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I was doing price comparison just yesterday and was pretty disappointed in what I found for Costco prices. I thought they were better. Kerrygold butter is chea

I was doing price comparison just yesterday and was pretty disappointed in what I found for Costco prices. I thought they were better. Kerrygold butter is cheaper at Walmart. Organic chicken stock is cheaper at Whole Foods. Organic diced tomatoes at Costco however are very well priced.

lotsofpulp 7y ago
I shop at Costco despite the prices, because I like their ethos of treating employees well and business model that makes me feel like they wouldn’t cut unnecessary corners on product quality.
sureshv 7y ago
Since this is an item I get regularly - it’s $9 for a 4-pack of Kerrygold butter at the Mountain View Costco ($2.25/ 8oz bar). Same 8oz butter is almost double at Safeway or Whole Foods. The local Walmart is $2.83 per bar. I have rarely found Costco items more expensive than other local stores, at least for my regular items. I discount Trader Joe’s since they don’t carry branded items other than wine and beer.
- simonsarris 7y ago
  That's weird, it's $11.49 in NH for the same thing at Costco. :( And 2.50/bar at Walmart here (What I actually buy now is the French cultured butter from trader Joe's though, which is v good)
  - xnyan 7y ago
    Second on TJs butter. For quality to value ratio of most foods, TJs blows Costso out of the water imo, and you don't have to buy cheese in 3 lb blocks.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  I discount Trader Joe’s since they don’t carry branded items other than wine and beer. They carry a variety of branded items including Kerrygold, Tilamook, Rouge et Noir (Bay Area cheese maker), those kringles, Spindrift, Columbus (lunchmeat), those organic herbs, and Tom's of Maine (hygiene). There's probably a few more.
  - fiter 7y ago
    It's funny that you mention Rouge et Noir; I think they've been re-branded to "Marin French Cheese". I miss the old name.
- disgruntledphd2 7y ago
  That is depressingly cheap Kerrygold. I live in ireland (the home of Kerrygold), and it cost me 3.75 euro to get one of those packs today :( On the bright side, the no-name brand butter is almost as good here, so it's not a total wash.
AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
> Organic chicken stock is cheaper at Whole Foods. If you buy Better than Bouillon at Costco, you can get a pound of the stuff for about $6, which is double the quantity that you find at most other grocery stores. I stopped buying liquid stock after I found that stuff, because it's so much cheaper.
- stickfigure 7y ago
  And so much easier to store! I've also given up on liquid - you cannot taste the difference.
  - bayonetz 7y ago
    That stuff is way too salty though with a pretty thin flavor profile. You can at least find liquid stocks with no sodium so you can add a lot of flavor and then salt to taste. Even their reduced sodium version is too salty. Liquid no sodium stocks still aren’t awesome either but I think it’s better overall than the Better than Boulion options.
Aloha 7y ago
Yes, but to get those things, I'd have to make three stops, or I can make one stop and pay marginally more.
myrandomcomment 7y ago
So given a choice of shopping at Costco who pays the highest wages and benefits vs. Walmart who has the lowest wages and benefits, I will pay that small extra for the butter.
perl4ever 7y ago
I've been getting a lot of stuff at Home Depot and Lowe's recently, and finding that they each have different products for everything, and which one is obviously better/cheaper varies on an extremely granular level - not just a manufacturer or product type, but an individual product. It's gotten really frustrating that every time I want three or four things I have to go to both or I will regret my choices. I believe this is a general phenomenon and I read years ago about someone studying it in grocery stores. I'm not sure to what extent it is emergent vs. rationally thought out, but direct competitors tend to evolve to give you just enough good options to get you in the store, and as many bad deals as you are likely to go with just because you are in the store. Being uniformly better is not necessary to compete and therefore suboptimal.
gamblor956 7y ago
It depends on the Costcos, Walmarts, and Whole Foods in your area. In LA, Costco isn't always the cheapest on a per-unit basis, but they're always the cheapest on a per weight/per ounce basis. For example, Kerrygold butter is $5 at the Ralphs, and the same size container is $8 at the nearest Whole Foods. It's $16 at Costco...but for 4x the amount of butter, making it cheaper than both Ralphs and Whole Foods if you can actually use all that butter. (There are no nearby Walmarts, and neither of the local Targets or Food4Less' sell Kerrygold.)

