Sure, but on the other hand when Costco claims they're always going to have free samples, then slashes the hours they serve free samples down to an hour a week,

Sure, but on the other hand when Costco claims they're always going to have free samples, then slashes the hours they serve free samples down to an hour a week, and then says you have to have a gold-star membership to have samples, and then cuts the samples down to plain, individual saltine crackers and tortilla chips, and then they start limiting them to one per family, all while proclaiming that they love offering free samples in all of their coupon books... ...maybe they're not doing so well financially and you should start looking at a Sam's Club membership instead of renewing, because this hypothetical Costco might not be around for a full year's membership.