Hi, never been to Costco. Just wondering is the $60 Costco membership worth it for a couple, excluding the possible petrol savings . Also expecting a child this year, just assuming there could be savings to be had for that also.
Cheers many thanks
Costco Membership - Is It Worth It for a Couple?
Francis82 on 07/02/2021 - 16:20
Last edited 07/02/2021 - 17:44 by 1 other user
Last edited 07/02/2021 - 17:44 by 1 other user
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I personally find the meat slightly dearer than a local butcher. The large cuts of beef and packs at enormous. For example the chicken breasts came in a 2kg pack and would have a use by date within the week which made me steer clear.
aahh yeah, just need to place them in a freezer, they have ones which are designed for that and are in portions
Worth it to save money? No, not really. You likely won't go through the bulk required to make the economy of scale work.
Worth it for the occasional electrical goods and when you're tired of Coles/WW products and want something new? Certainly.
Pretty sure you can go to the customer service desk and get a pass to walk around for free or at very least sign-up, browse around and refund it if not satisfied.
Ask if any friends or family members are interested as well and split the membership cost.
If you are just curious just ask around at work. Usually there is a costco fan who would love to take you.
We are a small family and we hardly find anything in smaller/single sizes related to day-to-day groceries. However we like to go there occasionally and browse through their isles, and sometimes we find really good stuff…for example I bought a floor mat for my home office chair which is really good quality and was at a good price, similarly I bought iPad for my daughter which was cheapest at Costco at the time. Sometimes you find better quality toys, or camping stuff at good quality.
I was taken to the Auburn Costco a few times by work friend and found that unless you buy in bulk you can save allot by "just" downloading the Woolies and Coles catalogs on Monday night and looking at the specials and buying them.
Costco is good if you want say 2KG of cheese or 2G of chips or 1.5KG of lollies. They do have good electrical specials.
Get Amazon Prime membership for $59/year.
I find Amazon Prime not worth the money anymore. Unless you like your items delivered.
Not much savings in grocery items, most of their sale items on Coles and WW week after.
With Amazon Prime you also get the Prime Video TV and Amazon Music plus Twitch I think for games.
I only watch Amazon Prime, since its come with it, there choice of shows not my kind and most of their content you still need to pay extra.
No discounted fuel with Amazon Prime
Try it for a year and see for yourself. You may (or may not) find a handful of items that are useful to you which are always cheaper at Costco.
you can always sign up n use it…
if u dont find value in it, they are happy to give u a full refund of the membership anytime within the year
i personally love their salads…1kg for 9.99, 3L milk for $3, n imported junk :)No.
Cheers guys many thanks 👍
Been a while since we bought nappies and wipes, but they definitely used to be cheaper at Costco (and you go through them in bulk anyway).
In terms of dollar savings a couple wouldn't make back the $65 annual membership compared to shopping at ALDI. ALDI has cheaper unit pricing than Costco. Plus you have to factor in the fuel for driving out to Costco.
I consider Costco more of a lifestyle/novelty. Its different to an ALDI (+Coles/WW) in that it has a food court + food samples + giant teddy bears.
For me I'm an automotive person. I've saved $ on:
- Costco petrol
- 25% car battery sale
- Newest model Bridgestone car tyres (S007A).curious, were the tyre cheaper than bob janes buy 3 get 1 free offers? ( same model)
Costco have the same Bridgestone promotion. I bought mine at Costco during their own Bridgestone buy 3 get the 4th free. I couldn't tell you if Bob Jane currently sells the S007A cheaper. I bought mine nearly 2 years ago when it was literally Bridgestone's newest tyre. Only Bridgestone and Costco had stock. Half a dozen Bridgestone franchises wanted >$300 per tyre. I bought mine $200 per tyre at Costco which I thought was fantastic for a recently released model.
Plus if you buy from Costco they include tyre inflation using 100% nitrogen gas + free tyre balance + tyre rotation.
For almost any fresh food you need to buy such large quantities it will expire before you can eat it, unless you have a huge freezer.
Yes, you're ahead even if you just buy it for petrol. Their petrol prices are loss leaders (like the hotdogs) to get you into the door.
Check out Costco Casula, these are the surrounding prices for 98 unleaded:
Costco - $1.24
Coles - $1.57
7 eleven - $1.52
Caltex - $1.50For a car 65 litre car, you're saving around $30 with just one full tank of petrol.
I don't buy much from costco but costco located way to work, most of my savings are from fuel.
i always wondered why costco dont offer 91 unleaded fuel?
Sign up for 12 months. At the 11 month mark, cancel your subscription for a full refund (no questions asked). If keen to retain membership, then get your partner to sign up. You could end up with 2 free years of subscriptions before they flag you. Worked for me, after 3rd year, got my adult children to sign up. Only catch, they have to be present at the shop.
Their hearing aids are very cheap and audiology services [testing, etc] are free with membership. My aunt saved about $6,000 buying the Costco rebranded name brand units vs buying the original branded ones. I'll add though that this was 5 years or more ago, so things might have changed.
They also have competitive optometry… which I don't use even though I have membership because my script hasn't altered in decades so I just get my glasses from Zenni. But I've been told by friends who use them that they're good.
In spite of all that, my membership just lapsed and I don't think I'll renew it. If I had Costco fuel close to me or an area I regularly drove through, I'd renew. In fact, if they were conveniently close rather than a 40 minute drive I'd be more likely to renew just to maintain access to the cheap pizzas in the cafe :-)
for optometry do they bulk bill?
also my costco membership is in my and my brothers name .. can my sister and parents access the optometry based on the fact that i have costco membership?
No idea if they can bulk bill, I don't use them.
I'd be surprised if you can get family in on your membership - but I don't know. Maybe there's a family membership option - ?
for optometry do they bulk bill?
