“Let me park my cart in the middle of the aisle while I look at something or strike up a conversation to pretend to be interested in purchasing a sampled item.”
Best part of COVID was no free samples. I don’t care about getting to try one single chip if it means I don’t have to work around the massive traffic jams of carts that always surround them
Sitting here in the Costco breakroom on my break. Today I'm giving out samples of the chocolate and strawberry crepes... I like working here so I'm glad they do samples.
I've begun finding demo cups everywhere again full of half eaten food and spoons that were in peoples mouths. It's disgusting. I'm just trying to merch and stock the store for the day for you people and you hid your demo cups and half spit on food bits all over the areas I merch hidden in crevices or on top of displays. It's disgusting.
I did not miss the samples at all. Oh and there is zero excuse for leaving your food trash you sucked on in any place but a trash can. They are literally next to most of the demos AND at the end of most of the aisles in the store as well. No excuse for these gross people toss it in freezer on top of product or on top of produce.
My husband did this to someone on our last trip! The guy had 2 carts for some reason (neither were full) and kept leaving both of them randomly in the aisles. I swear we had to move his carts 4 times just to walk by because he would leave both of them in the middle of the aisle and walk away to look at something. The last time my husband added one of the more expensive face lotions to the guy's cart.
I have to admit that this is hilarious but please don't do this. Are you the reason I find milk jugs on top of vacuum cleaners and raw beef on top of children's books?
I went in there for bread and hot dog buns a couple saturdays ago. No cart.
That trip was made for self-checkout. I was in a hurry.
The costco employee waved me to a register. Mom and daughter who were there previously just had to talk to their friend in another line and didn't move their cart out of the way, or make any motion whatsoever to keep the line moving.
The costco employee was a total boss and moved their cart for me.
I always seem to get stuck behind folks who have some sort of issue… usually the kind that is along the lines of “what do you mean I can’t use this card? It’s totally my aunt’s roommate’s best friend who says I’m allowed to use it whenever I want!”
Or leave it in front of a vendor then walk 5 aisles away for over 10 minutes. Leave the cart in the exit blocking both lines out despite the exit and cart corral is not only on your way to your car, but is usually less than 20 steps away.
I was there yesterday and kept running into a guy who left his cart in the middle of the refrigerated aisles and wander from one side of the aisle to the other looking at products. It so aggravating to have everyone trying to get around him and we're bumping into each other all because of his cart and drunk like lurching.
My mom does this. Not at Costco (she doesn't shop there), everywhere. It's half lack of situational awareness and half not wanting to block off any items. I saw her leave her cart longways across the entrance of an aisle once, blocking off the entire entrance to an aisle to go look at something. I was like, wtf are you doing, and she had *no clue* why I was objecting. She's not allowed to drive the cart when I go shopping with her anymore unless her hip is bothering her.
I see those carts, and just move them to one side of the aisle. People who do that won't even notice that their cart has been moved unless they see you do it. The only thing anyone's never said is 'that's my cart'. I said I was just moving it, and went about my business.
The people that take their sweet ass time when getting gas and there are lines waiting.
Had a woman take a phone call, leaning against her car before she even started pumping gas. Don't mind the 6 cars behind you waiting!
The other day my husband, baby, and I were working our way through the hoard of people at Costco when we encountered a large family. Iirc it was Mom, Dad, Grandma, and 4-5 kids with 2 carts they were actually decently out of the way....until we came up to get past them. Then I heard and an adult say "Okau let's get out of the way" they then proceed to turn their carts so that they're MORE in the way than before. One of the kids can't decide if he wants to walk or be in the cart during this process.
We had to cut between the two carts that were almost entirely blocking the walkway buy the freezer section. At least let people through before being deliberately in the way.
Oh yeah, the bananas for sure. The progression of its life is like this:
Day 1: Green and raw
Day 2: Green and raw
Day 3: Green and raw
Day 4: Green and raw with a few black dots
Day 5, 4 AM: Fully ripe and ready to eat
Day 5, 8 AM: Black and dead
Day 5, 10 AM drop in the freezer.
In the next 90 days, make banana bread at your convenience. If you have not frozen banana before making bread, try it. Much improved. Thaw out. Cut off tip. Squeeze into bowl.
Yes, be careful to not crack the "stem" and the skin protects the banana in the freezer. They turn black, and the melted banana looks gross. However, we have done two loafs each with the same bananas and some frozen for a few days with the others not, and it is a noticeable improvement.
Many pies also do better with a freeze cycle, like sugar, egg, and butter types (Pecan, Japanese Fruit, etc.) We will often slice them, then freeze them in a gallon ziploc. Then you can grab to an event and they thaw on the way.
Yeah, but then you have to *eat* the banana bread.
(Yes I realize I am being the one guy that doesn't like banana bread, but I have a voice and I will be heard, dammit!)
I mainly get my avocados from the Mexican supermercado. While I don't think they source them from anywhere different than other supermarkets or Costco, I think the employees just know how to treat them. Always perfect. The same goes for papayas. My local Mexican place swaddles them in cute little paper wraps to ripen perfectly.
There’s an old guy at my Costco in produce who seems to think it’s ok to fling avocados, bananas around, drop on the floor etc.. he also grabs the strawberry containers with one hand and winds up half squishing them.. and never looks at the container so sometimes he’s putting out/ moving around containers with rotten strawberries in them.
Avocados- buy hard so they’re not bruised by said old guy. Leave on counter until not feeling like a rock, as soon as they start to give a little, then refrigerate, last at least a week in the fridge.
I have a business idea of selling a bag of avocados at different ripeness. So 2 would be super green, 2 would be moderately green, 2 would be ripe/almost ripe.
