Costco rant

Warning. Very sour outlook brought on by too hot temps and too much work to do.

Went to Costco the other day. I do not go to Costco. Last time I was there was 20 years ago, before my daughter was born. I bought a package of tape. Had like 12 rolls in it. We're still using that same package of tape!

So off we go to get hearing aids for deaf husband. What? I said deaf husband.

While I am a firm supporter of shop local and I do often and willingly spend MORE on an item to keep my money where my mouth is, there is no local hearing aid place that is going out of business because we went to Costco. Furthermore, I believe everyone is entitled to a fair living and there is nothing fair or even decent about the mark up on a hearing aid. It is an atrocious and unforgivable gouge, so to those who are excessively greedy, this hand gesture is for you.

But as I stood, slack jawed at the shocking volume of people pushing and crowding their way through this store, I had an almost out of body experience. This place was my worst nightmare! Honest...while Hubby was happily ensconced in a sound proof booth I managed to make my way down one lousy aisle before heading back to the hearing corner and joining him in the booth. Make it stop, make it stop!

No one smiled, no one nodded, no one exchanged a word. People stood like cattle in long lines to get through the til. I cannot imagine being a check out lady at Costco! Nerves of steel and a hide like an elephant. It must be a brutal job! Because people are not there to support a community in any way, they are there to get CHEAP STUFF. It is a soul-less, desperate, vacant, meaningless place where money and only money matters. And it made me nauseated.

I had my worst breakdown at the meat section where I jabbed a side of pork, a CHEAP side of pork and said, ALOUD to whom ever was listening, THIS IS WHY ANIMALS LIVE AND DIE IN HELLISH CONDITIONS IN FACTORY FARMS AND MEAT TASTES LIKE DEATH AND MANURE. Because we've all had it, pork that tastes like what they scraped off the outside of the pig. I put this down to a bad life, which is the ONLY life a pig will have if he is going to be sold at Costco for those dirt prices. It made me mad. It made me want to whack all those people with a side of pork. A stinky side of pork. All those stupid, clueless, ignorant consumers who just want cheap, cheap, cheap with NO IDEA what it is really costing this country and its farmers for them to get this horrible, cheap food.

Many of you reading this might be Costco shoppers and frankly, I don't know what to say to you. I think if you raise animals on the one hand, support the ethical, rural lifestyle and farming, then you are talking out of both sides of your mouth to shop at a place like Costco. Those prices are simply WRONG. They create a little bubble of unreality where the spoiled and stunned Canadian consumer can have all sorts of things to eat without feeling the pinch of the true cost and VALUE of those things. It is a crime and a sin.

We save money on food? So we can have money for smokes or beer or video games or (fill in blank with non essential). We are messed up. I left Costco feeling I had been at some obscene peep show. I felt dirty and soiled. Grimey. Ashamed.

I guess small town and purposeful decisions about where and how we spend our money is too ingrained in me. I want my buying choices to matter. The sad thing, the very sad thing, is that paying a higher price for meat at the local place DOES NOT insure that the pigs lived a better life. For all I know the middle man is taking a bigger slice of the pie and the pig comes from the same hell hole the Costco pigs did.

To greedy hearing aid vendors, to factory pig people, to mindless shoppers rolling over each other's toes in a rush to get more for less, this THUD'S for you!

Hmmm....Costco shopper here. Found your rant interesting.

I knew this rant would step on toes but that was not my intention. I sincerely question how those meat prices can sustain a farmer? The prices were very low and even at that Costco is making a profit, so you have to ask, who is getting the shitty end of the stick in this deal?

For Canadian farmers to produce pork (or chicken or what have you) they have to cram more animals per square foot. The quality of life goes DOWN when the farmer has to produce MORE on the same footprint to supply the demand for ever cheaper product. I am opposed to this in every way.

Either that or that meat is third world oppressed meat. Off- shore shame.

I have ranted in the distant past about the Canadian consumer who, for the most part, is dirt stupid about the real cost and WORK of producing food. The whole system is screwed up. The only thing that heartens me is that some small groups of farmers are working to establish point of sale markets, where beef is raised, slaughtered and sold on premises, as it should be in my view of a perfect world. We have gotten too far away from who and how our meat is raised and become Costco shoppers, giving no thought to the consequences of our buying actions. I cannot say that I support small farmers yet buy the cheapest eggs, milk, meat and fruit that I can. That's just speaking with a forked tongue. My convictions cannot end at my wallet, or they are not convictions at all.

