• Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Employee benefits and wages, mostly. The membership fees are the primary profit of Costco. Without that wages would go down, and prices would rise. You do know that businesses need to turn a profit to stay in business, right?

    The fee might be an upfront cost, and if you don’t buy enough goods during the year it may not be worth it, but I can tell you from my experience of just my wife and I being empty nesters, we have an “Executive” membership which costs even more than a regular membership (gasp!)with the added benefit of getting a small percentage of our annual spending coming back to us as essentially a gift certificate. That gift certificate pays for our membership, so, yeah, it’s worth it.

    • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Dear god.

      So you think that your paying the employee benefits and wages should be in advance, regardless of whether you shop there?!? They actually convinced you of that?

      They blackmailed you into thinking that prices would rise and wages would go down… Yes, by approximately the fees you pay for membership, whether you shop there or not

      Then you actually, genuinely think that you’re getting a “gift certificate” without any idea that you already paid for it

      Holy shit 😂

      It’s honestly scary how gullible the average consumer is

      • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        They didn’t “convince” me of that. I’ve looked at their earnings report and could see that their profits are roughly the same as their membership revenue. They convinced me to buy a membership by having lower prices than other retailers so I buy most of my dry goods, electronics, and other sundry goods from them

        My wife and I saw how much we were spending there annually and realized that an executive membership would pay for our annual fees in the rebate we’d get each year, so it made the membership essentially free. I’m not a sucker who got tricked into some “scheme”. I’m maximizing my purchase power, you dolt.

        • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          ☝️The capitalist’s wet dream 😂

          The normal supermarkets gouge you for every penny, so you now believe that you’re being gouged less by paying an annual fee

          Fuckin hell mate 😅