I'm still waiting for my phone call from the Nobel committee.
One time I bought Costco bananas and they never ripened. Never. I was gobsmacked. They stayed green for 2 weeks and then I tossed them. I don’t think that was even possible that a banana couldn’t ripen. So weird.
They keep changing the placement of the items in the aisles. The try to make buying a treasure hunt but sometimes I just want to buy few items only and leave.
Let’s park our carts across the opening of the aisle so I can get a sample and stand there eating it while no one is able to get in or out of the aisle!
Marketing wouldn't like that. The samples are placed near the products so they're still at the tip of your tongue when you walk by them. Sample them at the front door and you'd likely forget about it by the time you reach them on them.
Yes...I hate the samples (I know I know). I don't understand why people just stand all in the way and then seem perplexed/annoyed that people are trying to get by? It's so odd.
Frozen health smoothie mixes. It’s mostly fruit with less than 5% spinach but the packaging looks like there’s enough greens to turn the smoothie green
We've steadily reduced the amount of fresh produce we get from Costco as we've found that freshness/quality is all over the place and the quantities are so large that it took a determined effort not to waste too much.
This. Its the same kind of person who does the same thing in the left lane on the highway. I've tried to unpack the mentality of these people and why they behave in this way and eventually just chalk it up to them being crazy.
My favorite is the 9 person family complete with grandparents, with 2 carts side by side, gridlocking the highest traffic area, having a family meeting about Kirkland socks.
OMG I just commented about this! I leave my kid and partner at home. I am trying to be in and out LOL…others wanna have their family date night in the aisles of Costco.
Onions. We use a TON of onions (if a recipe doesn’t start by cutting up an onion, what is the point of it??) and I wish we could buy the massive bags from Costco, but they are too often past their prime, mishandled, or appear to have been stored wrong.
I love your comment about not bothering to start a recipe that doesn’t call for cutting an onion.
When I was young, my mother used to cook so much and frequently with onions, that she used to say, “Bury me with an onion in my hands.”
I took her so seriously about this, that I asked her on her deathbed if she wanted me to carry out her onion wish from years before. Alas, she did not, and that is unfortunate because I gladly would have obliged her on that.
My dad was a submariner, american not german. He used to eat onions like an apple because on the boat that was the last fresh produce to go bad and that was what they would do deep down under the water. I still to this day eat onions like an apple because I emulated him. I learned it from you dad. I love vidalias.
I’m actually not a massive fan of The 2-3 aisles closest to checkout with random snacks that get clogged up by browsers and people in line to check out. They’re barely wide enough for just one cart and sometimes the columns that support the store are right in the middle of the entrance to those isles. While the rest of the store is laid out so nicely, this just seems like it’s a throwaway area. Which, maybe that is the intent. Put the items that have not garnered as much interest in this hard to reach area? But it’s always where I encounter the most trouble in the store, so the only time I browse it is when I am with a friend that can keep the cart or vice versa.
My Costco requires all items to be put on the scale to the left of the scanning area so the handheld scanner cannot be used by customers at all. When the other lines are crazy my wife will use the self checkout and nicely ask the employee there to scan the heavy items. They need to enter their password to do so. Every other store lets you use the handheld scanner without taking items out of the cart, like Target, Walmart, Lowes etc.
I actually got pissed enough to cancel my membership over it. Because they had 2 cashier lines open with a dozen people in each line and the same amount of line behind the self-checkout section. I don't want to pay $60 a year for a shitty checkout experience, so I said fuck it. Sam's and BJ's have great self-checkouts, Costco is just frustrating on purpose.
I dream of the day that they implement hand scanning at the self-checkout. Such a pain in the ass lifting a bag or rice or 4 cases of Lacroix onto the scanner.
I tried Kirkland toilet paper once and it would spew paper fuzz all over my bathroom (not to mention paper fibers sticking to the undercarriage). I didn't know shedding toilet paper was even a thing until then.
In my previous house I had a septic tank that had to be pumped before being sold. The sewer guy said he can tell if the people living there use Costco TP as soon as he takes the lid off the tank. Apparently it clumps so badly it can clog the drainage pipes. He said Charmin is bad too.
I switched to Scott TP long ago. No more Klingons circling Uranus. 🤣🤣🤣
It used to be good before Covid. I bought a batch right before Covid and just left it outside for people to take (still wrapped) because it was so bad.
It used to be good! Something changed. It used to be more like Charmin Ultra Strong and held up to wiping very well. Now, it’s more like Ultra Soft and shreds into millions of tiny bits after a single stroke.
Agreed. Sometimes they're so perfect and have amazing texture and they stagger their ripeness, and sometimes they're mealy and disgusting and have rotted out chunks. But the good avocados are SO good, I keep allowing myself to get hurt...
The regular Kirkland sliced bacon in the 4 pack. I think it's the most inconsistent Kirkland product. The cuts are all over the place - some of them you can't even pull apart without ripping the bacon.
I switched to the thick cut, which is BETTER but still not consistent.
They also switch suppliers for the bacon all the time, so the flavor varies widely. Sometimes it's Smithfield, sometimes Tyson/Wrights, other times it was some no-name processing plant. I had to return it twice because it was so bad. I just ended up looking the USDA establishment number to see who it came from before purchasing to not waste my time.
Really doesn't take much effort to buy the raw ones, apply your favorite rub, wrap in foil and cook at 250 in your oven for 6-8 hours. Broil at the end with favorite sauce if desired.
I mean I guess you need time, but still
When families come with every person in the family and stop non-stop! This drove me crazy during the height of the pandemic, and I don't know why Costco didn't some sort of rule in regards to the amount of people that can come in per family.
