We are members at two big warehouse clubs around us: Costco and Sam’s. Back in September when I first put my price book together I gathered prices from those two stores plus the other three grocery stores I do most of my shopping. Back then I found that for most of the items I was interested in grocery store sales, or Target sales beat the prices offered by the warehouse stores. However, I needed to keep on top of what was on sale at the other store. Which to me is no big deal since lately it seems like a sport for me.
However two items I found consistently cheaper at Costco where milk and eggs and since lately I have found myself by it often, I have had no problem stopping by it to pick those up. This afternoon we made our stop there and the prices for eggs had gone up almost 20%. This is what has happened to the prices of eggs the last three times I have bought them there: The second to last time I stopped at Costco for eggs they had 3 dozen jumbo eggs for $3.59. This was actually lower than it regularly was ($3.99). The next time I stopped by they were back to their regular price. Then today they were up to $4.69! That’s an increase of 17% in two weeks. Of course I didn’t get them.
This got me wondering about how many people really look at the prices they pay for the items they get at these type of stores. Meaning, how many people would really notice such a change in price or if they would just go on to pick up the items from the shelf and put them in their cart without bothering to make sure the price they are about to pay is the same as they paid last. Is their shopping process sort of automatic because they expect to be paying low prices since that’s what they think they are getting at warehouse stores?
Well, I am glad in the last few months I have become a more educated shopper.
