I know of the retailer Costco, but I do not understand why the concept is so successful.

First and foremost, having to pay to be able to shop there. To pay for a “membership”, and then give away your personal information. I just find it asinine to have to pay a yearly cover charge to be able to go into a store. Plus, I do not want and do not surrender easily my personal information. But why the “membership”?

Then to shop in a store that sells mostly bulk items. The last time I was there, I saw the hugest bag of potato chips I have ever seen. Or gallon cans of beans. Or 24 roll packages of toilet paper. For me, if I had a huge family or was buying supplies for an office with numerous people, I can see going there perhaps. But if I lived in America, it would just be myself and my wife, I don’t need the huge bulk sizes this place sells. I guess people can say that they save ten cents buying the gallon can of pork and beans versus buying six cans. Ot something.

Are the prices really that much lower than in a regular chain supermarket? I have been in Costco and it doesn’t seem the prices are that much cheaper than anywhere else. I have heard that the gasoline is a lot cheaper, but perhaps the gasoline is a so called “loss leader”, an item meant to lose money to entice customers to come to their store.

I just find the “membership” aspect of it idiotic. To have to pay money to be able to shop in a store. I do know that while it’s different, a lot of supermarkets offer lower prices on goods if people get their free membership card, but again, I don’t want to give them my personal information. Why do they want it? Shouldn’t they know what sells and what does not?

If we can only get retailers to just offer a fair price, stop pricing everything ending in 99, the stupid membership cards, and especially stop playing music in the stores, life would be good.

But Costco, why?

The membership aspect of it is no more "idiotic" than Amazon Prime or other highly successful programs. You seem to hate the idea because it's a brick-and-mortar store that people shop in physically, but they choose to be members simply because it makes economic sense for them.

You seem to not realize that a single membership can serve an extended family or other group. My brother's family uses it for his immediate family that covers 3 households (and could additionally cover mine, making 4). When one of the children started their own house, they bought lots of non-perishables at Costco. They also find lower prices on meats and other products, along with lower-priced gas as you mentioned.

The bottom line is that if the savings over a year far exceeds the yearly membership fee, then it makes sense. One of my former neighbors was a single woman who shopped there all the time. I'm single but not a member there because I don't think it makes sense for me -- and also, if there were something I wanted to stock up on, I could do it through my brother's membership.

Barnes & Noble tries to press me into a membership with them, because I buy lots of books -- but I very rarely buy from them, I have far less expensive sources. But if Costco is feasible for what people want or need to buy, it's not an "idiotic" thing at all.

Recently. food prices in U.S. supermarkets have been soaring. For those who have the storage room and can buy them immediately, it's become more of a priority to combat that inflation by stocking up on lower-priced or sale-priced non-perishables and also by sharing bulk purchases with family and friends/neighbors. That's where places like Costco can meet the need.

Costco a huge warehouse, no frills store, and people can leave there spending near 1000's, many restaurants buy there... BULK shopping. I'm not a member, I don't need or want bulk but the pharmacy serves non members, I bought some meds there over the years....

I have never shopped there but I do shop at Sam's occasionally. Sam's has the most delicious Coconut frosted cake. Out of this world ! My sister buys one for me every year for my birthday.:)

Costco, now there's a topic.

The membership pays for itself at the Executive Member level, you get 2% back on all purchases except gas which is 3%. The membership at the executive level is $120 plus tax, so let's say you average $110 a week in Costco expenditures you'll get a check in the mail that covers the fee at the end of the year. Costco has a lot of things that aren't food items, TV's, laptops, kitchen appliances, clothes for example so getting to that $110 mark will be easier than you think.

You have to be careful at Costco's, this is one place that knows how to merchandise. You walk in with a plan to buy a half dozen items and leave with a cart full of stuff spending three times as much as you planned.

Costco has a great food court a hot dog and a twenty ounce soda with free refills $1.50 (are you kidding me!). A huge slice of pizza $1.99, the whole 18" pie is only $9.95 (watch the calories, each slice is about 700 calories).

Great deals on bottled water, paper towels, and the house brand "Kirkland" makes good stuff. Costco is tough on vendors and they demand quality and good prices. Costco has a great return policy.

If you're single or just a husband and wife it may not be for you but a family will definitely gets their money's worth.

Costco is also the largest wine retailer in the world, not all locations have a liquor department but if you're at a location that does you'll get good value. One note of caution, as a service for their customers some Costco locations have space rented to liquor stores, those are separate you do not need to be a member and they do not offer the same values as the in-warehouse departments.

