My wife and I walked through Costco a month ago and decided to purchase a membership today (Sunday) after church so we could purchase some items and try to save some money. After 1.5 hours at the place, I was ready to go and couldn’t wait to get out of there. Mainly because the place was extremely busy and everybody was lost and standing around in the middle of the isles. Yes, I am an impatient person. I’m the “get what you need and go” type. Anyway, below is a hint at my experience and why I’ve decided Costco sucks.
- Costco does not accept Visa or Mastercard credit cards. Only American Express. This is bullshit. I’ve never heard of a company doing this. I wonder if they realize that Visa and Mastercard are more popular than American Express and that most of the population does not have an American Express card? They will, however, accept a Visa or Mastercard debit card. When you go to Costco you don’t just spend twenty dollars, you spent hundreds. Most Americans these days will need to put that on credit. Many other Americans, like me, do not use credit cards anymore because they always screw you on the fees and cost you more than they’re worth. Costco has dramatically limited the number of customers that will, or can, shop at their store by requiring cash or American Express.
- No isle signs. As a new customer and most of the return customers shopping at Costco today, we were all totally lost. They have huge crowded isles and the customers are pushing a loaded two hundred pound tank of a shopping cart all over the store looking for items. Let me give you a hint Costco executives… have you every been to a grocery store? Ever noticed the handy little signs hanging above the isles stating the kinds of products located in that isle?
- Little to no organization. I might actually be able to answer the question above on my own as I realized there isn’t any organization of the pallet loads of product in each isle. One isle had a pallet of ginormous containers of Pine Sol right next to a pallet of grape juice. This is just one example of many.
- Odd sized packaging. How is the consumer supposed to easily figure out if they’re saving money at your store if all your products are odd sizes and off brand? The house branded Kirkland I can understand, but when it comes to standard brand name products like cereal, soda, and paper products, it’s difficult to compare. The coke products are not standard 12 or 24 packs, they’re 32 packs or something like that. I could easily calculate the saving if it were a 30 pack, but they made it 32 just to be difficult.
- No plastic bags at the checkout. Again, ever been to a standard retail store?
- No “mobile” employees. The only employees you find at the store is the door guards, returns people, cashiers, and a guy in the deli. That’s it! You know why nobody is working the floor at Costco? Because they’d be bombarded by customers who are lost all day!
- Their selection sucks. Costco has a little bit of everything, but not enough of anything. They have six kinds of cereal to choose from, three kinds of shampoo, one kind of any paper product, one choice for frozen pizza, two kinds of dog food, etc. This also limits the customers’ ability to compare costs as Costco doesn’t have what you want. The main reason we paid for a Costco membership is for cheap diapers. They have one brand of diapers, which is fine, but they start at size 2, which is for 15 to 22lb babies. My son was born at 7lbs and is now 9lbs. Huggies makes a newborn and size 1 Costco! Stock the product line or don’t stock it at all!
- They don’t accept manufacturer coupons.
After we loaded our cart I’d had it. I was ready to ask for a refund and had walked half way back up to the returns desk where I just paid $50 for a membership (I did not get the American Express card with the membership). I decided that we’ll just have to come on weekdays when it’s not so busy and we’re limited to a few products there. Cheap diapers is the main reason we paid for the membership and they didn’t even have the right size. It’s difficult to tell if I save any money at Costco, which is the only reason anybody shops there. One thing I do get from Costco is grey hair. This is why I think Costco sucks.
[...] which confirms some of my findings. Not everyone is willing to put up with some of their tactics: http://www.nickbartlett.com/wordpress/costco-sucks/ (I will find out why they do not accept Visa or Mastercard, likely they have a deal going on with [...]
great experience, dude! thanks for this great post wow… it’s very wonderful report.
HMM.. THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCK ASS. PLUS THEIR EMPLOYEES ARE F**KING RUDE.
I totally agree-Costco sucks! I worked for them, and they actually time the cashiers. If you do not move fast enough, you will hear about it. And they do not believe in training their employees either (time is money). They are totally in bed with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and American Express. I will never ever buy anything from Costco-they suck!!!
I think Galley offered a lot of helpful insight into the in’s and outs of shopping at Costco. I agree with all the things you were irritated about, and yet, I realized that they wouldn’t be able to offer the discounts and the deals that they do. Take it or leave it, if you’re willing to put in the effort and time, you’ll be the better off financially for it.
i agree that costco sucks,their selection is very limited and really their prices arent that good! they only sem cheaper because you are buying larger quantities! when i price compare where i live in edmonton alberta canada ,i can always get better food ,better selection and better prices at superstore or wal mart! after you pay $50 for a membership you should be able to use a visa if you want! i really think it is greed for them to get money from amex for exclusivity!(dont be niave ,thats the real reason for it)! in a time of recession ,they should make it easier to shop there ,not harder! they lost me forever!
