When you shop at Costco, the rules are
different. As a card-carrying member, you're probably paying for a ton
of benefits you might not even know you get. Here are some huge mistakes you
could be making while shopping at Costco. Costco has two options when it comes
to personal memberships — Gold Star at $60 and Gold Star Executive at $120 — and
if you haven't upgraded to Executive yet, you're missing an opportunity to recoup
some, or all, of that annual fee. While it might sound a bit counterintuitive
to pay twice as much for the same access into the warehouse store, depending on your
spending habits, it could be well worth it. At the Executive level, you receive two percent
cash back on most purchases. According to Costco's math, if you spend $500 a month — or $6,000 a
year — you're looking at a rewards check of $120, and in effect, getting your membership
totally free. The more you spend, the more you get back — up to $1,000 a year.
Even if you don't come close to that maximum, anything over $60 in rewards is money back in your
pocket. As a safety net, if you take the plunge and don't spend enough in the first year to come
out ahead, Costco will make up the difference by ensuring that first check is at least $60. So what
are you waiting for? Go upgrade that membership. Spoiler alert: Costco's layout is
confusing by design. They want you to get lost in their labyrinth of tempting
bargains so you spend all the money. Think about it… you shopped at the
warehouse store just last week, but somehow the layout is very different
this time around. According to one former employee who posted on Quora, this
dipsy-doo switcheroo is no coincidence: "I worked for Costco for 13 years. They
purposely move products around to different locations and are constantly rotating
a certain percentage of their inventory to new products. This creates a 'Treasure
Hunt' experience as you shop and helps you discover new products that you may not
normally see on your shopping visits." In other words, you're much more likely
to impulse buy this way. More tricks the retailer uses? The fresh food is all located at
the back of the store so you're forced to walk past all those amazing deals and hopefully
put them in your cart. Costco also forgoes any aisle signage — another effort to get
you to peruse all the products and buy what you see. If you don't want to spend more than you
planned, don't let their layout lead you astray. It always seems to happen…at least one of the
items you bought on your last Costco trip is now on sale, and you're kicking yourself for
missing out on the savings. The good news: There's a store policy that works
in your favor here. The bad news: You have to stand in the return
line to take advantage of it. But thanks to Costco's price adjustment policy,
the wait can be well worth it, because the store will refund the difference between the price you
paid and the sale price of any items within 30 days of purchase. When it comes to whether you
need the original receipt, some stores require it while others do not. Your best bet is to
stash those slips away for a month and check out the prices of your recent purchases next time
you shop. You might be in for a hefty refund. If you're not buying gift cards at Costco,
you're doing it wrong, plain and simple. These prepaid cards for restaurants, coffee shops,
movie theaters, and other attractions aren't just a good generic gift option — they're
a gift you should be giving yourself, too. But why would you bother to buy a gift card
for yourself? Why not just pay the restaurant directly? Because you're leaving money on
the table, that's why. See, Costco sells $100 gift cards for these establishments
at a sizable discount — typically a 20 to 25 percent savings. Since you were going to
spend $100 on movie tickets eventually anyway, you might as well just buy the gift card and
keep the $20 to $25 in your pocket. This system makes sense on any goods or services that you
use consistently, or even a one-off night out to a nice restaurant. Hey, nobody can fault
you for saving a few bucks on date night. Although it might seem like a great deal, not every bulk buy ends up being
a money saver in the long run. "An entire case of cream of mushroom soup for
4.99? Dammit Costco, you've done it again." Not all grocery items last forever, even those
canned, dried, and bottled. Take condiments, for example. While the six-pack of
ketchup bottles might seem like a bargain, you have to remember that the tomato-based
product only keeps for six months once opened, and one to two years unopened. Similarly,
you only have a few months to use up that giant jar of mayo, barbecue sauce only
lasts about five months after opening, and some hot sauce brands recommend
finishing a bottle within six months. When it comes to canned and dried goods, you've
got a little more leeway, but there's a limit there, too. Dried pastas give you one to two
years shelf life, and while white rice keeps for up to five years, brown and wild rice only
keeps for up to eight months in the pantry. As for canned goods, acidic products like tomato
and citrus will only keep for about 18 months, while most other products hang
in there for up to five years. When it comes to the fresh items, you've
got to be even more careful. Unless you're feeding a large family, it's probably best to
avoid things that ripen or spoil too quickly, like peaches or a tub of leafy greens.