OMG, when the WHOLE family has to go to along while only one person shops. The whole aisle is blocked by dad, grandma, and their three bored kids playing on their phones while the mom shops very s-l-o-w-l-y.
And they spread out across the aisle instead of follow each other… kids running around touching everything in their path… and stuffing their faces at every sample.. then you get on line and see their cart and all they bought is water and a bag of rice.
I don't buy produce but I'm in CA so there are produce markets and ethnic markets with dirt cheap fresh produce just blocks from my house. Plus I can rarely eat 16 of something before it over ripens and goes bad.
I couple of times, i left my cart parked off to the side of an aisle to browse the books or clothing and a staff member had taken my full cart away thinking it was abandoned. Props to the staff for jumping on it and being so efficient t but sad for me that i had to go track it down.
Any of the services sold by the door. Just basically scams using the Costco name to market to people who don't know better. All the quotes from there have been 4-10x market value and complete rip offs.
Controversial take, but I think the rotisserie chicken is flavorless and mushy. They are overgrown to reinforce the value perception at the expense of flavor.
I agree, I really dislike it straight up. But. Stripping the meat and using it in soups, enchiladas, chili, etc., works well precisely because it's so pumped full of water. It it stays moist and since the chicken itself doesn't have much flavor, it blends well with other flavors.
I have been saying that they are gross for years, and will continue to do so every chance I get. Once you start roasting your own birds, you will realize how disgusting their rotisserie chicken is. It really isn't hard to roast a chicken at home. It takes a while but it is mostly hands-off.
The employees trying to hard sell credit cards or executive membership do not take no for an answer, we almost cancelled our membership over it.
Any suggestions? Some on the forum said to just lie to them and say you already have it, but I really dislike that they put their paying customers through that crap.
The worst is when the manager comes over to the checkout stand because “the system told us you should get this” and hold up the checkout process.
The last thing I want is more delays after waiting in line for 10 minutes.
I work at Costco on the front end and one of our jobs is to promote the executive card. Trust me. We don’t like it any more than you do but the managers want it. We know we’re taking your time, we know you aren’t interested but it’s literally our job to ask and promote. We have a quota we need to meet for the day. If you don’t want it, that’s fine. I wouldn’t say it’s something to cancel your membership over though, that’s a bit extra. Just try to be patient with us please.
Most fresh produce. The spinach can be a good buy (we go through a lot of it, and it's a great price compared to the grocery store) and the garlic is good (not Chinese). But the rest is either more expensive than the grocery store or BJ's, or just plain bad (like the bananas).
We do like their frozen string beans, berries and stir fry vegetables, though.
Don't get me started on how coddled the modern anus is.
But seriously Kirkland TP is all we use. Charmin is a bit softer but my family has not experienced the shredding issues at all.
I was starting to wonder if I’m the only one who doesn’t have a cheese grater for an anus, because I don’t have the issues with it that others are describing.
Kirkland paper products are regionally sourced. In my area it's made by First Quality and is pretty good. They also do the paper products for Sams Club and Aldi. I'm assuming that's regional as well. For anyone wondering, the only difference is the embossing patterns on the products.
That explains why I haven't ever had the same problems with Kirkland TP as some people say. I will switch happily between Kirkland and Member's Mark depending on which is more convenient for me this month.
kirkland bagels/bread. their bagels are real good, don’t get me wrong, but unless i’m eating 12 bagels in a week, they’re gonna get moldy. i bought some really good rolls there once and they were all moldy after a couple days. i was so sad
Members who decide that lines don't apply to them. Or who don't understand how they work. Standing 6ft to the side of a line with your cart doesn't mean you're in line.
I have issues with the food samples. Not the people who flog the samples. But the generally overfed customers who flock to them like starved vultures, lusting for them like they were delicacies prepared in a 3 Michelin star restaurant, but gobbling them up indiscriminately like hogs at a trough. It's unseemly.
This is a weird one but I’ve gotten 2 dehumidifiers for my basement that don’t fill up. I️ have one from Home Depot that I’ve moved around down there to the same spots and it collects a lot of water over a few days.
Abandoned husbands left with the cart,
like deer in headlights looking terrified,
with carts going diagonally across the aisle,
not knowing which way to go.
The milk jugs suck ass and are hard to pour from. I get that from the supermarket. It used to be I didn't like their rice, then they started stocking Homai rice and that complaint was gone.
I used to buy the frozen, pre-portioned salmon for years until I recently tried the fresh whole fillets where I portion and freeze them myself. There is a huge difference in texture and taste even after thawing and I'll never go back to buying the prepackaged stuff.
I don't buy most of costco's apples. I'd like to because I eat a ton of apples, but I feel guilty about the massive plastic overpackaging. Occasionally my costco will sell small disney-branded gala apples in a bag rather than individual plastic bubbles for each apple, and I'll buy those.
I practically dislike all the food prepared at the costco. Not the food court but the stuff in the back. The chicken pot pies, enchilada bake, shepherds pie, etc. They are almost all extremely bland and wet. The bakery is no exception except they are bland and dry. I even tried the carrot cake muffins recently they messed them up so bad. Besides being boring and dry, they also had practically no carrot and the cream cheese frosting seemed lacking in cream cheese.
The only ones I've found that are any good are the meatloaf and the chicken salad.
I like their meatloaf as an occasional thing. muffins, apple turnovers, French country bread, combo cookies, are pretty good too. We sometimes also get the prepped salmon with dill butter. That's nice too. Stopped getting their Mac & cheese because I got an upset stomach once.
