photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tellumo/83083404/
I have been advocating the ditching for a couple of years now. There’s something about that place. We go in there and something takes hold of us. We want to buy everything. Mostly things we don’t need. We don’t actually buy a bunch of stuff we don’t need, but we always feel the pull towards those non-needed items. I’m sure that’s part of their strategy - they probably have a team of psychologists working for them. Yeah some things are a good deal. But every time I go there I feel cheap. In fact I feel pretty dirty. And manipulated. And ashamed. It represents every thing we are not.
The only reason we kept our membership last fall when the renewal came up is Tim is addicted to Grape Nuts. And Grape Nuts are really cheap at Costco. One time my daughter and I bought five of the HUGE boxes of Grape Nuts and put them under Tim’s pillow. (yeah - he loves them) Anyway, it was more difficult for Tim to let go than me. We agree that Costco doesn’t fit our lifestyle. But it was still a little hard to completely give it up. But as of Halloween we did it. We let our membership expire and this year we are finally Costco free (Full Disclosure: we still know people who we might con into picking up a few boxes of Grape Nuts for Tim on occasion ).
So as of now we are doing all of our shopping for stuff we need on a regular basis by bike or on foot and near our house. And it feels pretty good. We still shop for other stuff (say bike parts) on the internet and know the carbon emissions of shipping etc. leaves something to be desired - but we never said we were perfect.
- Anne
4 responses so far ↓
Tim K // November 1, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I truly do love grape nuts. But then, who doesnt?
Smudgemo // November 1, 2007 at 7:42 pm
My wife’s business partner is a member and picks up the industrial-sized packs of TP and snot rags for us.
I understand that Costco actually has a decent attitude towards it’s workers, but I’d rather support the little guy as much as is reasonable even though it costs more.
cfdanne // November 1, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I applaud them for being good to their employees. I know they are a good company in that respect. However, the consumption the place promotes is out of control. I too would rather support local businesses even if I have to pay a little bit more.
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