Buy fruits and vegetables that last, like apples and carrots, and take advantage of
produce that can be refrigerated, like avocados. This also means the freezer section is your
friend, and so are individually-wrapped snacks. A ginormous bag of something will likely
go stale before you get to the bottom, but tiny single-serve bags won't. For
household items like toilet paper, if you have a place to store the dozens
of rolls, go for it. But when it comes to giant bottles of bleach and bulk disinfectant
wipes? They actually lose their effectiveness if stored too long. So unless you run a cleaning
service, that's probably not the best buy for you. The competitive prices on electronics is
probably enough to convince you to buy your next TV or laptop from Costco. But when
you make the purchase at the warehouse store, it comes with another benefit you might not
know about: The Costco Concierge Service. This service, which applies to most
major appliances and electronics, comes with two major perks. One: Free technical
support. Experts are available seven days a week to help you with initial set-up and
troubleshooting, and will definitely come in handy when you get stumped. Two: It
extends the manufacturer's warranty of the product to two years from date of purchase.
Since most items typically come with a one-year warranty, this is huge. A whole extra year of
protection, free of charge? Now that's savings. As you wander up and down the aisles at Costco, it's hard to miss all the Kirkland-brand
products. And if you're skipping over them in favor of their brand name counterparts, you're
making one of the biggest Costco mistakes of all. First things first — no, Kirkland
doesn't always win when it comes to product comparisons. Consumer Reports indicated
that though less expensive, the private-label toilet paper and facial tissues ranked lower
than national brands when it came to quality. But plenty of the other Kirkland products
consistently outperform when it comes to both quality and taste, and in some cases
may even be manufactured in the very same factories as national brands. Just a few
of the areas where Kirkland can brag: The store brand has beaten Oscar Meyer in the
bacon game, is one of a few imported oils that met international and U.S. standards, and
has even bested Grey Goose vodka more than once in blind taste tests. Even Kirkland
batteries, though they might not last as long, come out ahead thanks to the value
provided by the low price. In other words, don't be a brand snob — you could end
up paying more for an inferior product. Aside from merely telling you the price
you'll pay for an item, Costco's price signs have a hidden meaning, too. You'll
need to pay attention to get the best deals, and most importantly, to know if your
favorite item is about to disappear forever. If the price ends in .99 or .98:
This indicates a regular retail price, and probably doesn't translate to any
huge savings compared to other retailers. If the price ends in .89, .79, .69, .59, .49,
.39, .29, .19, or .09, this indicates Costco got a manufacturer's deal, meaning they can offer
these items at a steeper discount than others. If the price ends in .97: This indicates your
biggest savings. These are items that need to go, and are priced at a discount. If there happens
to be an asterisk in the upper right corner of the sign, act fast and stock up, because
this means that the product is likely going away for good. You just have to keep track of
your numbers if you really want to succeed: You might assume that the prices of
items inside the Costco warehouses are the same as the prices on Costco.com.