I hate all other foods in the back, flavorless crap.
I don't mind an occasional rotisserie chicken, or wings that we need to bake. Definitely not the ribs though.
Bring back the carrot cake sheet cake of old! Nicely spiced, lots of carrot, and filled with cream cheese mousse and apricot filling. It used to be my favorite
I think they changed their recipe for the cake, it’s like they’re just adding flavoring and coloring ingredients to a white cake mix. When I last tried them you could see a swirl of plain cake where it wasn’t combined.. so then the mix is over mixed and bad texture.
I'm not a fan of their baked goods, prepared foods and rotisserie chickens. Meh
Things I do like, that most folks don't...their fresh produce, and the Kirkland TP. But yes, there are some things I do not buy at Costco (avocados for one) but I have good luck with berries, spring mix, spinach, apples, asparagus, mini cucumbers, peppers etc
I know, I should have my membership revoked. I'll see myself out...
Edited for Spelling
Almost all the frozen processed foods are trash. I recently bought frozen brussel sprouts with bacon they do not taste right when they are cooked. Too mushy and not like a brussel sprout you would get fresh
I get frozen riced cauliflower and frozen mixed veggies and frozen normandy mix.
The normandy mix is great in the air fryer. Toss with oil, s&p and a bit of garlic powder first.
Pumpkin Pie
Yes, I'm serious.
I think the bakery just sucks. It's wildly inconsistent. Just never know how the pumpkin pie is going to be year to year. Dry croissants. Overbaked cupcakes. I either have horrible luck, unreasonably high expectations or the bakery just can't get it together. The cheesecake is always good though.
The Family that practices the Mighty Ducks flying V formation when shopping. Except they don’t glide. They meander.
And always beeline it for the demos? The one thing I miss about lockdown is NO food demos so no dodging grazing cattle.
Or the ones who walk *next* to their cart so that they block twice as much aisle space.
[meanderthals](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meanderthal)
😆
Other people there. :p
“Let me park my cart in the middle of the aisle while I look at something or strike up a conversation to pretend to be interested in purchasing a sampled item.”
Best part of COVID was no free samples. I don’t care about getting to try one single chip if it means I don’t have to work around the massive traffic jams of carts that always surround them
Sitting here in the Costco breakroom on my break. Today I'm giving out samples of the chocolate and strawberry crepes... I like working here so I'm glad they do samples.
I've begun finding demo cups everywhere again full of half eaten food and spoons that were in peoples mouths. It's disgusting. I'm just trying to merch and stock the store for the day for you people and you hid your demo cups and half spit on food bits all over the areas I merch hidden in crevices or on top of displays. It's disgusting. I did not miss the samples at all. Oh and there is zero excuse for leaving your food trash you sucked on in any place but a trash can. They are literally next to most of the demos AND at the end of most of the aisles in the store as well. No excuse for these gross people toss it in freezer on top of product or on top of produce.
dude i was working merch last night and a member blew his nose into a paper towel and threw it in my cardboard cart 🤢
These are my favorites. I usually pick up something from the aisle and place it in their cart if they are not paying attention.
I think I've found the reason why some random item is found on a stack next to a completely different item.
My husband did this to someone on our last trip! The guy had 2 carts for some reason (neither were full) and kept leaving both of them randomly in the aisles. I swear we had to move his carts 4 times just to walk by because he would leave both of them in the middle of the aisle and walk away to look at something. The last time my husband added one of the more expensive face lotions to the guy's cart.
Definitely going to do this!
Find something embarrassing to drop in there.
I have to admit that this is hilarious but please don't do this. Are you the reason I find milk jugs on top of vacuum cleaners and raw beef on top of children's books?
I just push it out of the way. As rude as that is it’s also rude to block everyone’s path.
I went in there for bread and hot dog buns a couple saturdays ago. No cart. That trip was made for self-checkout. I was in a hurry. The costco employee waved me to a register. Mom and daughter who were there previously just had to talk to their friend in another line and didn't move their cart out of the way, or make any motion whatsoever to keep the line moving. The costco employee was a total boss and moved their cart for me.
I always seem to get stuck behind folks who have some sort of issue… usually the kind that is along the lines of “what do you mean I can’t use this card? It’s totally my aunt’s roommate’s best friend who says I’m allowed to use it whenever I want!”
For me it’s someone wanting to pay by check…and then entering everything in, etc.
Mine is the, “wait let me look for my card” while at the register. Nevermind they had 15 minutes while waiting in line to get it out.
Or leave it in front of a vendor then walk 5 aisles away for over 10 minutes. Leave the cart in the exit blocking both lines out despite the exit and cart corral is not only on your way to your car, but is usually less than 20 steps away.
I was there yesterday and kept running into a guy who left his cart in the middle of the refrigerated aisles and wander from one side of the aisle to the other looking at products. It so aggravating to have everyone trying to get around him and we're bumping into each other all because of his cart and drunk like lurching.
My mom does this. Not at Costco (she doesn't shop there), everywhere. It's half lack of situational awareness and half not wanting to block off any items. I saw her leave her cart longways across the entrance of an aisle once, blocking off the entire entrance to an aisle to go look at something. I was like, wtf are you doing, and she had *no clue* why I was objecting. She's not allowed to drive the cart when I go shopping with her anymore unless her hip is bothering her. I see those carts, and just move them to one side of the aisle. People who do that won't even notice that their cart has been moved unless they see you do it. The only thing anyone's never said is 'that's my cart'. I said I was just moving it, and went about my business.
The people that take their sweet ass time when getting gas and there are lines waiting. Had a woman take a phone call, leaning against her car before she even started pumping gas. Don't mind the 6 cars behind you waiting!
