Costco opened on Kauai! Yahoo! I spent two hours filling a cart last evening.

C

CathyZ

Well-known member
150,000 square feet of glorious stuff. I know it is no big deal to most of you but to me it is nirvana. Pork roasts, good balsamic vinegar, lamb chops, tiny sweet peppers, REAL tiny green beans.....well. Today the pantry and freezer are bulging.

 
My Opinion

I find Costco has a higher quality of products. Maui has Costco, Nashville has both, but Sam's is closer by 40 miles.

 
Costco for sure. They treat their employees fairly & pay them a living wage,..

and health insurance as opposed to "you know who". See link. They are constantly criticized by Wall Street for giving their employees too much money and benefits. But they still manage to pay high salaries and benefits and compete with Wal-Mart's/Sam's prices (and obscene treatment of employees).

Plus they have better service from happy employees and better quality, or at least that's the experience I found here comparing the two.

Cathy, here's hoping you don't have any unexpected electrical outages after that stock up trip! When I lived on Long Island, I had just gone for the big stock up trip and of course, we had a hurricane the next day and I lost electricity for the next week.

http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/empeng/archives/2005/07/costco_reaps_be.html

 
New Costco opening here in Raleigh too. Even better Trader Joes is coming. Question.....

I now belong to BJ's and since I live alone only buy wine smileys/smile.gif and lamb there. Their lamb is wonderful. Is Costco's lamb American or New Zealand? There was a special sign up at the State Fair today for $40.00 for 14 months.

 
Speaking of Costco... my Dad forwarded to me this interesting article about drugs

COSTCO

Let's hear it for COSTCO !! (This is just mind-boggling!) ? Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. ?The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of Washington , DC offices.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? ? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. ? We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. ? As we have revealed in past issues of "Life Extension ", a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. ? In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America

The data below speaks for itself.


Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%



Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%



Keflex: 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%



Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%



Norvasc: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%



Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%



Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%



Prilosec : 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%



Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%



Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%



Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%



Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%



Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809



Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%



Zocor: 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%



Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%



Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. ? Please read the following and pass it on. ?It pays to shop around. ? This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. ? On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. ?He found in his investigation that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. ? Yes, that's not a typo... three thousand percent! ? So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. ? But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. ? For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. ?The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. ? What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that COSTCO consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.



I went to the COSTCO site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. ? It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. ? I was appalled. ? Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.



I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. ? I checked the price at COSTCO , and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. ?For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. ? I could have got 150 at COSTCO for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although COSTCO is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated substance. ?You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is tr u e)

I went there this past Thursday and asked them. ?I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.


Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

 
if you shop there alot you can get a certain membership that pays you back according to some

formula per how much you bought over a certain amount per year. does that make any sense? not sure if you have the same thing?

 
We bought the Executive Membership last year when they were doing a

promotion telling customers whether they might save more based on the past years spending (they can bring up your record of spending in a matter of seconds). About a month ago we got our renewal form and "Reward Gift Certificate" that covers the membership cost, plus $0.41. So basically, because I spent so much there last year, this year our membership is free! - - irresistable. I always resented paying them to allow me to shop in their store, but they carry things no one else carries, and the quality is usually excellent. (LOve those 'taste ladies' too) This "Reward Gift Certificate" makes it all better.

 
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