'The Cult of Costco' (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180497399
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/01/1752221/the-cult-of-costco
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-cult-of-costco/ar-AA1Tn4Cv
Its annual membership costs $65. The model traces back to Fedco, a nonprofit wholesale collective for federal employees founded in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Costco's private label Kirkland Signature has become one of the world's largest consumer packaged goods brands while maintaining deliberately understated branding. The company relies on word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied members rather than traditional advertising.
Atlantic staff writer Jake Lundberg, who shops at the Granger, Indiana location, describes the stores as spaces of "cooperation, courtesy, and grown-ups mostly acting like grown-ups." Shoppers follow unwritten rules: move along, don't block the way, step aside to check your phone. Checkout lines form orderly queues. The exceptions come near sample stations and before major holidays, when spatial awareness and common courtesy break down.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-cult-of-costco/ar-AA1Tn4Cv
Weird Cults (Score:3, Insightful)
Who wants cheap food, functional shopping carts, or satisfied employees?
Wackos!
Re: (Score:3)
Costco. One of the few companies that acts like it doesn't hate its customers.
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ALDI is another one that doesn't seem to hate their customers, I feel strong brand loyalty to them. While Walmart seems to made awful customer experience an art form.
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Or from what I can tell their employees. I've been a member for I think 2 decades. There are people at my store I am pretty sure were there when I joined. And the ones I've interacted with are polite and seem pretty helpful. I don't think it is as much a cult as they haven't (yet) followed the enshitification model.
Don't miss these incendiary Koreshmas savings! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't shop at Costco, so I don't have a dog in this fight. However, I will note that It's not a cult if they actually bring the goods. It only becomes a cult when the cult leader starts lying about bringing the goods and the cult members start arguing with insiders and outsiders pointing out that the cult leader is lying.
Re: (Score:3)
In "The cult of Costco", cult means "veneration, devotion, ritual" (wiktionary, meaning 1 [1]https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki... [wiktionary.org] ) practised as part of worship to a deity (which here is Costco). It's the centuries-old meaning. It is a different sentence than "Costco is a cult" (or sect) implying "unorthodox system of beliefs" (wiktionary, meaning 2, ibid), also a centuries-old meaning. It's still different from the modern usage which is "generally a pejorative ... variously applied to abusive or coercive groups
[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cult#Noun
Excellent Prepackaged Food (Score:2)
The hostess at a recent Christmas party had a delightfully tasteful little charcuterie layout. "Where did you get that?" CostCo, of course! We all acknowledged how surprisingly good some of their food items are when you consider they're essentially coming from a big-box warehouse. And their lasagna has long been a party staple around here!
Not really a cult then. (Score:2)
> The company relies on word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied members rather than traditional advertising.
Everything about this statement indicates this is more of the ideal outcome within a capitalistic society. Are people upset that they aren't heavily exploiting customers? If so, then they are sociopaths that you shouldn't be listening too in the first place.
Re: (Score:1)
cosco has many overpriced items though
Guy at work was complaining about a percent inflation in food that didn't mirror reality; he only shopped at Cosco so was using the CPI, cosco price index.
Shop around
I remember my grandpa doing a tax trick. (Score:2)
He would use his Costco card to pay a large donation to their current charity, write off the donation as a tax write off AND get that 5% back. Though I am unsure where you would put that 5% back in a tax form? Would it be a gift back from Costco itself? I am betting he just gave his receipt to his accountant and never thought about it.
That said, I do kind of like how Costco handles donations. Its not just one charity but they are fairly open on giving out donations to people in need.
Costco is awesome (Score:2)
I just don't have a need for the volume-packaging that they sell.
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> I just don't have a need for the volume-packaging that they sell.
Neither do I, but they are also good for big ticket items. The savings on some things easily pay for a membership. I've bought a couple sets of tires, a generator, a storage shed, a TV and various other things mostly all online so I rarely ever set foot in the store, which is good because it is a zoo.
Re: Costco is awesome (Score:3, Funny)
"No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded." Yogi Berra
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> ... so I rarely ever set foot in the store, which is good because it is a zoo.
First - what the heck is this story doing on Slashdot?
Second - try going in the evening, as in starting an hour or so before they close. My local Costco, at least, has never been busy when I've shopped during that time. It also has typically not been too bad if I go in around 3:00pm*.
*For older Slashdotters, I will clarify that I am not referring to UTC.
Why I don't care for them (Score:5, Informative)
My wife has a membership there. I am not sure why.
We live in a two person household, if we buy ten pounds of onions, or carrots, they will just go bad.
We can never do all of our shopping at Costco. They just don't have everything. Costco's selection is very limited, they just don't carry a lot of things we buy. For example: we cannot get decaffeinated tea, we cannot get regular soy milk (just organic soy beans and filtered water). What do have is only sold in huge quantities.
I suppose Costco works for some people, it's not great for everybody.
JMHO.
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My wife shares a subscription with her mother. There are tons of things we get at costco that are not perishable quickly and that are hard to get at that price anywhere else.
Cheese is really cheap but it is bulk. We split it off when it gets in.
Coffee is also quite cheap for the quality you get.
Paper products are also priced cheap. Once again it is bulk; but if you have space to store, it is pretty neat.
Not all, but some of the meat are cheap as well. We usually buy one meat bulk. Prep half and eat it over
Two big reasons for the politeness (Score:5, Insightful)
membership dues and the buy-in-bulk model.
Between $65-per-year and the fact that a costco run is at least a hundred bucks. Haha. 200. Who am I kidding? This means that the bottom socioeconomic 2/3 of society is mostly excluded. The tweakers and drunks go to Walmart, along with almost all the poor people.
I'm not judging it or justifying it. Just pointing out that Costco is basically running the country-club of retail shopping. Is anyone surprised that there's more good behavior?
serious question: (Score:2)
i've never been in one and the nearest is apparently 2h away, so i'm curious about this part in tfs:
Shoppers follow unwritten rules: move along, don't block the way, step aside to check your phone.
i find it rather hard to believe that people do this en masse because of some "behave, we're in the costco" impulse. can anyone confirm this?
Checkout lines form orderly queues.
on this other hand, this part does not seem particularly novel or noteworthy?
Handmade (Score:1)
Does Costco sell any products which someone has made?