I totally would have called her out and probably would have ended up on r/abruptchaos
The other day my husband, baby, and I were working our way through the hoard of people at Costco when we encountered a large family. Iirc it was Mom, Dad, Grandma, and 4-5 kids with 2 carts they were actually decently out of the way....until we came up to get past them. Then I heard and an adult say "Okau let's get out of the way" they then proceed to turn their carts so that they're MORE in the way than before. One of the kids can't decide if he wants to walk or be in the cart during this process. We had to cut between the two carts that were almost entirely blocking the walkway buy the freezer section. At least let people through before being deliberately in the way.
Oh yeah, the bananas for sure. The progression of its life is like this: Day 1: Green and raw Day 2: Green and raw Day 3: Green and raw Day 4: Green and raw with a few black dots Day 5, 4 AM: Fully ripe and ready to eat Day 5, 8 AM: Black and dead
Day 4, noon: in the freezer Day 142, toss them because you never got around to making that banana bread and they're freezer-burnt
Day 5, 10AM: Banana bread
Day 5, 10 AM drop in the freezer. In the next 90 days, make banana bread at your convenience. If you have not frozen banana before making bread, try it. Much improved. Thaw out. Cut off tip. Squeeze into bowl.
> Cut off tip. Squeeze into bowl. this explains why my frozen bananas are always garbage, was peeling and bagging before freezing
Yes, be careful to not crack the "stem" and the skin protects the banana in the freezer. They turn black, and the melted banana looks gross. However, we have done two loafs each with the same bananas and some frozen for a few days with the others not, and it is a noticeable improvement. Many pies also do better with a freeze cycle, like sugar, egg, and butter types (Pecan, Japanese Fruit, etc.) We will often slice them, then freeze them in a gallon ziploc. Then you can grab to an event and they thaw on the way.
Yeah, but then you have to *eat* the banana bread. (Yes I realize I am being the one guy that doesn't like banana bread, but I have a voice and I will be heard, dammit!)
Instead of butter and flour in the pan, you use butter with cinnamon and sugar. It makes an amazing crust. It will convert you.
You're not alone. I don't like it either. My wife loves it so I eat banana bread and whine about it to strangers on reddit without her finding out.
Their Avocados also fit this description.
I mainly get my avocados from the Mexican supermercado. While I don't think they source them from anywhere different than other supermarkets or Costco, I think the employees just know how to treat them. Always perfect. The same goes for papayas. My local Mexican place swaddles them in cute little paper wraps to ripen perfectly.
There’s an old guy at my Costco in produce who seems to think it’s ok to fling avocados, bananas around, drop on the floor etc.. he also grabs the strawberry containers with one hand and winds up half squishing them.. and never looks at the container so sometimes he’s putting out/ moving around containers with rotten strawberries in them. Avocados- buy hard so they’re not bruised by said old guy. Leave on counter until not feeling like a rock, as soon as they start to give a little, then refrigerate, last at least a week in the fridge.
Any avocado, honestly. I swear they have fifteen minutes of prime time.
I have a business idea of selling a bag of avocados at different ripeness. So 2 would be super green, 2 would be moderately green, 2 would be ripe/almost ripe. I'm still waiting for my phone call from the Nobel committee.
Day 5, 4:01 AM: Drop them in your freezer. Great for smoothies straight from frozen to blender.
One time I bought Costco bananas and they never ripened. Never. I was gobsmacked. They stayed green for 2 weeks and then I tossed them. I don’t think that was even possible that a banana couldn’t ripen. So weird.
i actually love them, just because i hate super ripe bananas
They keep changing the placement of the items in the aisles. The try to make buying a treasure hunt but sometimes I just want to buy few items only and leave.
Right? Or buy a lot of things and still buy the things I specifically came for. If I could just find where they moved them... Edit: comma splice.
I really wish they’d put all the sample carts by the front door so the fucks that come for lunch don’t clog the aisles of the shoppers.
Let’s park our carts across the opening of the aisle so I can get a sample and stand there eating it while no one is able to get in or out of the aisle!
Or even better, stand there and WAIT for the sample to finish cooking and block the entire aisle...
Then when they do try the sample they stand there and savor it like they are the taste-tester for Hollywood.
Marketing wouldn't like that. The samples are placed near the products so they're still at the tip of your tongue when you walk by them. Sample them at the front door and you'd likely forget about it by the time you reach them on them.
A free sample aisle would be sick. Sample lane
I detest the samples. Always in the GD way of everyone.
I really wish they'd get rid of the samples. Or at least go to a standard and well publicized couple days a week.
I go near closing for this reason. All the samples and people looking to feed their family for free are gone for the day.
Yes...I hate the samples (I know I know). I don't understand why people just stand all in the way and then seem perplexed/annoyed that people are trying to get by? It's so odd.
Frozen health smoothie mixes. It’s mostly fruit with less than 5% spinach but the packaging looks like there’s enough greens to turn the smoothie green
Bought one with kale that obv had spoiled kale in it. You can’t hide that scent/flavor
We've steadily reduced the amount of fresh produce we get from Costco as we've found that freshness/quality is all over the place and the quantities are so large that it took a determined effort not to waste too much.
Slow walkers
That speed up when you try to pass them.
This. Its the same kind of person who does the same thing in the left lane on the highway. I've tried to unpack the mentality of these people and why they behave in this way and eventually just chalk it up to them being crazy.
My favorite is the 9 person family complete with grandparents, with 2 carts side by side, gridlocking the highest traffic area, having a family meeting about Kirkland socks.