1) They accept cash, debit or amex credit cards due presumably to some sort of deal with American Express. If you don’t have the cash available on hand or in the bank, what’re you doing spending that much money? Costco is not as much a grocery store as a bulk warehouse. Up until a few years ago you couldn’t even have a membership unless you were associated with a business.
2) I can only speak for the warehouse I frequent, but aisle signs aren’t necessary. One side is hardlines, one is food, center area is seasonal. Things are coherent within each aisle (aisle for baking supplies, aisle for canned goods, aisle for detergent…). Yes, you may need to walk through your first time to figure out where stuff is, but it’s not that hard.
3) That’s either a mistake of that warehouse’s manager or you’re being intentionally obtuse. The only time I’ve seen something like that mashup is on the fence at the front of the store - which is a special case.
4) Every sign has the per unit cost on it. (Price per 100ml, Price per package, etc). And it’s ‘odd’ because Costco chooses not to deal with smal amounts - their attitude is quantity rather than markup. This is why you’ll find, say, lemon juice being sold in a pack of two bottles. Quantity. As for the 32 flat of coke, that’s how the Coca-Cola company delivers their cans to businesses (I worked at a coffee shop for a while, that’s what they shipped us.). Costco is just stocking the highest quantity available.
5) Ever try a plastic bag big enough to hold the bulk items they sell? It’ll fall right apart under any sort of load and instead your complaint will be “Cheap plastic bags at the checkout”. When available, they offer you boxes that product has come in as it’s actually resiliant enough to hold the product. As well, they sell re-usable bags made from recyclable material. My location has a four pack for $4 or so. Reuse… Recycle… Blast them for being environmentally responsible!
6) Depends on the location. They’re should be a security employee on the floor as well as the merchandising department. The number depends on the size of the warehouse. Perhaps you didn’t see them because, out of respect for the employees, Costco allows their employees to just wear a name tag - not a brightly coloured schmok. Regardless, if you had put any effort in to finding anyone (front end is full of people, sales) they would’ve answered your question or found someone who could. If you insist on having all the work done for you, you could’ve just asked the cashier and they would’ve sent an employee out on the floor to get it for you.
7) You seem to have gone in with the wrong expectations. Costco is not a grocery store, it’s a warehouse. They don’t stock the 100′000 items that Wal-Mart does, instead they stock somewhere more like 4′000. They don’t sell individual items, they sell bulk packs. They don’t have a variety of schmok-laden folks running around the floor pandering to your needs.
And rest assured, Costco _has_ considered all these “grocery store” things, but in the long run, it’s not what the core customer base wants and it’s not the market they’re in. They run warehouses that sell bulk items cheaply. They are not a grocery store. They do not compete with grocery stores.
I started working at Costco about 6 months ago. Before that, I had never had any dealings with them (I had never shopped there). During orientation, the one thing they continually drilled into our heads was their ‘game plan’:
1) Treat the members well.
2) Treat the employees well.
3) Treat the suppliers well,
Do all of the above and you should:
4) Return a profit to the shareholders.
All in all, they continually drill in being responsible. They have committed to not only meeting any legal requirements, but exceeding them by 10%. They require all employees (big and small) to sign a “Gratuity” agreement which basically states that any gift accepted from a member, supplier, potential supplier, etc, is grounds for immediate dismissal. They set out an employee agreement where they outline pay, benefits, bonuses, non-acceptable behaviour and associated punishment.
Starting pay is several dollars above minimum here with regular raises. They pay a premium for any skilled position (forklift driver, cashier, meat cutter). They give you benefits even if you’re only part-time. They give you a yearly bonus of several hundred dollars after a short time there reaching up into the few thousand dollar range for employees who have been there several years.
Since I’ve started working there, I’ve started shopping there as well for the prices, and for the return policy. “Anytime, any reason - just bring your receipt.” I’ve seen us accept a return on a pack of eight steaks - the customer brought back half a cooked steak and said they didn’t like them. They got all of their money back. We’ve accepted a return on a Plasma TV - the only reason I saw on the tag was “Window glare” - all their money back.
All in all, I shop there and continue to work there because I like to support a responsible corporation - it’s a nice change.
Wow, your comment was longer than my rambling. I was not being “intentionally obtuse”.. that’s where the product is stocked. I was waiting for the part where you said you were employed by Costco… It’s not that difficult for you to figure out where everything is when you work there.
i wouldn’t sweat that last post Nick. i work at a costco, and i garan-dam-tee you that last bit was posted by a costco manager. he can say what he wants…
I’ve been a Costco member for several months since our BJ’s closed. I’m going to cancel my membership for all of the reasons you stated. The deal-breaker for me was that they close at 6 p.m. on a Saturday. WTF?
I agree, I do not live right around the corner. Saturdays are one of the few times in the week where a working family can get out. This in itself makes Costco useless to me.