I’ve been working on severing my relationship with Amazon. I canceled Prime months ago, last fall I think. And I just don’t go there to buy stuff anymore, for the most part. Not 100%, there have been “emergencies.” But mostly not.
Except, I still have Subscribe & Save items that come once a month. Things like cat food, both dry and wet, cat litter, and just things we use up over time. Like, garbage bags, pain relievers, deodorant, my heartburn meds, sunscreen, my favorite mascara. They don’t all come every month but the more items you put the more discount you get. I like knowing I don’t have to worry about running out of stuff I need frequently and the subscribe and save gives you a little off. And delivery is certainly convenient. But like I say, I don’t want to give Jeff Bezos more of my money.
I know I can get stuff delivered for free from Walmart, and their prices are good. But I don’t think Walmart is any less evil than Amazon. The only non-evil retail corporation I can think of is Costco. There is not a Costco super close to me making it very convenient, but it’s also not far. Maybe 15 minutes? But mostly I just was never sure there was value in it for a family of three.
Do you think so? Do they have delivery? Is there a savings I’m missing other than bulk foods which probably wouldn’t work for us? Is there another retail store that isn’t evil that I could easily get these kinds of items from? I know most can be found at the regular grocery store but I figured those weren’t the best deals. But maybe I’m wrong?
Chewy might be evil but I get all my pet subscribe and save stuff from there. I have never specifically heard they are evil the way I have about Walmart/Target/Home Depot/amazon.
Costco does have delivery, but it’s through Instacart (at least in Massachusetts) so the price for things is higher than if you go to the store. We have a membership for two people, and I think it’s worth it? We mostly get butter, toilet paper and booze there. Ours doesn’t have a gas station but I think that’s a big discount at the ones that do.
I get pet stuff delivered through Chewy, and frankly, the prices seem about the same everywhere. I think all the big pet store places have delivery and you can probably auto ship. Chewy definitely does.
Costco has delivery from the store, which is Instacart, but they also have 2 day delivery which isn’t, but not everything is available. And some things are available online but not in the store.
I am not missing Amazon (but am not entirely divested from).
We use Costco. I think it’s worth it for us (the membership fee, I mean) and since you have 3 adults (or near-adults) in your home it would probably be worth it for you too!
We don’t do regular grocery shopping there. We get stuff like chicken broth, black beans, olive oil, diapers, canned tomatoes… trying to think of what else… you get the picture.
It’s nice to be able to get gas there.
I can’t speak for the delivery question though.
ETA we also get meds (OTC stuff) and trash bags there. And soap and detergent. Toilet paper.
If you would rarely go to Costco, you could tag along with a friend with membership and stock up on stuff in bulk! I don’t have a membership but I occasionally go with a friend.
Costco has lower prices on prescriptions, good prices on basics (milk, eggs, rice, beverages, cheese toilet paper, parchment paper, foil, saran wrap, coffee, etc.), great bakery, produce, and lots and lots of snacks.
Lots of more expensive things too, but at a good discount (wine and spirits, fancier chocolates and snacks / treats). Some good deals on clothes.
There is less overall selection / variety per item, but that’s not a big deal to me.
That was another factor I was thinking of. Daughter’s roommates had Costco cards so she would always get gas there while at college and she’d tell me how much cheaper it was.
I love Costco and I’m just one person! I buy pantry staples, cleaning supplies and toiletries there, and I coordinate those purchases with their quarterly sales on the items, so I feel like I get the absolute best price. The pharmacy and OTC medications are worth the membership alone, but there are plenty of other staples that I think most people can find value in. I hate running out of things I use all the time, so purchasing everything I can in bulk works best for me. Their delivery is marked up since they use Instacart and that is the main downside. I just plan one trip a month and make a list ahead of time of what I’m likely to need so I don’t have to go more than that. It does take a little more planning/time than subscribe and save, but it’s nice to support a good company.
Lone dissenter, I guess, but I found a Costco membership wasn’t worth it for me (household of two adults). It probably would have been worth it if the gas station was slightly more convenient. It isn’t that far away but it’s not one I pass by organically so I rarely stopped there. I mainly buy store brands on stuff anyway, so while the name brand thing st Costco was cheaper than the name brand thing at a regular grocery store, it usually wasn’t cheaper than the store brand. And I hated experience and the crowds.
Oddly, I don’t find Costco gas to be more than a couple of cents cheaper than Woodmans, and often it’s just the same price. (And we use maybe a tank of gas/month, so I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.)
When we lived in Ohio that has a Sam’s was always at least 10 cents a gallon cheaper than anywhere else!
For one person it generally wasn’t worth it to me on an ongoing basis…I do eat stuff in bulk, but the oatmeal wasn’t much different than the store within walking distance, the Indian grocery is better for rice, and even with freezing what I could I never went through the produce (my major shopping item) fast enough.
Having said that, there were a couple years where I could get a a membership ‘free’ (groupon had a repeating deal that gave ‘new’ members a gift card that covered the cost of the membership) or I knew I was going to get something like tires for the car that would make it worth it that I signed up.
The gas was a good price in comparison, so what I’d usually do when my membership was about to expire was get a gift card (you can use those without a membership) and then use that for gas until it ran out, which given where the costcos were on my way back from skiing probably saved me a little money. But it wasn’t enough to cover the membership on an ongoing basis.
I have a coatco membership and have a unhealthy attachment to it. I ‘share’ it with my BFF/neighbor and another friend, and it would probably not be worth it financially otherwise. I do the membership+credit card and the cash back generally coveres 80%+ of the membership. If we were relying on the price differential on general staples/food to make the membership worth it I think it would be close, but basically almost everything else is so discounted as to pay for the membership several times over (tires, led bathroom mirror, gas, etc.). I used to use their pharmacy, and they have extremely good prices on some drugs (bffs dog was on a specialty anti-fungal that was horrifically expensive there for a second), but my local grocery pharmacy has just as good/better prices and is more convenient so I switched to using them as my default. Technically you should be able to use their pharmacy without a membership.
I know some forumers have trouble with executive function impeding hygiene tasks. Can any of you PM me so I can ask a question about a personal situation?