Costco

Shopping visits to Costco warehouses ticked up by more than 18% from the first quarter of 2019 to 2026 as US consumers have turned to the club for relief from rising prices (and the occasional free sample).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/44313019

Context: the founder of Costco, Jim Sinega, once told the CEO that if they raised the price of the hotdog + soda combo he’d kill him.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.earth/m/news@lemmy.world/t/2440146

(KRON) — Costco is reaching out to its members “out of an abundance of caution” to alert them about a Japanese-style fried rice product that may be contaminated with glass. In an email to members on W...

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https://archive.ph/UJtj2

For myself, I know that some Kirkland Signature products didn't delivery the quality hopes I had from the beginning of my relationship with Costco, however in the last couple of years, that number of products seems to have increased, for example, added sugars and/or sweeteners to pet treats (and I've never been pleased with the couple of times I tried the coffees, but have enjoyed great taste and prices of other coffees they carry).

Then there are random overcharges I have had to call and correct for a couple of instances. Yesterday I was feeling not great about what I spent, although the items were necessary, and got a notification that my charge had been updated by about $13 less than checkout charged, but by the time I went to bed. I had the notice my card was trying to charge that same amount. No biggie, just a rollercoaster experience.

Finally, I just learned today that express shipping items are not fulfilled at regular fulfillment centers, so a product I ordered before the required noon on Thursday and paid an additional $3 for delivery will likely arrive with the rest of my packages that weren't express delivery and didn't cost extra to fulfill.

Has anyone else experienced a decline in products you'd come to trust from the brand, shipping and payment experiences?

I'm salty (and maybe also incredibly entitled) that I never got anything free for turning on auto-renewal and I keep seeing these stands giving away free cooler bags for doing so. Can I turn off auto renewal periodically just to get a freebie or are accounts flagged so people don't do that? I tried asking once and they said if it's already on, you get nothing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29043507

I just signed up for Costco and visited the store for the first time. I'm a little disappointed. Everything there is really unhealthy. They have a full bread aisle, but no whole wheat bread. I feel like the store is 1% produce, 69% highly processed food, 30% objects.

Lots of types of groceries are missing. I overheard two other parties saying they would go to Walmart afterwards, to get stuff they couldn't find at Costco.

Everything there is such a disorganized mess. Most of the aisles are incoherent.

What's with the baggers? Why would they have bag boys but no bags? Do all Costco stores have no bags? I don't need an entire worker just to put my stuff back in the cart.

I like this soup. I've tried several pre-made soups that were not worth comment (crab & corn, clam chowder, vegetable barley), but the Italian Wedding soup hit all the right notes for my pallet. I found the broth sufficiently chicken-y (rather than watery) and found the meatballs to be delightful.

I do prefer more vegetables in my soup, but adding extra spinach didn't improve it much for me. I did find that tossing in some leftover brussel sprouts that I'd tossed in olive oil and italian seasoning then roasted with and romano cheese -- well, that took the soup from a comforting liquid to a transformed and wondrous almost-stew.

On their own, leftover brussel sprouts get mushy and I don't have much use for them, but mushy works in soup! The sprouts' bitterness became a delightful contrast to the broth and the spices all mixed together well.

Again, the Italian Wedding Soup is very nice by itself. I merely wanted to let the interested know how a random addition improved it for me. Your tastes may not agree with mine.

I was a big fan of the previous fruit smoothie, and would sometimes stop at Costco just for that if I was already in the area shopping, or had a rough day and wanted a pick me up. Recently had a rough day and went to Costco on my lunch break. I noticed they didn't have the fruit smoothie anymore and instead had a new strawberry banana one. I was a bit disappointed, but I was there so I ordered it anyway. I didn't finish it and offered the rest to a coworker once I got back to work. I had one sip and it was just too sweet, in a bad way. I looked it up and apparently it has more servings of fruit, but somehow it tastes extremely artificial. If I end up at McDonalds I will sometimes order their strawberry banana smoothie, and this was similar, but somehow much worse? I'm not sure if I was just expecting better and it was so disappointing that maybe I didn't give it a chance, but I will not be ordering it again. Just letting you all know in case you get curious. I enjoy the food and the prices are great, but I don't think I'll be going there as a treat anymore. Will probably just limit it to when I happen to get hungry while shopping there. Unfortunate, because I would probably make a special trip basically just for the smoothie about once a month. I know it's not enough to single-handedly keep it on the menu, but still.

If so, which model, and do you like it?

