I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!Yeah, I know, me. I like Costco for a lot of reasons, but lately I don't even want to go there. The parking lot is always crammed, not just with Washingtonians, but also with Canadians coming across the border to get deals on food. And gas. For a long time Costco has been the cheapest gas station around, but the wait over the last year has gotten to be so ridiculous you can spend a half an hour in line waiting for gas and that's not even during peak time. In fact it takes less time to drive to the Costco in the next county and get gas then it does to go to the one in my hometown. Of course there's the return trip so it's not worth it, but that shouldn't be the case. It shouldn't be this bad. We aren't California.
I think it would help if they had county or state resident only hours of operation. It would be nice if there were an hour in the morning or an hour in the evening where if you were from out of state or country, you weren't allowed to buy then. Even if it was only one day a week.
Not even the handicapped parking spaces are vacant there. In the past year and a half that I've had my permit, I've parked in a handicapped slot there exactly twice. And after navigating the innards of this Costco and then waiting in the checkout line for 20 minutes or longer, my body is so messed up I need to have parked close.
We're not buying our meat there anymore since switching to grassfed beef and chicken, I can buy toilet paper and cashews somewhere else, but there are certain items I can't get anywhere else locally. 50 pound bags of flour, the organic tomato sauce, tomatoes, paste, and sauce. They have changed so many brands to their store brand, which is sometimes good but sometimes really, really not. They have stopped carrying the peanut butter my son can eat.
I don't know. We more than made back our money on our membership this year, and the thing renewed in January so I'm not in a rush to make up my mind, but the lengths at which I go to avoid going there (I usually send DH with a list) make me think maybe it's time to let it go. I think if before it expires I go and buy a year's worth of butter and freeze it and tomato products and store them, I could be perfectly happy without the membership at this point. With our new bed we could completely fill the underneath with tomato products and not have them sitting out in the way. Maybe that is the way to go.
I'll really have to watch my pattern of use for the rest of the year and if I'm avoiding it more than I'm going then there's not much point in keeping it any longer.
I Am Debating Cancelling My Costco Membership
May 14th, 2012 at 08:40 pm
May 14th, 2012 at 08:46 pm 1337028371
May 14th, 2012 at 09:28 pm 1337030908
May 14th, 2012 at 09:46 pm 1337031991
I get gas at my Costco every week and if there is a wait it's like 3-5 minutes. Most times I pull right up to a pump. (That actually applies to both Costcos in my area.) Never have a problem parking either..
Do you have a friend with a membership who would take you if you cancelled?
May 14th, 2012 at 10:20 pm 1337034022
I don't know about the membership. I think FIL might still have one, but I'd have to check. He doesn't like going there either.
May 15th, 2012 at 03:05 am 1337051145
I have memberships to both Costco and Sam's Club (both paid for by my boss) I prefer Sam's because they have "business" hours (granted, you have to have a business membership) but, they open at 7 AM for the business members instead of 9/9:30 for everyone else. I love shopping in the quiet, LOL. By the time I check out, they are just letting everyone else in. ;-)
May 15th, 2012 at 03:44 am 1337053494
To paraphrase Yogi Berra, Costco is a place "so popular no one goes there."
May 15th, 2012 at 03:56 am 1337054190
I am not sure if I would have one unless my work didn't pay for the membership....I hate going there....I feel like a criminal every time I leave...show me your receipt! I mean, you can't get in without showing your card, you can't check out without showing your card....really? They say it is to make sure the checkers didn't forget something....ugh....