4 ms·
The price of a Costco hot dog has gone up
- lubujackson 2mo agoSad, but not as shittifying as losing the infinite onion grinder to COVID. The hot dog was only just the delivery device.
- ChiperSoft 2mo agoYou know they will give you as many onions as you want, yeah? You just have to ask at the counter.
- spike021 2mo agofor a while they didn't have that option either.
- spike021 2mo agoor the combo pizza
- CuriouslyC 2mo agoThe combo was glorious. Probably the best shitty pizza I've ever had.
- CharlesW 2mo agoOnce, I watched a boomer in a red cap fill a soda cup with 50 pumps of mustard from the Costco condiment commons as a little take-home treat. I'm surprised that any condiments are still self-serve.
- MrZander 2mo agoI got a Costco hot dog the other day, and it looked like the 2023 version. The 2026 one looks comical, like someone took an off the shelf bun and put the dog in it. Maybe that particular Costco ran out of the normal buns?
- glennpratt 2mo agoSame here.
- cameroncarlg 2mo agoThank for you putting this out, I love these deep dives into niche topics!
- goda90 2mo agoWhen did this change supposedly occur because when I last got one the bun looked like it did in the 2023 photo, which was in the last two months.
- paulpauper 2mo agobun size may depend on location
- WaltPurvis 2mo agoIt definitely does. As I just learned today, Costco stores source buns from different local/regional bakeries, so the size and quality can vary widely. I also learned that people have been complaining about the Costco hot dog buns getting smaller for at least a couple of years now.
- Spooky23 2mo agoThey use different bun purveyors. West coast has sesame seeds, northeast has weird wheat bits and Canada has a smaller bun with some sesame seeds. IMO, Canada has the superior bun. They also have the smoked meat sandwich, but their pizza is ass.
- dlcarrier 2mo agoI've found the pizza varies a lot from location to location, within the same region. The good ones are some of the best pizza I've had, and others are less desirable than frozen pizza.
- electriclove 2mo agotldr, price same, hot dog same size, bun much smaller
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- treetalker 2mo agoA reduction in carbs and corresponding increase in relative protein consumption is probably a superior move for your average Costco member.
- paulpauper 2mo agoThese have been sold at a loss forever , still need a membership. So raising the price of the membership indirectly makes the hotdogs more expensive
- taylor-tg 2mo agoThe food court has always been accessible/usable without a membership. Just depends on how hard the store polices the people coming in through the exit.
- zdragnar 2mo ago[dead]
- happyopossum 2mo agoIt’s been policy that membership is required to eat at the food court, but some stores with outdoor food courts don’t enforce it. It’s absolutely false to say they’ve “always been accessible “.
- lesuorac 2mo agoHad* always been accessible. Afaik, it's location dependent now with the default being no. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/the-reason-why-costco-is-banning-non-members-from-its-food-courts.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/the-reason-why-costco-is-ban...
- paulpauper 2mo agoyeah and my answer is still downvoted lol
- lesuorac 2mo agoThere's no fact checker here that stops downvotes for correct comments. I would say don't get hung up over it but judging by your karma I'm more surprised your commenting about it.
- martythemaniak 2mo agoI'm skeptical that you can derive these conclusions from those assumptions. Here in Canada they are required to post the caloric content of the hot dogs, so even a 10% change in content will be obvious. A 37% cut means they would have changed the signs from 540 calories to 340, but nothing like that has happened.
- dawnerd 2mo agoExactly. The pizza has changed, the calories have gone down slightly especially on the cheese.
- adamddev1 2mo agoOne of my favorite memes shows a kid having a conversation with his father in the car: Kid: Dad, why is my sister named Rose? Dad: Because your mother really like roses. Kid: Oh, ok, thanks Dad! Dad: No problem, Costco Hot-Dog!
- terribleperson 2mo agoBuns and bun suppliers aren't the same all over the country. They're usually sourced locally.
- dawnerd 2mo agoAnd can change over the years and even month to month. Their pizza dough has changed supplies a few times here. They helpfully leave the boxes out.
- United857 2mo agoWouldn’t it just be much simpler to weigh the hot dog and bun?
