this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024

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Frugal Tip: Costco Giftcards can be used in lieu of membership! (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/frugal

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If you have a friend with a costco membership, you can ask them to buy you some $25 Costco Shopcards, which you can use at the entrance to get into the store and at checkout to verify you can make a purchase. Anything you have over $25, they'll allow you to use an alternative method of payment to pay for it.

They make you turn in the card at checkout, so it's certainly not worth it if you go more than a handful of times a year, but for those who go less, it's a good way of avoiding the membership fee.

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[–] acosmichippo 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

frugal tip: go to Costco with $25 gift card, leave Costco with $300 worth of Christmas decorations, steaks, whatever frozen foods they were sampling, a giant box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch because it was on sale, and vodka.

[–] Archer 2 points 1 month ago

me_irl

[–] Sterile_Technique 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Alternatively, just tag along with the friend. Also helpful to split up the village-sized portions with that friend, that way you get it for cheap and still eat it before it goes bad.

[–] Lost_My_Mind 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Here's 87 lbs of potatos......and a 15 gallonjar of mayonaise, and 88 rolls of paper towels.....and a single spoonful of oregano in a jar. Because oregano is never sold in large quantities.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

You should look for ethnic groceries. They often have bulk spice real cheap.

I have an Indian grocer who sells basically all spices (and some common blends) in 1lb bags for a couple dollars.

Amish groceries, if you live near any Amish communities, are really good for that as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

What country? Im sure I’ve seen gallons of oregano at costco

[–] idiomaddict 1 points 1 month ago

You want 32 oz of dried oregano?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Don't be shocked when they try to get you to pay for a membership with that shop card, this happens a lot. So many complaints on the Costco Reddit about it for many years. Some store claim that you must buy a membership.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Ah, crap. That makes this tip almost useless then :(

[+] [email protected] -14 points 1 month ago (7 children)

I'm always amazed at the whole new ways that companies come up with to exploit people

But convincing people to pay a fee to shop is just incredible

[–] nucleative 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn't Costco known for essentially talking very little profits on goods and earning much/most of their profit through the $65 membership fee?

Some people would do the math and decide if that's worth it for them or not.

Doesn't seem like exploitation, just don't shop there if it's not worth it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

I know you’re coming from the company-bad perspective, but Costco is essentially an employee-owned coop, perhaps the last of its kind in retail, which is why its customers are loyal af and will absolutely fight you on this.

I don’t shop there and even I am compelled to say something.

[–] acosmichippo 13 points 1 month ago

wait til you hear that stores charge you MORE for products than they purchase them for.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

the tradeoff is that they make less per item sold in store than other grocers, and often they take clear losses on some things (e.g 5$ rotisserie chicken, 1.50 hotdog soda)

[–] systemglitch 5 points 1 month ago

We calculated it, the membership paid for itself on gas alone last year, let alone all the groceries we got. It's a pretty stellar deal.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

CostCo is a rare good player in the retail space. They have a great reputation as an employer.

[–] pbbananaman 5 points 1 month ago

Please never go to costco. There’s already too many people and I like my space. You can spend your extra dollars at Safeway or wherever else you’d like.