4 ms·

> Costco membership fee is easily made back on the low prices we pay for toilet paper over a year Kirkland Signature 2-Ply Bathroom Tissue, 425 Sheets costs $0

by panarky 12y ago

> Costco membership fee is easily made back on the low prices we pay for toilet paper over a year Kirkland Signature 2-Ply Bathroom Tissue, 425 Sheets costs $0.650 per roll at Costco. http://www2.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11751647&whse=BD_823&topnav=bdoff http://www2.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11751647&w... Angel Soft Toilet Paper, 2-Ply, 396 Sheets costs $0.664 per roll at Walmart, no membership card required. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Angel-Soft-Triple-Roll-Bathroom-Tissue-396-sheets-12-rolls/36471953 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Angel-Soft-Triple-Roll-Bathroom-Ti... Adjusting for the difference in sheet count of 425 vs. 396, the Walmart product costs $0.06 more per roll than the Costco product. So to pay for your $55 membership fee, you and your wife would need to consume about 917 rolls per year, 17.6 rolls per week. That's 67 sheets of toilet paper every waking hour, assuming you sleep 8 hours each night.

cookiecaper 12y ago
And herein lies the genius of these bulk discount stores: people think they're being frugal just by walking in the door, even though there's an admission fee. Yes, it's true that some things are substantially cheaper, but on many things the items are the same cost or more expensive than they'd be elsewhere. We've found that each item needs to be priced out specifically to find if it's actually cheaper at a wholesale club like Costco/Sam's (we've had memberships to both but only have Sam's now since Costco is much further away) or a big box retailer like Wal-Mart. The overall difference for general household goods is usually not very significant (YMMV depending on what you're buying). We maintain the membership(s) because we like to get some things in larger quantities and some goods for sale at Sam's/Costco are not available elsewhere. Costco also has ultra-good customer service and return policies.
bane 12y ago
Actually this isn't a good comparison. You should be comparing cost per sheet. The Kirkland SKU you linked to is cheaper than the Walmart one. But this is a shitty fight, if I wanted the cheapest toilet paper in town, I could drive an hour across town and buy some from Big Lots. It's not like we only go there to buy toilet paper, that's a dumb pedantic argument to make. With the toilet paper are six or seven bottles of wine, $5-$15 cheaper than anywhere else in town for the same, several pounds of meats, about 30% cheaper than any local grocer, bulk milk, again cheaper than my grocer (and without the troubling safety issues the plague Super Walmart grocery sections), maybe a hard-drive at reasonably cheap prices. And 0-minutes spent shopping around, instead of hours spent finding the best possible price for each item. My time isn't free, why is yours?
- maxerickson 12y ago
  I think they were responding to your hyperbole. You did say something very specific about the membership fee being covered by what you save on toilet paper in a year. I realize that people have different communication preferences, but I understand where they are (apparently) coming from, I too find hyperbolic emphasis tiresome.
  - bane 12y ago
    Right. But he's decided to turn this into a pissing contest of "who has the cheapest possible toilet paper" But that's not the comparison at all that people make. The comparison is, based on what normal people buy... Toilet paper is cheap enough that people just buy it whenever they see it. Like at their local grocer. Where places like Costco win is that almost everything is cheaper than your local grocer... And for things that aren't strictly a better buy, it's more convenient than running all over town to find a better price. The fact that they are competitive at all on price with an ultra cheap retailer like Walmart is amazing. But they definitely offer better quality than Walmart on just about everything. The reasons I hear from people who don't have a membership even though they live within spitting distance of one is that they think the membership isn't worth it. Or the selection is bad or whatever. But my point is that the membership almost doesn't matter because you'll probably recover the cost inside of two or three trips and the selection, while isn't fantastic, and doesn't always have the absolute highest quality on the planet, are usually of high quality and thoughtfully made. It's clear after doing there for years that the buyers who work for Costco really try to hit a good price to quality ratio and that's where all the value comes from.
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      It is literally the comparison you made. I get your point that people shop at Costco because they think they save on normal household items, but I don't think you should be flabbergasted that someone on the internet decided to be pedantic about a point that was designed to be a sound bite more than it was intended to be, uh, accurate.
undersuit 12y ago
There are other reasons to avoid Walmart, and not that is not meant to imply that Costco is perfect, just less imperfect.

by panarky 12y ago

cookiecaper 12y ago

And herein lies the genius of these bulk discount stores: people think they're being frugal just by walking in the door, even though there's an admission fee. Yes, it's true that some things are substantially cheaper, but on many things the items are the same cost or more expensive than they'd be elsewhere. We've found that each item needs to be priced out specifically to find if it's actually cheaper at a wholesale club like Costco/Sam's (we've had memberships to both but only have Sam's now since Costco is much further away) or a big box retailer like Wal-Mart. The overall difference for general household goods is usually not very significant (YMMV depending on what you're buying). We maintain the membership(s) because we like to get some things in larger quantities and some goods for sale at Sam's/Costco are not available elsewhere. Costco also has ultra-good customer service and return policies.

bane 12y ago

Actually this isn't a good comparison. You should be comparing cost per sheet. The Kirkland SKU you linked to is cheaper than the Walmart one. But this is a shitty fight, if I wanted the cheapest toilet paper in town, I could drive an hour across town and buy some from Big Lots. It's not like we only go there to buy toilet paper, that's a dumb pedantic argument to make. With the toilet paper are six or seven bottles of wine, $5-$15 cheaper than anywhere else in town for the same, several pounds of meats, about 30% cheaper than any local grocer, bulk milk, again cheaper than my grocer (and without the troubling safety issues the plague Super Walmart grocery sections), maybe a hard-drive at reasonably cheap prices. And 0-minutes spent shopping around, instead of hours spent finding the best possible price for each item. My time isn't free, why is yours?

maxerickson 12y ago
I think they were responding to your hyperbole. You did say something very specific about the membership fee being covered by what you save on toilet paper in a year. I realize that people have different communication preferences, but I understand where they are (apparently) coming from, I too find hyperbolic emphasis tiresome.
- bane 12y ago
  Right. But he's decided to turn this into a pissing contest of "who has the cheapest possible toilet paper" But that's not the comparison at all that people make. The comparison is, based on what normal people buy... Toilet paper is cheap enough that people just buy it whenever they see it. Like at their local grocer. Where places like Costco win is that almost everything is cheaper than your local grocer... And for things that aren't strictly a better buy, it's more convenient than running all over town to find a better price. The fact that they are competitive at all on price with an ultra cheap retailer like Walmart is amazing. But they definitely offer better quality than Walmart on just about everything. The reasons I hear from people who don't have a membership even though they live within spitting distance of one is that they think the membership isn't worth it. Or the selection is bad or whatever. But my point is that the membership almost doesn't matter because you'll probably recover the cost inside of two or three trips and the selection, while isn't fantastic, and doesn't always have the absolute highest quality on the planet, are usually of high quality and thoughtfully made. It's clear after doing there for years that the buyers who work for Costco really try to hit a good price to quality ratio and that's where all the value comes from.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    It is literally the comparison you made. I get your point that people shop at Costco because they think they save on normal household items, but I don't think you should be flabbergasted that someone on the internet decided to be pedantic about a point that was designed to be a sound bite more than it was intended to be, uh, accurate.

undersuit 12y ago

There are other reasons to avoid Walmart, and not that is not meant to imply that Costco is perfect, just less imperfect.