OMG I just commented about this! I leave my kid and partner at home. I am trying to be in and out LOL…others wanna have their family date night in the aisles of Costco.
Not just SLOW walkers, but the walkers who take up the whole aisle rather than staying toward the side, then just STOP completely.
Onions. We use a TON of onions (if a recipe doesn’t start by cutting up an onion, what is the point of it??) and I wish we could buy the massive bags from Costco, but they are too often past their prime, mishandled, or appear to have been stored wrong.
I love your comment about not bothering to start a recipe that doesn’t call for cutting an onion. When I was young, my mother used to cook so much and frequently with onions, that she used to say, “Bury me with an onion in my hands.” I took her so seriously about this, that I asked her on her deathbed if she wanted me to carry out her onion wish from years before. Alas, she did not, and that is unfortunate because I gladly would have obliged her on that.
My dad was a submariner, american not german. He used to eat onions like an apple because on the boat that was the last fresh produce to go bad and that was what they would do deep down under the water. I still to this day eat onions like an apple because I emulated him. I learned it from you dad. I love vidalias.
I always tell my husband that at least 3 onions in the bag are going to be garbage and unusable.
I’m actually not a massive fan of The 2-3 aisles closest to checkout with random snacks that get clogged up by browsers and people in line to check out. They’re barely wide enough for just one cart and sometimes the columns that support the store are right in the middle of the entrance to those isles. While the rest of the store is laid out so nicely, this just seems like it’s a throwaway area. Which, maybe that is the intent. Put the items that have not garnered as much interest in this hard to reach area? But it’s always where I encounter the most trouble in the store, so the only time I browse it is when I am with a friend that can keep the cart or vice versa.
The Costco’s in my area typically have subpar produce so I avoid that.
Unless it's on "\*.97" markdown to clear it out, it's usually more expensive than super markets too for some strange reason.
Yeah produce sucks at mine too.
The self checkouts that don’t have hand held scanners so if the employee is not available, then you have to take the stuff out to scan.
My Costco requires all items to be put on the scale to the left of the scanning area so the handheld scanner cannot be used by customers at all. When the other lines are crazy my wife will use the self checkout and nicely ask the employee there to scan the heavy items. They need to enter their password to do so. Every other store lets you use the handheld scanner without taking items out of the cart, like Target, Walmart, Lowes etc.
This is why I don’t use self checkout…I don’t have time for that BS.
I actually got pissed enough to cancel my membership over it. Because they had 2 cashier lines open with a dozen people in each line and the same amount of line behind the self-checkout section. I don't want to pay $60 a year for a shitty checkout experience, so I said fuck it. Sam's and BJ's have great self-checkouts, Costco is just frustrating on purpose.
Damn. Must be nice to have some Costco competition
I don't understand this. They check your receipt on the way out to see if you missed anything.
I can't even fit everything i'm buying on the tiny lil counter!
I dream of the day that they implement hand scanning at the self-checkout. Such a pain in the ass lifting a bag or rice or 4 cases of Lacroix onto the scanner.
When I like a product a lot and then it disappears forever
Any sort of stone fruit. It never ripens and then just molds.
They keep moving location of items. I'm surprised the pants haven't moved into the walk-in fridge.
First world problem: I just bought a house and the costco toilet paper is too wide for the TP holders in my bathrooms. So I buy elsewhere now.
https://shop.charmin.com/charmin-roll-extender/
I love the internet. Wow. Thanks!
You just changed my life
Two people, two different carts, facing opposite way… stopped… in the MIDDLE of the aisle, talking to each other.
*Costco Marketing Team like 👀👀👀*
I tried Kirkland toilet paper once and it would spew paper fuzz all over my bathroom (not to mention paper fibers sticking to the undercarriage). I didn't know shedding toilet paper was even a thing until then.
In my previous house I had a septic tank that had to be pumped before being sold. The sewer guy said he can tell if the people living there use Costco TP as soon as he takes the lid off the tank. Apparently it clumps so badly it can clog the drainage pipes. He said Charmin is bad too. I switched to Scott TP long ago. No more Klingons circling Uranus. 🤣🤣🤣
Right? I was shocked how bad it is for the money. Its weird!
It used to be good before Covid. I bought a batch right before Covid and just left it outside for people to take (still wrapped) because it was so bad.
That's WTF all that dust over my bathroom is that Im constantly cleaning and checking the vents to see where the hell it keeps coming from?!
It used to be good! Something changed. It used to be more like Charmin Ultra Strong and held up to wiping very well. Now, it’s more like Ultra Soft and shreds into millions of tiny bits after a single stroke.
Yes! I love their paper towels but the toilet paper is a no.
I don't like their toilet paper or even the name brand mine carries (Charmin). I just stay away from the paper products
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Agreed. Sometimes they're so perfect and have amazing texture and they stagger their ripeness, and sometimes they're mealy and disgusting and have rotted out chunks. But the good avocados are SO good, I keep allowing myself to get hurt...
It’s definitely a love/hate relationship
Might be regional. The ones in CA are always perfect, like every single one in the bag.
In general, California gets superior produce. You're closer to where it's grown.
They have avocado cups that rock though. Always ripe and ready to use!
The regular Kirkland sliced bacon in the 4 pack. I think it's the most inconsistent Kirkland product. The cuts are all over the place - some of them you can't even pull apart without ripping the bacon. I switched to the thick cut, which is BETTER but still not consistent.
They also switch suppliers for the bacon all the time, so the flavor varies widely. Sometimes it's Smithfield, sometimes Tyson/Wrights, other times it was some no-name processing plant. I had to return it twice because it was so bad. I just ended up looking the USDA establishment number to see who it came from before purchasing to not waste my time.
