Costco Rebate Shocker

[JohnnyCNote]

I got a rebate check in the mail today. It wasn't the one I was expecting, however. It was from Costco, and the message attached stated that they'd renegotiated a better deal with Microsoft and were giving an additional $10, which they sent without me even having to request it.

Costco definitely knows how to satisfy customers.....

[Doramius]

Yeah, but they can't keep their stores open for any normal hours of operation. I like the selection and products at Costco, but Sams has better hours and just as cheap of stuff. Not good of selection, but I can go there at 9PM on a weeknight or weekend and still be able to shop for an hour or so. I got to Costco last Friday and they had no holiday hours. They closed at 8:30PM. My clock in the car said 8:40 and the place was locked down tight with an empty parking lot. That's sad.

[JohnnyCNote]

It's worth it to me for the good selection and their great return policy....

[lordsmurf]

That return policy makes me wonder how they even make money.

[Doramius]

I can never bring anything back. It's like they have the mystery "OPEN" hours and then they are closed whenever else I get there. I couldn't ever return anything. I think the store is great, but The hours just plain suck. I prefer it over SAM'S, but I need to be able to shop when I have the time.

[JohnnyCNote]

I went by there today and it was open 'til 8:30, but those are holiday hours. You could always check the website for their hours, too....

[Roundabout]

We had a bit of this discussion before in another thread re: Sam's Club vs. Costco (a.k.a. Costclosed). My feeling regarding the opening hours topic - you pay to shop there, it's not a free store, so the least they can do is be open decent hours.

Closing at 8:30 PM is not a smart thing to do, esp. during Xmas. They're even closed on July 4th, for God's sake! Hello, this is a store, not the post office - people need to shop

Not to beat the drum for Sam's Club, but they have better prices on virtually all food items, while Costco has a somewhat more 'upscale' product mix in the non-foods area (subjective opinion). Glad I don't have to pay for the Costco membership, a friend gives me his extra card. Mostly I just use it to buy gas at their station, usually it's more convienient for me to get gas there as it's closer to my house than Sam's. Other than that, I've probably spent all of $50 at Costco this year. 90% of my warehouse shopping is at Sam's.

[Capmaster]

Every two weeks my wife trolls Costco. She's gotten some great deals.

Every year we donate food to something here called Roadrunner Food Bank. It's food for the poor and they always have a big drive during the holidays. My wife gets these huge boxes of the thing the food bank prefers - prepared foods and macaroni and cheese ....gargantual boxes that would feed a family of 5 for a week. This year she got these noodle/meat/vegetable meals that are dried and need no refrig. You add hot water. Costco was practically giving them away ....30 servings for $6 or something ridiculous like that. 8)

[lordsmurf]

Ramen Noodles?

[rhegedus]

You guys have it easy!

Over here (UK) most places are closed by 5pm, with the supermarkets open untill 8pm unless it's a 24 hour one (few and far between). On Sundays, you're lucky to find anything other than a pub open after 5pm!

If you know the hours they keep, make it there on time i.e. before they close

[Capmaster]

Ramen Noodles?

No. They're entire meals ...not just noodles.

[handyguy]

"better deal with Microsoft and were giving an additional $10"

How nice, now if MS would just pay us from that MS Settlement thingy.

[JohnnyCNote]

You guys have it easy!

Over here (UK) most places are closed by 5pm, with the supermarkets open untill 8pm unless it's a 24 hour one (few and far between). On Sundays, you're lucky to find anything other than a pub open after 5pm!

If you know the hours they keep, make it there on time i.e. before they close

Things used to be like that in the US, but over the past 20 years it's rare to find a community that doesn't have at least one major store that's open 24 hours, or at the very least 'til 11.

There were a lot of "blue laws" where communities would prohibit the sale of certain items on Sunday; some were very strange. When I was stationed in San Angelo, TX (west TX) in the mid 70's, the one major store that was open on Sunday would put plastic over certain sections of their aisles. For example, one could buy hammers but not nails, beer and Playboy magazine but not toys for children. I failed to find the part in the Bible that said you can't buy toys, but beer's okay on Sunday.

As far as I know much of these laws have been discarded, but things are chaning in the US, so who knows what could happen next.....