For stuff like toilet paper, towels, bed sheets, things that are not produced locally...maybe there is a place for the Costcos of the world. Or if you are shopping to supply a camp or army base! (I will not live long enough to use the 1400 Q-Tips I bought!) But we used to have garment makers and the like until the cry for cheaper prices pushed them off shore. I believe there is a balance to life...and it is NOT going to be found on the shelves of a Costco, not for me anyway.

I am with you Uno. I hate the big box chains both for the ethics and the nasty shoppers. A lot of my meat ( not all though) comes from with 15km of my home. It is sometimes tempting to get the deals on toilet paper or canned goods that these places have. Sometimes I find I think about stopping in to Wally world etc. especially since my husband has lost his job. Every time I do though, I wish I hadn't bothered. I try to shop at the Co Op for these things. They may be more expensive, but I don't leave feeling angry and frustrated. As far as meat and veg, I try to grow as much of my own as i possibly can. Next I seek out friends who have extra.

And what were you expecting ? A friendly shopping experiance ? It's bulk shopping at it's finest ,and everyone is there to get in and get out .......no time for chatting .Best to avoud these places if you don't like push crowds ........unless you have a bat !!

The first and only time I ever stepped foot into a Cosco was over 20 years ago. My husband's work offers Cosco employee cards, something like that. We tried it and hated it. It was like walking into a prison. THe front doors were chain link and there was barb wire on the top. We found nothing appealing as far as the groceries went. We did shop there. After we went through the cash, on the way out of the store, we were stopped by some ape who wanted to go through our groceries. He just started going through them. I nearly docked him. Told him to get the heck away from my paid for groceries. I was told that it was store policy as they don't know if I didn't go back in and maybe hid something I didn't pay for. Considering that you have to pass through a chainlink gate with store security there with no other way and the only way out being through the cashes, how in the world could I slip something in?

Never went back. People at my husband's work are always going on how he is missing out on great deals. We couldn't care less.

The cheap always comes out expensive.

Frankly Prairie Dog, I wasn't sure what to expect. It was a bit like being surrounded by an alien species, or maybe I was the alien species. I was struck dumb at the SIZE of everything. I honestly am still using the tape I bought there 20 years ago! What sort of consumptive lives do people live? IT boggles the mind. And some of them were acting like it was normal to be there. The nerve!

I should have called Coopslave who could have walked me through, held my hand and said, "cut that out, Uno, you're acting like a dork." I'm sure I gawked. I even nodded, smiled and said hello to several people, which further cemented my place as a misfit.

Honest, I do not have the room to store a carton of toilet paper larger than my sofa. Or enough hand lotion to fill my gas tank. It's like a race of giants live somewhere and shop at Costco. Giants with lots of kids. Giants who have no clue about farming. So other than the sheer, as Toy barons says, guerrilla like shopping atmosphere and the ghastly prices that keep third world sweat shops alive and well, I was freaked out by the mass of humanity. Masses of sweaty, crowded, mouth breathing humanity. AAAGGHGHGHGH!!!!

Like Coopslave, we are Costco shoppers probably with about 20 years experience. We have a fairly large family and we shop at Costco once a month. We also shop at our local grocery store at least once per week and often more frequently. Our hair dresser is a family friend working in a local shop- much better than the hair butchers in Kamloops that are never the same from one appointment to the next. We shop at the local drug store, the local tire shop and the local hardware store. We buy fuel in Kmaloops only because the local cardlock only has diesel. When we shop at Costco we buy items that we will turn over in a reasonably time period. We raise 90% of our own meat and a lot of our own vegetables. We have been burned by some other big box stores on purchases, but Costco has been easy on returns like a central vaccumm system just a couple months over the warranty period. The check over at the door has saved us money on one occasion because the cashier had charged us twice for a certian expensive item and on another occasion we had not been charged for items on the bottom of the cart.

