There's a famous story about the old Costco CEO saying he would kill the person who raised the price of the hot dog combo. But years before that when Costco was entering talks to enter China..someone wanted a $30,000 bribe and it pissed Jim Sinegal off so much he didn't enter the Chinese market for decades..
Sometimes you need 1 item, like a chicken for dinner or ribs to grill. Pro tip, don’t take a cart. Go in, get your two/three things and walk out for under $40.
People give me weird looks when I grab a recycled box as soon as I walk in and proceed to carry it around the store. But I consistently only need about four items (or rather, there's a ton of other stuff I sometimes get there, but there are only four items that I need urgently--coffee bring one of them).
I could use a cart, but having a cart makes navigating around the warehouse 10x slower. If I'm just carrying stuff under my arm or in box, I can walk quickly, I can walk around people, and I can get the the self-checkout aisle and GTFO of the store without taking an hour...
My wife and I always go in with a list of exactly what we need and stick to it. If you give into the impulse buys it kills any savings you would get from shopping there.
Costco's genius is in building and maintaining trust with their members.
In the age of private equity takeovers and the MBA-enshitification of pretty much every product and service, Costco appears to be the only retailer that will stand on the side of their members against those forces.
They are playing the long game--which will pay off incredibly well for them as fewer and fewer companies care about customer satisfaction and quality.
There's a famous story about the old Costco CEO saying he would kill the person who raised the price of the hot dog combo. But years before that when Costco was entering talks to enter China..someone wanted a $30,000 bribe and it pissed Jim Sinegal off so much he didn't enter the Chinese market for decades..
Sometimes you need 1 item, like a chicken for dinner or ribs to grill. Pro tip, don’t take a cart. Go in, get your two/three things and walk out for under $40.
Take a cart, always over $100.
People give me weird looks when I grab a recycled box as soon as I walk in and proceed to carry it around the store. But I consistently only need about four items (or rather, there's a ton of other stuff I sometimes get there, but there are only four items that I need urgently--coffee bring one of them).
I could use a cart, but having a cart makes navigating around the warehouse 10x slower. If I'm just carrying stuff under my arm or in box, I can walk quickly, I can walk around people, and I can get the the self-checkout aisle and GTFO of the store without taking an hour...
My wife and I always go in with a list of exactly what we need and stick to it. If you give into the impulse buys it kills any savings you would get from shopping there.
is savings what you are optimizing for, or... prosperity? :)
Costco can't be beat on high-end tires, as I was reminded last week. And the new mint sundae is pretty delish but enough for 3–4 to share.
https://archive.ph/2026.03.15-171535/https://www.theatlantic...
Every time I'm at Costco (like earlier this evening) I think of this. It's just so beautifully done.
Costco's genius is in building and maintaining trust with their members.
In the age of private equity takeovers and the MBA-enshitification of pretty much every product and service, Costco appears to be the only retailer that will stand on the side of their members against those forces.
They are playing the long game--which will pay off incredibly well for them as fewer and fewer companies care about customer satisfaction and quality.
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