[Doramius]

You guys have it easy!

Over here (UK) most places are closed by 5pm, with the supermarkets open untill 8pm unless it's a 24 hour one (few and far between). On Sundays, you're lucky to find anything other than a pub open after 5pm!

If you know the hours they keep, make it there on time i.e. before they close

You make it there by 6pm when you get out of work at 7pm. Not that those are my hours, but I'm not going to leave my son at the babysitters and have my wife wait at her workplace for another hour while I leave work 1/2 hour early to visit Costco. I get out at 5. I make it to the babysitter about 5:30-5:40. I get to my wife about 6:20-6:30. If we left to Costco right then and there we'd have about 1 hour at Costco, or we Can go to Sam's club for another 3 hours. Sam's is a little closer too. If Costco stayed open 1 more hour, I wouldn' be so upset. However, they up and close early or on days for what seems like no other reason. They up and closed one day because a major city official closed in Vegas. WTF? Sam's didn't close when Reagan died. Sure seemed like Costco did.

[mrtristan]

Well, I guess it's the same wherever you go. Last time I made it there at 8:00 sharp, and the doors were closed and the parking lot was already a ghost town. One thing I like about Costco is that business members can go in 1 hour early. I've never taken advantage of it, but it's nice to know that it's there.

I like Sam's more. Better selection, better hours, friendlier employees. The prices are pretty close.

[JohnnyCNote]

Sam's in Jacksonville needs a lot of improvement. For whatever reason, Costco is the best of the 3 warehouse clubs here. Does Sam's have the no-questions-asked return policy?

[zzyzzx]

Over here (UK) most places are closed by 5pm, with the supermarkets open untill 8pm unless it's a 24 hour one (few and far between). On Sundays, you're lucky to find anything other than a pub open after 5pm!

That's quite barbaric by US standards. Live out in the middle of nowhere or near a big city?

I also think that Costco hours suck.

[Roundabout]

Sam's in Jacksonville needs a lot of improvement. For whatever reason, Costco is the best of the 3 warehouse clubs here. Does Sam's have the no-questions-asked return policy?

Yeah, same deal as at Costco. You can return anything anytime. Also, at both clubs, you can cancel your membership on the last day before it expires and get your entire membership fee back. No questions, no hassles. I suppose both have the same policy due to competition.

I've never had any problem returning anything I've ever bought to either place, about the only question asked is: "is there anything wrong with it?". They'll take it back even if you tell them there's not anything wrong, they probably just need to know so they can send it back to the supplier (RTV - Return to Vendor) or just resell the item as clearance (at Sam's, anyway).

[JohnnyCNote]

Every once in a while we get a Guest Pass (or something to that effect) for Sam's. I'll check it out again next time one comes. We used to belong to BJ's, but it wasn't as convenient and the selection wasn't as nice as Costco's. They do have the cheaper gas, but unless we were in the area it wasn't worth driving all that distance to save a few cent's a gallon.

Speaking of Costco, on the Soprano's tonight they hit a guy on his way home from his local Costco. They must have arranged some product placement, since they mention Costco on the show from time to time....

[Greg12]

We dont have costco's in my market (maryland south). Sam's club is here but they close at 8 but if u make it in my 8 they serve you. They have a 1 hour photo but being a photo technician myself, I know the crap they use to produce pictures. It's not that I hate them because I work a competitor (can't say the name) but I have gotten pictures done there and then at other places and they come out so much nicer when they rn't done at sams or wal-mart. How do you think wal-mart can absorb the cost of ppl returning prints they just dont like.

Anyway, we dont buy alot there, mostly just water, giant and safeway have better prices on soda.

[Doramius]

Sam's made their primary supplier of film and paper for their photo shops FUJI FILM. There were big complaints by people because they wanted Kodak to be used as it's American made. However, it's about $.02-$.03 more expensive per 8.5"X11" sheet of photo paper. Wal-Mart can still offer lowest prices for their prints, but some of the quality is lacking. For most of the regular Joes, it's not that big of a deal in difference. If you're a professional photographer, I'm betting you're not getting your prints developed by Wal-Mart. Many have their own Dark Room, and they don't use FUJI developing paper.