Thoughts on Discount Warehouses

[skijay]

I like COSTCO. I have used their travel services (for car rentals) and have saved money. I use Thrifty when I go to the condo in FL (fly to TPA). This past September trip was my first time I used the service. Not only was my price cheaper than any web based services, AAA or other coupons, but there is no cost to add and additional driver. That applied for friends traveling with me.

You have to check each rental car's rule about that as Alamo wanted the additional driver to be a spouse / partner / immediate family.

The car buying service did not work for me. I had to drive 25 miles to the dealer that was in the program only to get shafted on a trade in and also a higher "special price" for the car.

I went to another dealer and without even negotiating the price of the car, my trade in was in line with what kbb.com said it was worth and the price of the car was cheaper by about $500. Plus, it was local.

[andyzee]

...And FWIW Costco just got top marks in a consumer poll on top retailers. So they must be doing something right!

Is that like ski mags doing a top 10 ski resorts?

[SkiFanE]

I might have mentioned it, but we first bought an HP from Best Buy and it went back literally two hours later. Pretty sad. The keyboard on the laptop was not working. We won't buy HP ever again. Went with Dell this time. Very happy.

HP sucks. Had to trash our family laptop at 2yo after HD failed and jsut too much of a PITA to get working again, in time for kids to get their schoolwork. About a week later, my work HP laptop lost it's motherboard and HD, it's about 18mos old. We ended up getting a cheapo Lenovo at Best Buy for family, will never buy HP again. I had a Lenovo as a work laptop for awhile once, happy with it, like that little emergency recovery button they have.

LOVE costco. Buy all my glasses and contacts from them. Even with our vision insurance (cough cough...scam), it's still cheaper.

Also saw a TV show on Costco. They only have something like 4400 products at a time, no more or less. And every item has a certain % of profit built in (maybe 4%, cant' remember)..no more, no less. I pick and choose what I buy, somethings just aren't great deals. But our lives depend on Kirkwood Colombian Dark Roast Fine Ground coffee...buy it by the case lol.

[thetrailboss]

H

Also saw a TV show on Costco. They only have something like 4400 products at a time, no more or less. And every item has a certain % of profit built in (maybe 4%, cant' remember)..no more, no less. I pick and choose what I buy, somethings just aren't great deals. But our lives depend on Kirkwood Colombian Dark Roast Fine Ground coffee...buy it by the case lol.

Just got some of their coffee and so far so good!

[billski]

They sell boxes of handwarmers. That's all that matters.