Friday, January 15, 2010

Wholesale Robbery?



Several months ago I got to conversing with a real nutjob cashier at the supermarket. She told me that BJs and Cost-Co WERE NOT cheaper for every product. I recall she said something about toilet paper and paper towels being cheaper there, at Stop & Shop.

Not a real veteran shopper of these wholesalers, I kind of just presumed that they were indeed cheaper, on a per unit basis and across the board, than local retail stores.

I realized today that the lady was right. After buying a huge load of pecorino romano cheese (we go through it in no time flat) for $10 per lb. at BJ's, I checked the price tag on the one sitting in my fridge. Sure enough, I only paid $9.49 per lb. at Stop & Shop.

Having had my presumption debunked by both at nutjob and a jam-job....I'm going to look at the price differentials more closely going forward.

5 comments:

Taylor Conant said...

C,

Austrian nerd-out time: is the product identical/of identical quality?

If yes, then it's cheaper at SNS. If not, they are different goods and therefore can command different prices and it's up to you to determine which is the better value (ie, cheaper)

CaptiousNut said...

Of course it was - with the pecorino romano. Exact same kind.

Time in.

Anonymous said...

Additionally, no membership dues at SNS.

Anonymous said...

This has been obvious for _years_.
Also, the selection tends to be spotty compared to other merchants.

Caveat Emptor Dude!

Anonymous said...

Yep...this is old news but congrats on finally figuring it out. One product which was $3.29 at BJ's was $2.90 at Hannaford. Bj's is best for diapers and formula...the rest is the same or better at Hannaford or Target (and you don't have to buy ridiculously large quantities)