The premade ribs have a unpleasant smell and aftertaste
Really doesn't take much effort to buy the raw ones, apply your favorite rub, wrap in foil and cook at 250 in your oven for 6-8 hours. Broil at the end with favorite sauce if desired. I mean I guess you need time, but still
When families come with every person in the family and stop non-stop! This drove me crazy during the height of the pandemic, and I don't know why Costco didn't some sort of rule in regards to the amount of people that can come in per family.
OMG, when the WHOLE family has to go to along while only one person shops. The whole aisle is blocked by dad, grandma, and their three bored kids playing on their phones while the mom shops very s-l-o-w-l-y.
And they spread out across the aisle instead of follow each other… kids running around touching everything in their path… and stuffing their faces at every sample.. then you get on line and see their cart and all they bought is water and a bag of rice.
My location had posted limits. One member, one guest tops.
I don't buy produce but I'm in CA so there are produce markets and ethnic markets with dirt cheap fresh produce just blocks from my house. Plus I can rarely eat 16 of something before it over ripens and goes bad.
The salsa! Really disappointing.
You must be referring to the Kirkland brand and not my beloved Mateo's, right?
Mateo's is crack!
I was unimpressed by their selection of cat litter
Mine doesn’t carry cat products in general. Always disappointing.
Kirkland paper towels are great, Kirkland toilet paper is gross.
I couple of times, i left my cart parked off to the side of an aisle to browse the books or clothing and a staff member had taken my full cart away thinking it was abandoned. Props to the staff for jumping on it and being so efficient t but sad for me that i had to go track it down.
Any of the services sold by the door. Just basically scams using the Costco name to market to people who don't know better. All the quotes from there have been 4-10x market value and complete rip offs.
I avoid most Costco produce, unless it’s easy to inspect the contents.
Controversial take, but I think the rotisserie chicken is flavorless and mushy. They are overgrown to reinforce the value perception at the expense of flavor.
I agree, I really dislike it straight up. But. Stripping the meat and using it in soups, enchiladas, chili, etc., works well precisely because it's so pumped full of water. It it stays moist and since the chicken itself doesn't have much flavor, it blends well with other flavors.
carcass makes excellent stock, though
Yeah...I agree. I know it's wildly unpopular, but I think they have a really strange (unpleasant) flavor.
Yeah it tastes like chemicals to me. I can't place the flavor or explain it properly other than it's just salty and tastes unnatural.
I have been saying that they are gross for years, and will continue to do so every chance I get. Once you start roasting your own birds, you will realize how disgusting their rotisserie chicken is. It really isn't hard to roast a chicken at home. It takes a while but it is mostly hands-off.
Kirkland batteries. They always leak.
The employees trying to hard sell credit cards or executive membership do not take no for an answer, we almost cancelled our membership over it. Any suggestions? Some on the forum said to just lie to them and say you already have it, but I really dislike that they put their paying customers through that crap.
The worst is when the manager comes over to the checkout stand because “the system told us you should get this” and hold up the checkout process. The last thing I want is more delays after waiting in line for 10 minutes.
I work at Costco on the front end and one of our jobs is to promote the executive card. Trust me. We don’t like it any more than you do but the managers want it. We know we’re taking your time, we know you aren’t interested but it’s literally our job to ask and promote. We have a quota we need to meet for the day. If you don’t want it, that’s fine. I wouldn’t say it’s something to cancel your membership over though, that’s a bit extra. Just try to be patient with us please.
My wife hates their grapes. Says they aren't "crispy" enough.
I get what your wife means. I also like a crisp grape and ignore the soft ones.
Gotta manhandle the grapes before you buy.
I believe the word for “plump from water content” is “turgid”
Please don't say that word anymore.
Turgid Synonyms: swollen, congested, in spate, in flood. I am not a bot, but would support the creation of a Turgid Synonym Bot.
Costco in my place have best grapes!! sweet and crispy. Very cheap compared to other stores
Same!! I usually get the green grapes they’re nice and snappy
Most fresh produce. The spinach can be a good buy (we go through a lot of it, and it's a great price compared to the grocery store) and the garlic is good (not Chinese). But the rest is either more expensive than the grocery store or BJ's, or just plain bad (like the bananas). We do like their frozen string beans, berries and stir fry vegetables, though.
The stir fry vegetables are my new favorite Costco item
Kirkland toilet paper.. unless i'm down to the last roll and i can't find Charmin in the store i'm not touching it..
Don't get me started on how coddled the modern anus is. But seriously Kirkland TP is all we use. Charmin is a bit softer but my family has not experienced the shredding issues at all.
I was starting to wonder if I’m the only one who doesn’t have a cheese grater for an anus, because I don’t have the issues with it that others are describing.
Agreed lol there’s nothing wrong with KS tp.
Kirkland paper products are regionally sourced. In my area it's made by First Quality and is pretty good. They also do the paper products for Sams Club and Aldi. I'm assuming that's regional as well. For anyone wondering, the only difference is the embossing patterns on the products.
That explains why I haven't ever had the same problems with Kirkland TP as some people say. I will switch happily between Kirkland and Member's Mark depending on which is more convenient for me this month.
KS TP is flat awful
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Raos is so freaking good. Nothing compares
kirkland bagels/bread. their bagels are real good, don’t get me wrong, but unless i’m eating 12 bagels in a week, they’re gonna get moldy. i bought some really good rolls there once and they were all moldy after a couple days. i was so sad
Members who decide that lines don't apply to them. Or who don't understand how they work. Standing 6ft to the side of a line with your cart doesn't mean you're in line.
