Sorta OT: Costco

It's worth it for me because it may have started out as "BBQ purchases, spices, and maybe some household items like TP and such." but now it also wine (hit or miss, but occasionally some excellent wine at excellent prices), cashews, powdered Gatorade, books (my son like to browse their books every time we go), clothing, a portable grilling prep table, shampoo, body wash, dental floss, mouthwash, etc...

It doesn't sound like you will do this, but my membership pretty much pays for itself every time I buy a beef tenderloin - which is several times a year.

Village Idiot said:

I think it's well worth it too.  As far as the membership fee, I have the Executive Membership, and I just got a check for a little more than the membership fee (rebate).

We have one and while I do think it's worth it, I don't buy a whole lot of meat there just because it's not real convenient for me if I decide I want to smoke something on a Saturday morning, which is usually what happens.  I've got other good choices a lot closer to me that are high quality with pretty much the same or slightly higher meat prices. 

That said, the wife does buy lots of things there.....coffee (MUCH cheaper than grocery store), wine, sometimes beer (only place I've seen that sells Shiner products by the case), toiletries, etc.  And we actually just bought a memory foam mattress from Costco for literally 25% of the price of others we had looked at in mattress showrooms.  While we had to order it without getting to try it, their return policy made it a no-brainer.  Turns out we like it as much as the ones we liked in stores we had tried. 

Lastly, Costco is one of the few retailers today where the employees are not only helpful, but uncommonly friendly.  It is a theme there.

If you're rebate doesn't make up the extra amount for the Exec membership, they'll give you the difference back......you just have to ask for it.  My rebate is always in the hundreds, so it pays for the whole membership plus some.

If you're ever dissatisfied, you can always quit and get your full membership fee back.  Same goes for the meat--if you don't like it, put it in a zip lock and take it back.  I've done that with bad fruit or merchandise that has broken years later.  They'll always take it back--no questions asked.

Village Idiot said:

Perhaps the best thing about Costco is their return policy.  Generally, no questions asked.  My wife bought a blow up double bed mattress for out of town overnight guests.  After two sessions, it sprung a leak where it had to be blown up twice a night.  We took it back to Costco (4 years after purchase).  Full refund, no questions asked.