But you would be wrong. That's why it pays to sign into the cyber-verse and
check the online price before you buy. Every so often, in addition to the monthly
coupon book, members will receive another booklet of sale items, but this one is for online
purchases only. If you don't get the mailer, you can check the current offering at the
Exclusive Online-Only page of Costco's website. While some of these items are truly
only offered online, like bathtubs or sinks, you'll find that others are actually available
in the store — but the catch is, even if you can buy the item in the store, the sale price
won't apply. You never know what you might save on — maybe it's $20 off a set of sheets, or $100
off a piece of jewelry. The bottom line is: If you can afford to wait a few days to get the item,
shopping online can save you some serious money. Here's the greatest Costco hack of
them all: Don't pay the membership fee, but take advantage of the member
benefits — at least some of them. As a non-member, you probably don't realize
all the perks you're missing out on. Have a prescription to be filled? That slip of paper
will get you in the door to get to the pharmacy, no membership card required. While you're
there, you can also get free health and wellness screenings, and even flu shots. Just
want to buy some booze? In 16 states you can do so without a membership — just tell the
employee at the door that's why you're there. Same thing goes for the food court, but if
it's located outside, you don't even need to worry about getting in. Even a regular ol'
shopping trip is a possibility, as long as you have a Costco Cash Card. You can use it to gain
entry to the store and even pay for your items. The whole notion of Costco is that customers
save money by buying in bulk — purchasing a lot delivers a lower per-unit cost. But Costco
members can access even more savings by using a little-known option that's essentially super-bulk.
According to Costco employees, baked goods may be purchasable by the case. The dough for things like
private-label bagels, bread, and cookies arrives frozen at a Costco store, where it's baked
and then packaged. Customers can ask to buy a whole case of the dough. Say a plastic shell
of 24 cookies costs $7.99 — a case of 180 will run $34.99. That moves the per-cookie cost from 33
cents down to 19 cents. Individual stores may also sell deli meats, seafood, or steaks by the case
— just ask someone in the appropriate department. "I feel so calm here." Conversely, one doesn't always have to
buy more at Costco to spend a little less. Costco's rotisserie chickens
are a deal at $4.99 in most areas. Costco tags also offer clues to more deals.
Those deceptively simple black-and-white Costco price tags carry a lot of information.
The two-digit number on which the price ends can denote a regular price, a temporary
discount, or a product that won't be restocked. A Costco membership card isn't just a passport to
shop for bulk goods, electronics, and housewares in hundreds of gigantic warehouse-size retail
outlets. That membership also provides access to Costco's smartphone app, where a number of
tools, benefits, and tips await, all of them designed to save dues-paying customers
a moderate amount of money. Some items are only available from Costco's e-commerce
division, which can be accessed on the app, along with special discounts. Costco's app also
allows users to make a shopping list. Not only does that cut back on the hours spent wandering
around a store, looking for needed items, but it can keep a customer on track
to buy only what they came in for. Rotisserie chicken isn't the only
affordable food at Costco. Compared to regular supermarkets, Costco also
sells ground beef for cheap. Regular, non-organic hamburger-ready beef is sold
in wrapped trays that vary by weight. According to a Costco employee on Reddit,
those packages of ground beef are prepared in the store. Not wanting to toss the trimmings
removed from steaks and other premium cuts, a meat department worker will mix
that excess fat with extra-lean, very low-fat beef that arrives at Costco
in industrial-size 10-pound packs called chubs. That makes for a good ratio of meat
to fat in the ground beef while also cutting down on waste. Costco customers can cut out the
processing and mixing and just ask for a chub. "Welcome to Costco. I love you." You can also drive down Costco expenses
by using the store's credit card. Like many massive commercial entities, Costco
offers its own credit card in partnership with Citi. The Costco Anywhere Visa
is available only to Costco members, and because they already hold that card, they
don't have to pay an annual service fee to the credit provider. One of the main benefits
of the Costco Anywhere Visa is that holders get 2% cash back on all of their Costco
purchases, which, with big-ticket items, large shopping trips, and several visits
throughout a year, can really add up. The Costco Anywhere Visa also provides rewards
when shopping at many other businesses besides Costco. Members earn 3% back when dining
out and traveling and 4% on gasoline and electric vehicle charging. However,
as is the case with any credit card, interest can build up if the balance isn't
paid off in a timely or consistent fashion.