lotsofpulp 7y ago

I shop at Costco despite the prices, because I like their ethos of treating employees well and business model that makes me feel like they wouldn’t cut unnecessary corners on product quality.

sureshv 7y ago

Since this is an item I get regularly - it’s $9 for a 4-pack of Kerrygold butter at the Mountain View Costco ($2.25/ 8oz bar). Same 8oz butter is almost double at Safeway or Whole Foods. The local Walmart is $2.83 per bar. I have rarely found Costco items more expensive than other local stores, at least for my regular items. I discount Trader Joe’s since they don’t carry branded items other than wine and beer.

simonsarris 7y ago
That's weird, it's $11.49 in NH for the same thing at Costco. :( And 2.50/bar at Walmart here (What I actually buy now is the French cultured butter from trader Joe's though, which is v good)
- xnyan 7y ago
  Second on TJs butter. For quality to value ratio of most foods, TJs blows Costso out of the water imo, and you don't have to buy cheese in 3 lb blocks.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
I discount Trader Joe’s since they don’t carry branded items other than wine and beer. They carry a variety of branded items including Kerrygold, Tilamook, Rouge et Noir (Bay Area cheese maker), those kringles, Spindrift, Columbus (lunchmeat), those organic herbs, and Tom's of Maine (hygiene). There's probably a few more.
- fiter 7y ago
  It's funny that you mention Rouge et Noir; I think they've been re-branded to "Marin French Cheese". I miss the old name.
disgruntledphd2 7y ago
That is depressingly cheap Kerrygold. I live in ireland (the home of Kerrygold), and it cost me 3.75 euro to get one of those packs today :( On the bright side, the no-name brand butter is almost as good here, so it's not a total wash.

AdmiralAsshat 7y ago

> Organic chicken stock is cheaper at Whole Foods. If you buy Better than Bouillon at Costco, you can get a pound of the stuff for about $6, which is double the quantity that you find at most other grocery stores. I stopped buying liquid stock after I found that stuff, because it's so much cheaper.

stickfigure 7y ago
And so much easier to store! I've also given up on liquid - you cannot taste the difference.
- bayonetz 7y ago
  That stuff is way too salty though with a pretty thin flavor profile. You can at least find liquid stocks with no sodium so you can add a lot of flavor and then salt to taste. Even their reduced sodium version is too salty. Liquid no sodium stocks still aren’t awesome either but I think it’s better overall than the Better than Boulion options.

Aloha 7y ago

Yes, but to get those things, I'd have to make three stops, or I can make one stop and pay marginally more.

myrandomcomment 7y ago

So given a choice of shopping at Costco who pays the highest wages and benefits vs. Walmart who has the lowest wages and benefits, I will pay that small extra for the butter.

perl4ever 7y ago

I've been getting a lot of stuff at Home Depot and Lowe's recently, and finding that they each have different products for everything, and which one is obviously better/cheaper varies on an extremely granular level - not just a manufacturer or product type, but an individual product. It's gotten really frustrating that every time I want three or four things I have to go to both or I will regret my choices. I believe this is a general phenomenon and I read years ago about someone studying it in grocery stores. I'm not sure to what extent it is emergent vs. rationally thought out, but direct competitors tend to evolve to give you just enough good options to get you in the store, and as many bad deals as you are likely to go with just because you are in the store. Being uniformly better is not necessary to compete and therefore suboptimal.

gamblor956 7y ago

It depends on the Costcos, Walmarts, and Whole Foods in your area. In LA, Costco isn't always the cheapest on a per-unit basis, but they're always the cheapest on a per weight/per ounce basis. For example, Kerrygold butter is $5 at the Ralphs, and the same size container is $8 at the nearest Whole Foods. It's $16 at Costco...but for 4x the amount of butter, making it cheaper than both Ralphs and Whole Foods if you can actually use all that butter. (There are no nearby Walmarts, and neither of the local Targets or Food4Less' sell Kerrygold.)