<HTML>
<font style="font-size: 10pt;"><p style="font-size: 10pt;">A couple of years
ago I had a strange coincidence regarding a plasma screen TV. My company is
a reseller, as such we of course purchase wholesale direct from
distributors. I got an e-mail from one of my distributors with a price list
containing this certain TV, don't remember the make and model though. for
$1100. Later that evening I had to go to Costco where I saw this same plasma
screen fro $380 more. This distrib, PCW, generally is not known for great
prices in regards to items such as plasma screen TVs. As I looked around, I
saw everything from hard drives to mice that could be had for cheaper. And I
do not mean just wholesale, but even retail. FYI, just for those that might
not be familiar with how wholesale distribution works, it is all based upon
extreme mass volume. With that said, items really are not marked down that
much. In fact most of the time when I need to purchase a switch I go through
a separate broker who has excess quantity to get rid of rather than a
distrib. Now with that under consideration I just do not see how Costco
could sell themselves as such a great savings when in fact they were marking
up way too much. Maybe I am wrong, but I always thought the point to Costco
and Sams was wholesale prices, where by they making their money off of
charging you to just shop there.<br> </div><div> </div><div>Now mind
you I am not a Costco fan at all, it was my mother who put my wife on her
account because at the time my wife believed that by buying enough meat to
supply the whole British army, we would save money. <br> </div><div>I
think most stores do what you said, they drop prices below retail just to
get you in the door. I have no doubt that Microcenter uses this as a
strategy against Best Buy and CompUSA, who do not have the best prices
anyways. Thank god for Pricegrabber and other search engines, it is amazing
how much you can save by NOT going to places like Best Buy, CompUSA,
etc..<br></div><div> </div><div> </div></font>
Sean Waite<br><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);
padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Mike Miller <mbmiller@taxa.epi.umn.edu><br>
To: TCLUG List <tclug-list@mn-linux.org><br>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:40:46 -0600 (CST)<br>
Subject: [tclug-list] [OT] Costco prices<br>
<br>
<div style="font-family: monospace,courier new,courier;">
On Wed, 21 Feb 2007, Sean Waite wrote:<br>
<br>
> Just last weekend I had to stop in at Costco to pick something up for
<br>
> someone else. Personally I find Costco to be a complete rip-off. While
I <br>
> was there I saw 50-pack of DVD+Rs for around $40-50.<br>
<br>
This is somewhat OT, thus the new thread. I just want to say that
Costco <br>
gives great prices on some things. When I got married a couple of
years <br>
ago I researched booze prices and bought a bunch of bottles for the <br>
wedding. Costco beat everyone else in town, usually by a fairly <br>
substantial margin. On most days their gasoline is cheaper than
anywhere <br>
else I know of (often by about $0.10/gal), but I'm not sure that's <br>
consistent.<br>
<br>
One of the ways that Costco and Sam's club make their money is by selling
<br>
some items at ordinary prices -- sometimes even higher than those at the <br>
grocery store. The other more obvious approach is to buy massive
amounts <br>
of smaller numbers of items. If you don't have a stand-alone freezer
or <br>
plenty of storage room, it might not be so great to shop at Costco. <br>
There is no doubt in my mind that I save plenty at Costco by buying the <br>
right things in large quantities. I just ignore most of the stuff in
<br>
Costco -- it isn't a good place for impulse purchases of big-ticket items.
<br>
Apparently, it isn't a good place to buy DVD+R media.<br>
<br>
Mike<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota<br>
tclug-list@mn-linux.org<br>
<a href="http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list"
target="_blank">http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list</a>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</HTML>