At a cost of $40 for the membership, a 60 mile round trip at 20mpg and probably a Taco Cabana meal thrown in, there needs to be a bit of savings in there somewhere. (My guesstimate, at least $25 cash out of pocket per trip).
A note about the shopping experience... It is a different world once you go inside the giant warehouse store. Packaging and quantities are not the same that you find elsewhere.
One of these is not like the other...
Look closely at the quantity of formula in each package. The top one is from a multi-pack at Costco, which included that tub (17.5 oz) and two refill packs (Total 52.5 oz).
The bottom one (23.4 oz) is the standard single container from Walmart which goes for about $23.67.
Without looking carefully, the packaging looks like a double supply, but that would only be 46.8 oz.
Pricing comparison - Walmart, $1.01 per ounce. Costco, about $.96.
For Renee's favorite Kashi cereal, a two-pack seemed like a good deal, but we discovered when we got home that each package was 2.5 oz. smaller than a standard single box.
Of course, Costco also lures you in with monthly coupons, which for May included a whopping $8.50 off of the formula. So it is cheaper, but only significantly so with the coupon.
Brand-name diapers are a better savings.. we picked up a giant box of Huggies size 2 for 15 cents each, the cheapest I have found. I have also heard nice reviews of the Costco store-brand (Kirkland) diapers.
I don't know how Sam's compares, but I will just assume similarities... large quantities and some savings.
Bottom line.. if you live within a normal shopping distance or just like to stock up, you can save money. There are lots of other member benefits that they would tout as well.
However, it is also worth doing the math to see if you will save enough to make the trip. Just don't forget that unless you are a super-disciplined shopper, you will buy some big boxes of items you did not have on your list. And with different package sizing, you won't know exactly if you are saving money.
Don J.
We've had a Costco membership for several years now and we've lived within 15 miles of the store.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've noticed is you do have to watch the prices and sizes and such.
Typically you do save some money at Costco but not always. It's kinda like the Dollar Store.
Everything's a dollar but it may be $.75 elsewhere.
We're on a formula that Costco still doesn't sell so that's not a huge benefit for us - and since they don't have diapers smaller than size 2 or 3 we're just now at the point where we can buy/use their diapers.
Another problem I've seen is we have one or two products we always buy at Costco so we sometimes make special trips there just to refill - and then end up walking out with $75 worth of additional things we didn't really need.
We also buy the Kirland brand of free and clear laundry detergent liquid. Consumer Reports rates it a best buy product and we go through so much laundry with the kids that we save quite a bit there. Costco diapers and wipes are good quality but Sam's are not of quality for the money. Once Joshua gets bigger though Sam's offers baby foods in bulk where as Costco does not. On the other hand very few Sam's carry formula. Also in my mom's group a lot of families use the Kirland formula with very good results.
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