Bought a bundled pair of memory foam pillows that seemed ok in the packaging. Took them home and found them to be as hard as a rock. I'd avoid them unless you like hard pillows.

I warmed it on the stovetop (not microwave) and found it lacking, but acceptable.

After adding:

• tamarind paste,
• onions,
• bell peppers,
• a thai hot pepper,

and then topping with:

• cilantro,
• fresh lime, and
• some chopped up roasted peanuts,

... the additions (standard ingredients) made it much better.

Still, it was missing the contrast of bean sprouts. It isn;t the same without them and if I'd had bean sprouts, I would have added, but at that point I might have opted to just make my own pad thai -- which would have tasted better for almost the same amount of cook/prep time.

I am super creeped out that Plaid wants my bank login do Citi will direct deposit my Costco Reward.

How are you all handling this?

New bank just for deposit?

Reward to Costco to get cash?

Just give Plaid access to all your details?

Way more than 10 things...

Costco has brought back Margherita pizzas, but now they are rectangular -- not round, and no longer have basil. Basil is a key ingreditent and they've gotten rid of it in favor of their oily, salty, pesto topping. Also, the dough is no longer pizza dough, but this foccia-like flat bread that is far too tough. So we have an oily mess on hard bread with way too much salt and not much else in flavor. It is edible, but not worth the price ($16.99 -- item #1816582).

Today I purchased Citterio Sliced Assorted Meat at Costco. This is my first time buying Italian Panini sliced assorted meats. Could anyone tell me that which is in my plate?

• Sweet capocolla
• Mortadella
• Prosciutto cotto

Thank you.

https://www.costcobusinesscentre.ca/citterio-sliced-assorted-meat%2C-2-%C3%97-450-g.product.100341176.html

The membership increase, set for September 1, 2024, will impact around 52 million memberships, a little over half of which are on the “Executive” plan.

The annual US and Canada “Gold Star” memberships, Business and Business add-on members will see fees increase by $5. The annual fee for a “Gold Star” member currently sits at $60 plus sales tax, Costco said in an announcement this week.

Higher-tier “Executive” members in the US and Canada will see annual fees increase from $120 to $130. The maximum annual 2 percent reward, associated with the Executive tier, will increase from $1,000 to $1,250.

This is the first membership price hike Costco has announced in seven years.

“To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” Costco’s new chief financial officer, Gary Millerchip, said in May.

"I came to [Sinegal] once, and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends.’ And he said, ‘If you raise the ef**** hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out,” Jelinek recalled in a 2018 presentation, 425 Business reported.

I usually make dip with a packet of soup mix powder, but I was out so I did the following and it turned out well -- and since it was mostly with Coscto items, I thought I'd post here.

All measurements were eyeballed, so change as you desire:

• 10oz frozen chopped spinach (cut spinach is too stringy, but if you want to use a food processor, you could use either, or substitute fresh spinach, kale, Yu Choy, Dau Miu, or anything else -- or skip completely)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (from the giant jug taking up all that refrigerator space)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1-2 tsp "Better Than Bullion" "Seasoned Vegetable Base" ("Organic Reduced Sodium") soup starter -- this is in the spice aisle and any variety will do
• 1 tsp Kirkland "Organic No-Salt Seasoning" -- also in the spice aisle
• a chunk of a pepper, minced (Italian long hot) -- can sub red bell pepper, another hot pepper, or omit
• 2-3 fresh garlic cloves, minced (or skip if you don't love garlic)

Optional stuff you might like: chives/scallions/red onion, goat cheese, artichoke hearts, chopped mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, or go traditional and fry up a good sized onion until it is brown and caramelized to make more of a traditional 'french onion' dip.

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl, microwave frozen spinach until warm, then lightly squeeze out excess water. It should be damp (to absorb the no-salt spice mix), but not so wet that the dip becomes soupy. If using a fresh veg, cook as desired.

2. Add No-Salt Seasoning and Better Than Bullion to vegetable and mix together. Taste to ensure a bold flavor (the flavor will be softened by the dip base, but also bloom a bit as the dehydrated bits absorb moisture).

3. Add garlic and fresh bell/chili/long-hot pepper, and any optional items you desire. Mix. If you are using a food processor, this is a good time to pulse everything together ... but you can also wait until the end if you need more bulk to mix properly.

4. Add the sour cream and mayonnaise. Stir together. Add optional ingredients as desired. Refrigerate for an hour. Note: You can it serve immediately, but it is weird to have warm dip for potato chips.