There's one more thing (how could I forget), $4.99 for the rotisserie chicken, big bird, perfectly cooked, great meal, now that is a loss leader.

If someone uses their membership properly it's more than worth it.

Sometimes Costco has "exclusive" versions of hardlines or household products -- the ones I'm most familiar with are books they sell that are unavailable in the format elsewhere.

But their unsold product ends up at discounters like Ollie's Bargain Centers. I've bought about 3 dozen copies of books over the past few years at very low prices at Ollie's that still carried "Costco Exclusive" decals on their covers.

I bought 4 remainder copies of this Costco boxed set at Ollie's for less than the price I would've paid for just 1 at Costco:

289106

So it's a no-brainer for me to go with the deep discounter.

The concept to me is still asinine. To have to pay money to be able to spend money. Why have a “membership” instead of just have equitable pricing on what they sell? Retailers have been selling all sorts of products for thousands of years without someone having to pay money for the privilege spending money. Then there are different levels of this “membership”. The “executive” version. So, you pay more money to save more money or how does that work? It just seems so ridiculous when the store could just charge a fair price for their products without this “membership” nonsense.

The main thing to me is giving them my personal information for the stupid “membership” and then the company selling my information yo whomever they please. So, not only are you giving something of yours (your identity) to sell, the company is charging you money for it. I for one refuse outright to give away my personal information to a private concern. They can pay me to sell my information, that can work. But give it away? This is what all these shopping cards in other supermarkets and retailers are about, getting your information for free.

Hot dogs are cheap. Really cheap. So are fountain drinks. The hot dog, bread, carbonated soda and the cup costs maybe 25 cents if that. So $2.00 or whatever it is, is several times profit of the worth of what is sold (which is fine, that’s capitalism, but don’t call it a “loss leader”, that’s not true.) Same with pizza. Do you know why there are pizza places everywhere? Because pizza has a gigantic markup. A pizza costs less than a $1 and it’s sold for $10 for a whole pizza. So the food court is a profit center, not a “loss leader” or it wouldn’t be there in the first place. Gasoline is a “loss leader” because it draws people to their store, like gasoline does to convenient stores.

Granted Costco isn’t the only store like this, there is Sam’s Club (Sam’s seems to have been around longer than Costco because I remember them all the way back to the 1970’s) and there is at least one other retailer doing this concept. I think I sort of criticize this because I don’t want all supermarkets and retailers to go to this model. Imagine if all stores were like Costco which requires payment of a “membership” to buy daily items, and if you don’t like that, buy items online from the Erect Penis Logo Company for delivery and hope your stuff don’t get nicked by a porch pirate crackhead.

I also hate the word “member”. I don’t want to join anything. Especially a store where I can save ten cents on a gallon of pork and beans.

The concept to me is still asinine. To have to pay money to be able to spend money. I also hate the word “member”. I don’t want to join anything. Especially a store where I can save ten cents on a gallon of pork and beans.

You don’t have to be a member to shop there or pay to shop there. As mentioned pharmacy is open to non members. Also if you have a Costco gift card you can shop there without a membership.

You don’t have to be a member to shop there or pay to shop there. As mentioned pharmacy is open to non members. Also if you have a Costco gift card you can shop there without a membership.

The one near me also has the liquor dept. and auto mechanic open for non-members. Also, I believe members are allowed to bring a guest with them.

I belong to Costco and BJ’s.

I also hate the word “member”. I don’t want to join anything. Especially a store where I can save ten cents on a gallon of pork and beans.

Don't let the hatred consume you. No offense, but your comments are bordering on imbecilic in the way you're insulting people who choose to shop there. If you think they go to save 10 cents on a gallon product, obviously you believe they're total idiots. And this obsession with the Amazon logo is puzzling at best.

As far as not being a member of anything, the local branch of one org. I belong to distributed nearly $5,000 to charities last year. You might want to think about "T.E.A.M." -- together everyone accomplishes more.

Many if not most supermarkets offer "shopper cards" that are needed to take advantage of sale prices. So if Kroger wants to track my purchases every time I swipe their store card, they have my permission. They can send it to the peanut butter salespeople or whomever. That kind of retailing has been a successful business model for DECADES.

The concept to me is still asinine.

That sounds like a you problem. You are using insults about Costco and clearly people who shop there just because YOU don't understand it. Talk about asinine.

No offense, but your comments are bordering on imbecilic in the way you're insulting people who choose to shop there.

100% this!