- juiceland 2mo agoWithout having done so in 2023, the comparison would not be complete
- kingleopold 2mo agofiat money printer made it possible
- taylor-tg 2mo agoFrankly, I prefer the newer bun; better bite consistency and topping distribution.
- riknos314 2mo agoI'd argue that the author's choice of volume as the metric to compare against is a poor one. The costco hotdog contains 580 calories, approximately 110 of which is the bun. If the bun shrinks by 30%, the calories of the entire dog shrinks by 5.7%%. But also the $1.50 is for a combo that includes a drink of up to 270 calories, so the caloric content of the combo shrinks by 3.9% -- substantially less than the 37% claimed volume loss (which does not account for the drink). EDIT - The drink also allows for a refill which would add another 270 calories bringing the total to 1120, and the caloric shrinkage down to 2.9% When looking at protein the meal loses 1 gram out of 23, or 4% loss, which is less than inflation. Good for all the gym rats. Edit 2 - fixed percentage calculations
- nchmy 2mo agoyeah, sugar water is totally what people are going for when they get a costco hot dog.
- dsr_ 2mo agoPeople want something to wash down the salty protein and fat. They've always had the choice of water, several sodas, and usually bad ice tea, bad lemonade and a diet soda or two.
- riknos314 2mo agoSoda isn't my preference and personally I'd probably skip out, but it feels disingenuous to completely ignore something included in the price when discussing the value of an item. That's why I have percentages for both the dog alone and the combo.
- layla5alive 2mo agoThe combo also includes water as an option instead of soda, water is 0 calories. The hot dog is what matters.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- andai 2mo ago>The price has not changed since 1984. $1.50 in 1984 money is $3.21 in today's money. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ I'd love to see a photo from 1984 though! Seen old photos from fast food chains where the same food items used to be much larger.
- downrightmike 2mo agoThese hotdogs are clearly the most efficient item in the economy over 40 years
- ButlerianJihad 2mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader
- conorcleary 2mo ago...and people joked that the 'is it a hot dog' photo analyzer was useless...
- waiwai933 2mo agoThe author seems to just assume the hot dog has stayed exactly the same size at 8"; I suppose it's unlikely it'd have gotten larger, but that seems a big assumption to base the entire analysis on.
- kenferry 2mo agoThe materials cost between those buns is practically nothing. OP is reaching.
- 6thbit 2mo agoClickbaity title. The price tag didn’t change and still sits at 1.50. Shrinkflation is a thing and the bun has been its victim. They could slowly shrink the sausage now until it fits the bun again.
- kittikitti 2mo agoCostco shoppers love shoving these wieners in their mouth. If they don't have one in their mouth, they're telling everyone in the vicinity about it. This is the one of the cringiest things about Americans.
- themadturk 2mo agoI'm an American Costco shopper. I'm in there at least every other week and haven't had a hot dog there in a couple of years.
- stasomatic 2mo agoWhat's the cringiest thing about people in your country?
- Geonode 2mo agoCost, not price.
- t1234s 2mo agolips and assholes
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- ranger_danger 2mo agoNot for the consumer it hasn't.
- cuvinny 2mo agoLast time I got a costco hot dog the bun didn't look like that. Probably what happened is they ran out of hot dog buns and someone just grabbed some off the self and they weren't big enough.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- Alien1Being 2mo agoShould have used his hand ( visible in both pictures) as the metric.
- dghlsakjg 2mo agoWhat’s funny is that up in Canada the buns look like the 2023 bun, and the price is still $1.50CAD. Indexed to the USD, the price is actually dropping in the past few years in Canada, and we still have the option of a polish dog (and poutine, and smoked meat sandwiches).
- idontwantthis 2mo agoThe loss on the Costco hotdog is effectively Costco’s entire marketing budget. People make their own merch celebrating it.
- TheIronYuppie 2mo agoMannnn this is dumb. The hot dog is what I am there for! Not the fucking bun! This is a product improvement!!
- mr_cyborg 2mo agoThe buns are different in different markets in my experience. I would be hesitant to make universal claims knowing this and knowing about other regional food court differences. Although, I think things are more standard since Covid.