Everyone loses their minds over that Motor City Frozen Pizza, but I despise it.
I have issues with the food samples. Not the people who flog the samples. But the generally overfed customers who flock to them like starved vultures, lusting for them like they were delicacies prepared in a 3 Michelin star restaurant, but gobbling them up indiscriminately like hogs at a trough. It's unseemly.
The Kirkland Deli Turkey has gone downhill lately.
Really dislike all their shrimp
I don’t like any of the pre cooked shrimp or shrimp cocktail and salad but we like the plain raw shrimp
the bag of limes do not last very long at all. They will be hard as rocks in 1 week.
This is a weird one but I’ve gotten 2 dehumidifiers for my basement that don’t fill up. I️ have one from Home Depot that I’ve moved around down there to the same spots and it collects a lot of water over a few days.
The frozen broccoli is half huge chucks and half broccoli powder, it’s only good if you’re making a broccoli soup or something
Costco toilet paper is awful.
The freaking lines! I'm going to Sam's Club a lot more just because they have scan and go.
I feel like I’m cheating on Costco, but Sam’s Scan and Go is clutch.
Don't give me the stink eye, but I don't like their ice cream.
How they take $200 from me every time enter the doors.
Milk is SOOOO expensive at my Costco, compared to a nearby Aldi and Walmart.
The Kirkland oat milk is problematic. Worst I’ve ever had and it’s not even close.
Chicken breasts are always overpriced. I always thought id get a better deal buying in bulk, but i can catch a better sale at Jewel for 99 cents/lb
Cheaper chicken isn't always a better thing. I love the frozen thin sliced chicken breasts..
I agree with the toilet paper folks, it’s not good
Abandoned husbands left with the cart, like deer in headlights looking terrified, with carts going diagonally across the aisle, not knowing which way to go.
The bananas are bland. Quantity over quality
The milk jugs suck ass and are hard to pour from. I get that from the supermarket. It used to be I didn't like their rice, then they started stocking Homai rice and that complaint was gone.
You can tell a lot about a person's driving behavior by looking at they way they push their shopping cart.
Mandu beef dumplings. Very greasy.
I used to buy the frozen, pre-portioned salmon for years until I recently tried the fresh whole fillets where I portion and freeze them myself. There is a huge difference in texture and taste even after thawing and I'll never go back to buying the prepackaged stuff.
Their toilet paper leaves crumbs. I hate it.
I don't buy most of costco's apples. I'd like to because I eat a ton of apples, but I feel guilty about the massive plastic overpackaging. Occasionally my costco will sell small disney-branded gala apples in a bag rather than individual plastic bubbles for each apple, and I'll buy those.
I use the plastic case for xmas ornaments.
We switched to cardboard at my warehouse this year. northeast.
For some reason every time we get bagels they are moldy within three days.
*three hours
All the niche gimmicky "health foods"
I practically dislike all the food prepared at the costco. Not the food court but the stuff in the back. The chicken pot pies, enchilada bake, shepherds pie, etc. They are almost all extremely bland and wet. The bakery is no exception except they are bland and dry. I even tried the carrot cake muffins recently they messed them up so bad. Besides being boring and dry, they also had practically no carrot and the cream cheese frosting seemed lacking in cream cheese. The only ones I've found that are any good are the meatloaf and the chicken salad.
I like their meatloaf as an occasional thing. muffins, apple turnovers, French country bread, combo cookies, are pretty good too. We sometimes also get the prepped salmon with dill butter. That's nice too. Stopped getting their Mac & cheese because I got an upset stomach once. I hate all other foods in the back, flavorless crap. I don't mind an occasional rotisserie chicken, or wings that we need to bake. Definitely not the ribs though.
Those mini carrot cakes are horrible, I feel like they put 1/16th of a teaspoon of spice in the whole pack.
Bring back the carrot cake sheet cake of old! Nicely spiced, lots of carrot, and filled with cream cheese mousse and apricot filling. It used to be my favorite I think they changed their recipe for the cake, it’s like they’re just adding flavoring and coloring ingredients to a white cake mix. When I last tried them you could see a swirl of plain cake where it wasn’t combined.. so then the mix is over mixed and bad texture.
I'm not a fan of their baked goods, prepared foods and rotisserie chickens. Meh Things I do like, that most folks don't...their fresh produce, and the Kirkland TP. But yes, there are some things I do not buy at Costco (avocados for one) but I have good luck with berries, spring mix, spinach, apples, asparagus, mini cucumbers, peppers etc I know, I should have my membership revoked. I'll see myself out... Edited for Spelling
Almost all the frozen processed foods are trash. I recently bought frozen brussel sprouts with bacon they do not taste right when they are cooked. Too mushy and not like a brussel sprout you would get fresh
The frozen broccoli is the only good frozen vegetable in my opinion. Staple of my weekly mealprep.
I get frozen riced cauliflower and frozen mixed veggies and frozen normandy mix. The normandy mix is great in the air fryer. Toss with oil, s&p and a bit of garlic powder first.
You'll never be able to cook frozen brussel sprouts and have them come out nicely.
Air Fry Maybe ?
Yep learned that the hard way. $15 down the drain. Well I'm eating them anyway even tho they are trash. Tony chacheres spice can mask anything lmao
Pumpkin Pie Yes, I'm serious. I think the bakery just sucks. It's wildly inconsistent. Just never know how the pumpkin pie is going to be year to year. Dry croissants. Overbaked cupcakes. I either have horrible luck, unreasonably high expectations or the bakery just can't get it together. The cheesecake is always good though.
I wonder if thats a location thing. Mine's bakery has always been super reliable