Granted Costco isn’t the only store like this, there is Sam’s Club (Sam’s seems to have been around longer than Costco because I remember them all the way back to the 1970’s)

Costco was founded in 1976. Sam's Club 1983.

The concept to me is still asinine. To have to pay money to be able to spend money. Why have a “membership” instead of just have equitable pricing on what they sell? Retailers have been selling all sorts of products for thousands of years without someone having to pay money for the privilege spending money. Then there are different levels of this “membership”. The “executive” version. So, you pay more money to save more money or how does that work? It just seems so ridiculous when the store could just charge a fair price for their products without this “membership” nonsense.

The main thing to me is giving them my personal information for the stupid “membership” and then the company selling my information yo whomever they please. So, not only are you giving something of yours (your identity) to sell, the company is charging you money for it. I for one refuse outright to give away my personal information to a private concern. They can pay me to sell my information, that can work. But give it away? This is what all these shopping cards in other supermarkets and retailers are about, getting your information for free.

Hot dogs are cheap. Really cheap. So are fountain drinks. The hot dog, bread, carbonated soda and the cup costs maybe 25 cents if that. So $2.00 or whatever it is, is several times profit of the worth of what is sold (which is fine, that’s capitalism, but don’t call it a “loss leader”, that’s not true.) Same with pizza. Do you know why there are pizza places everywhere? Because pizza has a gigantic markup. A pizza costs less than a $1 and it’s sold for $10 for a whole pizza. So the food court is a profit center, not a “loss leader” or it wouldn’t be there in the first place. Gasoline is a “loss leader” because it draws people to their store, like gasoline does to convenient stores.

Granted Costco isn’t the only store like this, there is Sam’s Club (Sam’s seems to have been around longer than Costco because I remember them all the way back to the 1970’s) and there is at least one other retailer doing this concept. I think I sort of criticize this because I don’t want all supermarkets and retailers to go to this model. Imagine if all stores were like Costco which requires payment of a “membership” to buy daily items, and if you don’t like that, buy items online from the Erect Penis Logo Company for delivery and hope your stuff don’t get nicked by a porch pirate crackhead.

I also hate the word “member”. I don’t want to join anything. Especially a store where I can save ten cents on a gallon of pork and beans.

There's a lot to unwrap here, let's go back to your original question:

" I do not understand why the concept is so successful"

I gave you some of the reasons why Costco is so successful, why it has a 92.5% membership retention rate! The members are obviously extremely satisfied. What you should have written is thanks, that kind of business model is not for me. Instead you go off and to be frank make a fool of yourself.
let's take a look at that:

"Hot dogs are cheap. Really cheap. So are fountain drinks. The hot dog, bread, carbonated soda and the cup costs maybe 25 cents if that. So $2.00 or whatever it is, is several times profit of the worth of what is sold (which is fine, that’s capitalism, but don’t call it a “loss leader”, that’s not true.)"

First, it's prepared food being served in a food court, there are additional costs you need to calculate in, incidentally the hot dog is a quarter of a pound, the special has been the same $1.50 since 1985! You seem to know even less about pizza, large pies are 16" this is from an 18" pie, anyone who knows anything about the price of that product knows you're not bringing home a pizza that size for $10 at any place but Costco. Costco just missed being one of the top 10 chain pizza establishments in the United States, and it isn't a pizza establishment!

Here is a write-up on the food court, you will notice the term loss leader:

"The only reason we might want to stick an asterisk next to Costco in the pizza hall of fame is that, possibly, they're not selling pizza at all. They're kind of giving it away. Like we just said, their pizza's cheap, $2 for an enormous jumbo slice or $10 for an 18-inch extra-large. That's so cheap, the pizza kitchen has to be losing money, or at least not making anywhere as much as they could.

It's possible they run the food court at a loss, to sell memberships (even though you often don't need a membership to visit the food court) and to get people to come to the store. That's why they sell whole rotisserie chickens for $4.99, and why they've sold a hotdog and a soda for just $1.50 since 1985. The way the CEO tells it, he once told the founder they had to raise the price, and the founder said, "If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out." "

There are three membership tiers, the basic membership at about $60 (no 2% back), the $120, 2% back, and 4% on gas, and business membership, that is for small businesses and vending operators, the businesses shop get into the store an hour earlier than the general public.

The savings on some items are amazing, we bought a refrigerator a few years back, the same make and model was $400 more expensive in Lowes! Whole milk is .70 cents cheaper by the gallon than the top supermarket in the area, eggs similar savings, on just those two items alone there is a savings of about $35 in a year.