Specsavers do…
My aunt saved about $6,000 buying the Costco rebranded name brand units vs buying the original branded ones.
So she doesn't mind the Costco ads that are pumped through them every 30 minutes?
You have to be smart with Costco.
Definitely fill the car with petrol even when driving past. I'll take my wife's car to fill if mine is full.
Not all stuff is cheaper. We use a free iPhone app called AnyList, and when we buy stuff we add the cheapest price we've found so far to the item. Like "Bottled Water - pay no more than 63c a litre" or "Passata - 6x700g $6.89 Costco" So we don't buy more expensive items elsewhere.
Some stuff is too bulk for a family of three. I like cheese but the massive pack of cheese slices is too big for us to use before it goes mouldy. You'd definitely need to go halves with another family.
I don't buy much red meat anymore because it's so expensive, but I do buy their mince and freeze portions of it, and the same with their packs of chicken breasts and thighs.
It could really be handy for nappies and formula, but it's still worth shopping around first. We used cheap nappies during the day and expensive ones for night time.
I like ALDI but very limited in what they offer. Their cleaning products are the sweet spot. Always rate high in reviews and cheap as.
So, I say, try it for a year! If you have an ABN, I think it's $5-10 cheaper(?) and you get 2 membership cards, one for you and one for the wife.
Good luck with the baby.
Buying bottled water is a hotly debated health / ecological issue, so I won't venture there.
However, you could get yourself a great (Oz)Bargain by investing in a water filter jug or a filter tap, then store the water in reusable BPAfree/glass/steel in the fridge, for convenient portable water. The savings would be far more than a Costco membership for most families!
@Krzytofferz
you also get two membership cards for normal membership
Your AnyList sounds like a fantastic thing to crowdsource across a few families! I'd love to see it
Milk is cheaper at Costco, if you are planning a party and want bulk pack of sandwiches, chicken, ribs then they are cheap. Costco is good for their petrol and i recover my membership fees from petrol.
if you want to reduce the membership fee then you can share the membership fees with your friends or relatives and you keep one card and another person keep another card. They dont look pic or identity but they just want a valid card for shopping.
ive seen them check cards and compare photo to real life person these past 1-2 years
They dont look pic or identity
Our local one does most of the time.
Cheers thank you all, really great feedback! I didnt have a clue they have such a wide range like into tyres and hearing aids also lol! Curiosity is definitely getting the better of me from the feedback ,might aswel give it a punt!
Wide range includes coffins too, for when your membership is about run out!
I've never had membership but been to a few Costco's over the years with friends and family, one thing that's I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned here yet is the Costco "feel and experience".
Sure there are savings to be had, and sure they have free samples to try BUT for me the biggest issue is how "un-australian" the whole experience is. This starts from the moment you go in, there's usually a massive que waiting time (specially now with COVID limits). Then there's the whole shop which is designed in a way to make sure you buy a lot of everything (I find it very wasteful). Then it is the checkout experience and coming out of the shop, somehow this really gets under my skin everytime and for that alone I'd avoid Costco. The way they fully inspect the trolley and ask you to step aside while they ring the items, then yet again there is a full inspection of the receipt upon exit like how on earth could I have stolen something from the checkout register to the exit door 20m apart.I do recommend going there for a visit and see if you like it, people I know who to to Costco have actually ended up consuming more of everything rather than saving. The average bill each time we go there is $500 and this is only for 2 weeks worth. I can do the same grocery at Aldi for $150ish.
I agree re the checkouts - it's bizarre
I agree with Opayu that you splash out your wallet at Costco, that why you should not indulge upon seeing many products which you love to see. Many product you see there are new to try and also branded. I am using Michellin wiper for my car and it has lasted more then 2 years, considering that other wipers i bought from Supercheap only lasted for 3 months as they says it depends where you park your car. they do sell good quality produces. I am told that alcohol is also cheap but i dont buy there so i cant say.
If you often like to have roast chicken, you can make your membership fee back in roast chicken alone.
That has to be the worst roast chicken out there.
My wife and kids refused to eat it. They have a weird flavour.
Yes totally agree. I read it in a whirlpool forum and apparently it’s soaked in brine or some crap and it’s disgusting. I bought one as it looked plump and juicy and the price was like $7 bucks. Cut it up for dinner and the whole family nearly gagged, just couldn’t finish it off.
I bought one as it looked plump and juicy
Same, it was more like eating a chicken sponge.
I'm pretty sure our dog refused the left overs too…
brine is just salt and water… most roast chickens are brined cause it helps keep the moister in the chicken so it keeps its size during roasting
anyways never eating a costco chicken so cant really comment, the coles and woolies chickens arent great either…
I needed to replace the car tyres, found the cheapest deal at Costco, even after including the membership cost. Saved about $200. Before membership ran out, we stocked up long term items.
No sharing membership cost with a family friend :) all win-win situations.
(young family of 3)
Hope it helps.
excluding the possible petrol savings
Why ?
Because it's out off our way too work etc
Change jobs…
Costco is cheap when Colesworth doesn't have the item on special otherwise Colesworth beats them most of the time.
Plus you don't have to buy in bulk or queue up for a bit on the weekends.
I've been a member since they opened the Auburn store but the shopping experience has gotten worse over the years. I didn't renew last year and don't miss it.
if you live close enough and have a few cars and Costco has fuel, they are usually 20 to 30 cents cheaper
the coupon sales are quite good, but normal price is similar or high than Coles. wollies discounts
books are dirt cheap, nappies are on sale a lot but so is Amazon. if you have a freeze (stand alone) the meats are cheap and frozen food too
American snacks are cheap
roses are cheap lol
toilet paper, I love the Costco double rolls
eggs are cheap if u have heaps of them