People in general are self centered and rude. Most don't smile or say hi, some do usually the elderly. Most don't have a clue what excuse me means, blank stares. It baffles me how one person can block a 10 foot wide isle. That's Costco. But not everything they sell is from off shore, not anymore than any other store. Most of the clothing is made in Canada from 100% cotton. I don't buy meat or fruits or veg, unless it's organic, but that's at my local grocery store as well. I grow my own as much as possible or buy from local farmers.

We did buy a TV from Costco over 4 years ago , they offer an extra year warranty. So two years instead of 1. Our TV developed a fine line guess the crystals burnt out in that line. Hubby went to Costco and talked to a clerk who talked to a manager. Hubby got what we paid for back in cash, Costco stands behind their products. They usually go above and beyond. Costco isn't all bad, and they do employ a lot of local staff.

Toybaons your Costco sounds bleak, ours isn't that bad

I probably should not step in here as everyone is against Costco, but we do shop there. I am not a good shopper, I hate it. I don't like to visit as I shop, I like to get in and get out. It is a necessity that I have to do that I think could be time spend doing something more productive.
We have a very strict budget. We work in the agriculture industry producing beef and it pays shit here in Canada. Australia had much more respect for people like us.
We do not have the liberty of producing for ourselves as we live on somebody elses place. I produce my own chickens, but that is all we are able to do.
I think people should not be judged until you have a walk in their shoes. We share our Costco shops of meat and other such items like toilet paper and paper towels, with my elderly mother who would otherwise not live as good a life as we are able to help contribute to it in the little ways we are able. We are not giants or huge consumers and do understand where our food comes from as we are in the trenches EVERY DAY.
Our strict budget has to feed our many working dogs too, which unlike many Canadians, we use very extensively on the ranch. They are not pets, they earn a living and are very important to us and respected by us for their efforts. We want to look after them as best we can and Costco helps us do that with a very good dog food that keeps them in good condition and doesn't have many of the nasties I don't want to feed, for a more reasonable price.
Everyone has their own reality and mine is I have a budget but I also like to have the odd nice thing to eat without paying an arm and a leg for it.
Uno, I know it was not your intention, but I am offended at the generalisations in this rant and I have tried not to be.
I am not a huge consumer and put a lot of thought into the things I get, as I have to. I barter with neighbours, friends and family but I will not buy into the inflated prices for 'organic' or 'natural' products that many want to sell. I give much of mine away.
Glad you got your rant out of the way. Hope you feel better. I suppose I have had my own little rant as well, although I had not planned to.
I am obviously in the minority here, but that is not new to me.

My random thoughts;

We shop at Costco about once a month. I don't see how they are different than any other grocery store. Unless your local grocery is called "Mr. Smith's Grocery Store" it is probably part of a big chain that also uses commercially raised products. Shop at Superstore and the money doesn't stay in your area. Sobey's? HA! He is in Bermuda! Yes, even Co-Op carries products that are commercially made (I think someone told me the Co_ops carry "Our Compliments", is that the Sobey's brand?)

I know a former butcher who raves about the Costco meat. You can get Grade AAA there. Around here you can't even get that in a restaurant. The other stores sell Grade A at best because that is the best they can sell and still make money. (This is all what he told me) I've had meat from a neighbour and that was great, except she isn't always butchering cows.

Costco is a recent addition to our area. They pay better and have better working conditions than most other places.

Rude shoppers? Don't have to go to Costco to find them. We go to the local Farmers Market and also find people blocking paths as they stop to chat. Supposed to be no dogs allowed but lots of people bring them anyway.

I'm not saying they're perfect. You have to know what prices you're shopping for. Some things are no cheaper than at other stores. Some things are sold in packages that are simply too large for us, so we spread our shopping around. Nope, not saving money for smokes or beer or video games. How about University education for 3 children? Is that frivolous too? Ah well.

It is AAA Fowler. Some of the best beef you can buy you will get there and I do know beef. I save up and then buy the cryovac (sp?) stuff and split it into portions for us. Buying a whole beef for 2 people gives us a lot of hamburger to try and figure out what to do with and is a large lump of money going out at one time. Sometimes it is nice just to buy the cuts you want or can afford.
I am not saying they are perfect either and they certainly are not the only store I shop at.
Nice to meet another Costco shopper Fowler.

