Could you speak up, please?

localization here. whenever possible. specially in the food dept.
just looking at the people in the "cafeteria" eating oversized portions of garbage is enough for me to lose my appetite.
Costco can suck donkey balls. so can Walmart. my money goes to supporting the local economy, whenever possible.

Just a slight diversion here.

I began using the new Citi Visa card to buy gas at Costco. Every time I use it, I get a message on the pump about having to insert my Costco membership card before using the pump. Since the Citi card is my membership card, this didn't make sense. It takes three or four attempts before the card is read and I can pump gas. I went into Costco and asked at the membership desk if others had the same problem and was told that yes, it was a common issue since the change over. She checked my account number and said everything matches so there appears to be a problem with the new cards being read and verified by the software.

I live in SoCal and am wondering if anyone else, in a different location, is having a similar issue when using the gas pumps and the new Citi cards.

I had to swipe it twice like I used to with my Amex. I was surprised that they didn't update the pumps to recognize the Citi Costco card in one swipe. Hopefully that will change, but price differential worth the minor inconvenience.

Costco was originally set up primarily as a local wholesale vendor for smaller businesses. Back when I had them as an audit client, the bulk of the $'s spent were by local restaurants, small retailers and service providers buying supplies. They had wholesale only hours, etc. I believe they still do although I haven't paid much attention in a long time. I would guess that a good % of volume from a financial perspective is wholesale to local businesses.

Same stupidity here...

Finally in the store you can "tap" the credit card if it's below $200.

no wholesale hours here.
we have all sorts of wholesome food available locally. none of it is at Costco. or Walmart. the (marginally) extra cost is more than justified, imho

Walmart and Costco are symbols of the North American dream being flushed down the toilet. For better or worse ......

Costco has the lowest dispensing fees for drugs up here, $4.47 compared to $9.71 at Walmart and more at other places.

The car dealer program is different up here. Basically you bargain your best price from the dealer and then pull out your Costco card and the dealership takes another $1,000 off the price.

The only problem is Costco's hours as it's only open 10am-8pm (IIRC), at Shoppers Drug Mart they are open 7am-midnight (some at 24 hours) and for us Costco is out of the way.

It makes sense if your plan isn't very good or you have no plan, but for us it's less than 50 cents difference.

Hard to have much respect for a business that over-pays the help.

Supply and demand and free-market competition are beautiful things.
Unless you can't compete.

I cannot disagree further with your comment. THIS is what makes America great. Innovate or die. Capitalism at its finest. Be glad you live in a country where you get the choice and freedom, rather than the choice being made for you.

Amateur.

:D

They are further evidence that a) with no education you get a ****ty job and b) people want cheap stuff.

Still lots of opportunity to succeed. Cater to a different market. The low end is taken.

To paraphrase something I heard someplace else:

If you shop at Walmart or Costco, you help the CEO buy his fourth vacation home.

If you shop locally, you help the owner send his kid to college.

I have no idea what it costs where you live but a quick look and it appears to depend on where the pharm is The Exceptional Access Program (EAP) - Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) Program - Public Information - MOHLTC

I've only needed a prescription once in my life after 8 pm so I'll shop where I save the most money and having gone from 0 meds to 11 different ones a day I save a lot by shopping there.

I'm glad you like to subsidise those workers who need to apply for food stamps with your tax dollars. The CEO of Walmart thanks you ....I'm sure. :rolleyes:

I do try to shop locally, but sometimes it's not feasible.

Still have $150 bucks in shares from the residential co-op I'll never cash in.
I'm also a food co-op member, but their prices are through the roof probably due to high downtown rent and the property taxes that create it.
The people that shop there are mostly for extravagant community support programs supported by taxes, so there is that.

From an environmental and efficiency standpoint there is something to the box stores like Costco.
Instead of driving around all day to twenty different specialty stores located on all corners of town and wasting gas, customers can get it all from one source.
The small traditional downtowns used to serve this purpose.

Costco does make an effort to source locally/fair trade on a few items, maybe only as a PR gesture, but their purchasing dept seems to know what they are doing.
In general they sell descent products IMO.

LOL. That just says your negotiating skills need work.