Costco Coupons

[KellyC]

Hi Everyone! I'm new here and trying to learn how to shop smarter.

I'm wondering what everyone's opinion is about COSTCO? We have the Executive membership and we just got our coupon book. Is it better to shop at Costco and use their coupons for toiletry items, cleaning supplies, etc, or do you think it's better to shop sales/coupons at regular stores?

It's so hard for me to compare because the Costco stuff always comes in different sized packages than the store stuff and I find there is a lot of math involved in finding what the best deal is.

[haipandu8]

last year we have Executive membership used to shop only costco.

when i join here 2010 i saved every month at least $200 per month I saved through coupons and expert members posts.

this is based on my shopping history.

[princessd]

well I love costco, but you really need to know your pricing to shop there. I always get unit prices. Like for paper towel, how much is it per roll not pack and compare that with what deals you can get at the stores with coupons!

[lshortt]

I found it very expensive to shop there. I feel you don't get as great a deal and you have to pay to shop there. Unless your feeding a family of 4 - 6 the produce goes bad before you have a chance to use it all up and end up throwing it out. No savings for me...

[matisa]

I think it depends on the product. I find they have good prices on meat. And since meat coupons are hard to find I normally buy most of my meat there.

[Abby1]

well I love costco, but you really need to know your pricing to shop there. I always get unit prices. Like for paper towel, how much is it per roll not pack and compare that with what deals you can get at the stores with coupons!

I second this & have a Costco membership. It really depends on an item-by-item basis, which you get to know over time. For example, I worked out the unit price of what I should be paying no more than for a roll of toilet paper. We used to buy our toilet paper at Costco, but now with sales + coupons I can buy it cheaper elsewhere (still the recycled toilet paper I love too). But I find it's more cost effective for me to buy paper towel, honey, electric toothbrush replacement heads, etc. there. We also switched our prescriptions over to Costco, which has been great for reducing costs. What helped me in the beginning was keeping an excel spreadsheet printout and writing down the prices of our most bought and most expensive items in order to price check them at a variety of stores. I then got to know what I shouldn't be paying more than and what were the best sale prices.

[couponfreak]

I can do better elsewhere and this year I am down grading from executive to normal will still get gas there when I am near(but it is lower octane so not really cheaper) and we get movie passes there as those are a great deal. I like watching for when they put clothing on sale etc. I have been very disapointed with there membership renewal process(much of the reason we are down grading..you don't really pay for a year. For example I got notification that my membership was going to expire December 1st I knew I didnt pay my membership until January(I let it lapse as hubby want working much and was thinking of just letting it go. So for December 2009 and part of January 2010 I could not shop there as my member ship was not valid. So I fought it and the changed it to Jan 1 (so I am still out 10 days of a year)Now where this gets better I had the executive and they issued me my check in October SO either I got my cheque for JAN-October(hardly a year) or they checked my spending from October 09 to October 2010 (with the over one month of expired member ship in there).Now I am not going back to executive So everything I spent for Christmas this year is gone for the divident cheque. its just very shady they should be offering memberships only from Oct to Oct and if you buy in later you should get a reduction for parts of year not used if they want to issue dividents only in October(for example October to October is 100bucks and they reduce membership cost by 8.33 per month that you are not a member in the year)

[KellyC]

Our inlaws have the free second card on our membership, so we get all of their purchases on our dividend cheque!

[Chantel]

My mother has a costco card and I accompany her there constantly. Like another poster said, UNIT PRICE is essential. We NEVER purchase things we can get for less elsewhere with coupons, and we tend to buy things in bulk and split them with other people, like my aunt or grandparents. Sometimes it can be a great deal, other times not so much.

My mom and I used to buy our dishwashing detergent there as well as our laundry soap in the big boxes, but I think during this year I think I'll be able to make enough stacks for free stuff that we'll have a year's supply and spend the same in tax as we would on a single box in Costco.

I find costco to be cheaper for some things, like bagels, they're a pretty good deal and they're yummy, and their gigantic pumpkin pies for $6 are a fantastic deal.

From what I know, costco doesn't take manufacturer's coupons at all, so if you buy a large package of something and it's defective, the manufacturer's replacement coupon (like J&J gives out) won't be accepted there, so you'll be out of luck trying to find the same size replacement anywhere else, unless you happen to have a public wholesale store that accepts manufacturer's coupons. I think Grocery People may accept them, but I'll have to find out.

[Abby1]

From what I know, costco doesn't take manufacturer's coupons at all, so if you buy a large package of something and it's defective, the manufacturer's replacement coupon (like J&J gives out) won't be accepted there, so you'll be out of luck trying to find the same size replacement anywhere else, unless you happen to have a public wholesale store that accepts manufacturer's coupons. I think Grocery People may accept them, but I'll have to find out.

Yeah, they don't accept manufacturer coupons, but they do sometimes have their own. For example, one time on save.ca there were special coupons available for use at Costco only. Have only seen that once though!

[Chantel]

That's interesting.. the only ones I've seen are the ones they send out and the ones they hand out at the door. Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled in case those come back on save.ca.

[xraychick181]

I was just about to post a new thread asking if anyone knew if Costco accepted manufacturer's coupon's -- has anyone confirmed this or is it just an assumption? I wondered because I have their coupons which were mailed to me, plus a manufacturer's coupon for the same item and didn't know if they allowed "stacking" as everyone calls it??

P.S. thanks for the tips about the Unit pricing; sometimes I do this and other times I see things that are on special at Costco & automatically think I'm getting the better price, so Thanks!!

[tvwatcher]

I love Costco too - I have a regular membership but was thinking of upgrading to executive

it's true, you have to be aware of the unit prices - my cell phone has a calculator, so I use that rather than try to do it in my head

their return policy is second to none, and I really love that! it's so nice to not have to dread making a return because of worry of a hassle