to justify a Costco membership, too. We
>>> don't have a lot of storage space for large quantities, either, and the
>>> few large containers of items I have bought don't really justify the
>>> cost of the membership. Two people can only consume so much unless
>>> they entertain frequently, have family stopping by often, etc.
>>>
>>> I don't know how often you can get a "guest card" at Costco, and I
>>> believe there's a dollar limit on purchases, but you might try that.
>>> Our membership has expired, and I think I'll try getting a guest card
>>> next time. That would probably suffice for our needs, and since there
>>> are two of us, we could each get a guest card at different times.
>>>
>> We had a Sam's Club membership for years, we let it lapse last year as
>> we could see no cost benefit in shopping there. The only bulk things we
>> bought and used were toilet paper, paper towels, and laundry detergent.
>> I did a cost comparison and decided it was cheaper to shop at the nearby
>> supermarket than to drive the twenty mile round trip to Sam's. We also
>> don't shop at Walmart, even though it is only two miles away. I object
>> to the pushing and shoving of the crowds of people in there and getting
>> heel knocked by some good old girl who is in a big hurry.
>>
>
> We do shop at Walmart, but only for items that are clearly the best price,
> or a few store brands that we prefer. We only go there during non-peak
> hours, early in the morning or well into the evening. No crowds then. We
> generally buy laundry products and surface cleaners at Big Lots. The rest
> of our purchases are at a variety of supermarkets, and David scours the ads
> for specials on things we would normally buy. Luckily, all the stores we
> shop at are within a 3 mile radius of our house, so we really don't waste
> money driving from place to place.
>
The local Walmart is open 24 hours a day. We have a large shift work
population due to all the hydrocarbon processing plants and the place is
nearly always crowded beyond belief. We shop at Big Lots anytime we
drive the ten miles into the big town nearby. I coupon and run the ads
but nearly always shop at the local Kroger as they send me coupons every
week or so that make it harder to shop elsewhere.