@ debbiej - TO be fair, it was Costco over 20 years ago. I'm pretty sure the interior has improved since then

We go there once in a while as well and we do find some good saveings.But as Uno said it's a jungle of people in there and myself as well am a person who can't quite understand the excess of the HUGE volume on some items ?? But I also realize that we ( three in my family ) don't need to purchase these types of items and thus we are there moe often then not getting clothing for the boy and maybe a few eating items .It is overwelming to see cans that are bigger then the garbage can under the sink ,or bags of food that look like they would go bad before you could ever eat what ever is inside ?......Around here the local WalMarts are becomeing more and more like Costco so it's hard to get away from the excess ? ..............and they talk of world food shortages ????

Costco does not support cruelty to animals as many believe. They have recently stopped buying pork from a farm that was caught abusing animals on a video. They try to make local ethical purchases to keep their prices down. That is not saying they don't buy Frankenbirds or barn raised pork, but the moment any abuse to animals is discovered they pull their contracts with suppliers. I do not shop at Costco regularly, actually I have hardly ever set foot in a store. I do buy large items online. They are delivered to the local UPS office, usually with free shipping and any returns are picked up at the same UPS office with Costco footing the pick up bill. They do stand behind their products and are the fairest company to deal with as far as returns go that I have found.

I think what may have happened to Uno is culture shock. I am from White Rock, BC where I lived for many many years. In cities there are so many people that the lineups come to be expected. The deer in the headlights look people adopt when they are shopping in crowded places is a survival skill...become oblivious to what they cannot change or succumb to negative emotions. I have rants about country folk. But Costco is not an unethical place.

Hearing aids are terribly overpriced. I paid over 4000 for my mother's and she never wears them. The whole hearing industry is that way . I have acquaintances who own hearing and vision franchises and they make a ton of money. One told me to tell my kids to become audiologists because it is a license to print money. My kids were not interested, but what she said is true. Sorry your husband got caught in the scheme and you suffered in the city. Now you are home you can go outside and breathe deep.

I am a costco shopper and I'm not offended. One of the things I like about Costco is they seem to be the first store in town to give a new Canadian company a chance. And they do carry meats from Canada, at prices that are comparable with stores nearby - often better prices can be found at Superstore so the prices are probably not the companies fault. I don't like the massive amounts of imported fruits and veggies. I don't like the craziness in some of the shoppers. And I am often disgusted by the carts full of just plain non-essential crap...haven't those people read we are in a recession?

I could be wrong, but I understand that Costco is able to supply some of those low prices by eliminating many of the middle companies in the supply chain. When they do buy Canadian fruits and veggies, it is direct from the grower or distributor. And often sold at prices set by marketing boards. They buy meats directly from the processor and are buying at market value. And market value is determined by the marketing boards. Almost all the meats in stores in BC are sold under the 'guidance' of marketing boards who have more to do with store prices than supply and demand. So is it not the marketing boards to blame?

And sometimes stores like Costco contract growers, eliminating all the marketing costs and reducing the risk. Whereas our local stores purchase from the parent store, who purchases from a distributor, who purchases from another. I had a little pie shop and I was amazed sometimes when tracking down sources of food just how many times some items were moved before reaching the consumer.

I also found in having the pie shop that trying to buy some items locally was next to impossible. I never did find local sources of meats that were willing or able to sell us the volumes of meat we needed, and many of our customers were not willing to pay the prices for local products anyhow.

It's a bit of a double edged sword isn't it? We want to shop for affordable items at prices like Walmart prices, but we don't dream for our kids to work there! But because farmland is disappearing and ma and pa stores are closing, that's where they are likely to end up.

The public needs to wake up and I think it is starting. In Nanaimo and the gulf islands, people have chickens and gardens in the backyard again. Our Westcoast Seeds store is selling record numbers of seeds. There's this great little underground heritage chicken movement I've recently discovered. Farmers markets vendors are selling out of product. So I think it's changing. And it's up to us to help!

Coopslave, I feel horrible that I offended you. My generalizations, I think though, apply to the GENERAL shopper at Costco and not the SPECIFIC shopper at Costco. Certainly not anyone on this site who has read and contributed to discussions about this very topic. Most people (generalization) don't give a hoot where their food comes from, whether the critter live or died a decent life/death or if the people picking the crops were paid a decent wage to do so.

But what you said goes right to the heart of it for me. Here in Canada, YOU RAISE BEEF and do not get the respect or income due you for what you provide for the people of this country. Meat at Costco (or anywhere ) should NOT be so stinking cheap! That it is, is what makes farming a dirty word, an almost impossible way to make a living. In other places on this planet, meat at every meal is beyond their scope, unless it's a small amount. We North Americans are, dare I say it , SPOILED ROTTEN and have no clue how the other half lives. Just because we are so lucky we think we did something to deserve it! Hah! Wrong!

Hubby and I do things to save money too, but shopping at Costco is not one of them, it's too far out of the way. I can see where Costco shopping has its place for people who live far away and can't just zip into town when they're out of toilet paper. But I think Fat Ewe nailed it as well. IT was a monster dose of culture shock. I live in a small town and if 5 people are at the Chinese food smorgasboard ahead of me on a Friday night, I figure there's a run on the chow mein and the world has ended!

To sum up...I looked at the meat prices, the low meat prices, and Coopslave it was on behalf of people who try to earn their living like you do, that I was offended. The meat prices offended me. People who think they are entitled to these low prices offended me. The rest just freaked me out.

Don't worry Uno, I am over it. I don't stay offended for long, part of having a thick skin. I do get where you were coming from, I guess I just don't like to be lumped into a category. I suppose just a little worn out and grumpy after all the company. Miss them though, the house is pretty quiet now.

I don't think it is what cattle are selling for that is responsible for agricultural wages, I think it is all about the perception a country has for the value of something. Cattle prices were not any better in Australia and I think the middle man scored more there, but the country as a whole respects agriculture as a career.

I think you are right about a spoilt nation. We have never really suffered famine like many countries have and just think that as much food as we want is our right. I suppose I am a little like that. I would prefer to have a little less and better quality, but I think I would struggle without meat at every meal.
Sounding like a broken record, as I have said this all before.

islandgal99 that was some of my limited understanding of Costco too. Cutting out the middle man and buying bulk helps keep the prices a bit more reasonable.

Don't get me started about Walmart, I have Uno type thoughts about that place and I surely would offend someone with them!

Oh please DO offend someone, then I won't feel like the only one with egg on my face!

I can honestly say in all the rants I have heard against BigBox stores, I have never heard anything negativly said about Costco. Cannot say that about some other BBS.

I don't shop Costco mainly as I don't have a need to. I prefer to buy on a weekly basis, as I need. It's my personal preference.

uno wrote:Oh please DO offend someone, then I won't feel like the only one with egg on my face!

It's an organic egg though, right

No, Uno has rashly admitted that she likes to eat grocery store eggs (surely not ones from caged layers, Uno? Please say they're at least Free Run), rather than her own. . . .

I've never shopped at Costco, but what Fat Ewe and others say seems to ring true. My husband works part time at the local Salt Spring cheesery, and Costco has a direct supply contract with them (unlike any of the other shops).

IPF, talk about kicking a guy when she's down! I NEVER said I liked store bought eggs, you stinker!

Toybarons, I would only ever have organic egg on my face. Free run organic eggs from chickens that were not scam artists.

prairie dog wrote:But as Uno said it's a jungle of people in there and myself as well am a person who can't quite understand the excess of the HUGE volume on some items ??

Other businesses, like restaurants and cafes, also buy from Costco. I've heard of retirement homes that started buying from them to save money as well.

uno wrote:IPF, talk about kicking a guy when she's down! I NEVER said I liked store bought eggs, you stinker!

I think you did, Uno! It was in another post! You said you did not like the strong taste of farm eggs. The taste of poverty.

All eggs aside, I am truly enjoying the rant and must side with Uno, but for other reasons.

-Costco is too far away.
-There is something that bothers me about having to buy a membership to shop there.
-I don't like being treated like a criminal when I leave.
-I don't have enough room in the house to store anything in bulk.

However, they do make a Thai marinaded Salmon that is to die for!