Do you mind gifts from Costco?

[Anonymous]

lots of aristos are poor but find money for public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL was upset my BIL and kids brought her items from Costco.

So ungrateful. I don’t mind them. Chocolate is chocolate

She's an idiot. When covid first hit and everything was shut down, one of my neighbors relatives died. I could only get flowers delivered from Costco in a timely manner. They were rude about it. I even told them that I couldn't get flowers delivered from a florist for weeks. They still were jerks.

Costco stuff is no different from other stuff. It's all stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never bought anyone a gift from Costco. Different class/wealth circles, I suspect.

Yeah, you’re a low class striver desperately trying to fit in with the upper class people and you think this is the shit that matters.

Exactly. Spouse and I often sent Costco gift baskets because you get more for your money. Gift baskets are huge wastes of resources - all packaging, little product etc but the Costco gift baskets had more stuff. Anyone bothered by it is a poser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never openly express lack of gratitude for any gift from a family member. It's nice they thought of me.

Privately I judge lots of the gifts people give me because I don't personally appreciate lots of junk around my house and I don't like having to deal with stuff I'm not going to use or consume. I give a lot of gifts away to colleagues or charity. My immediate family knows not to just go buy me random stuff, knows that I will be most appreciative of thoughtful, good quality gifts, and that barring that I would honestly rather get a nice card, a pleasant visit, or dinner out.

But other people don't know me as well and I know they are trying to be thoughtful and polite. Also they may have limited funds or simply have no idea what to get. If they give me some chocolate from Costco, I'm not going to complain about it and I don't hold it against them. Even if I will quietly get rid of it later.

You’re just so special.

Even with family I know well it is very hard to find "thoughtful, good quality gifts" that would actually please the other person. This entitled attitude makes gift giving stressful and unpleasant. I come from a family of entitled "special" people, and the only way to get the joy back in the holiday for me was to refuse to exchange gifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Costco and Costco gifts and everything about Costco.

Agree.

Good quality. Some good deals, otherwise fair pricing.

Lots of people don’t like wasting money on most of what they buy or to overpay for brands. Fickle consumer sentiment anyhow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, no Costco gifts, but especially if it’s food. I’d rather a small box of high quality chocolates, that a giant box of Costco junky ones

What brands of chocolate are not junky? I ask because Godiva is fine for me. My spouse and siblings have bought me very expensive, hand packaged cool chocolates but they were outrageously expensive. I hate spending that much on food and hated knowing each piece of chocolate was approx $10. Not worth it. I really prefer a Hersheys bar with almonds but I am a low class peon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never bought anyone a gift from Costco. Different class/wealth circles, I suspect.

When I was teaching at a boarding school in the UK, I had a student who was a titled aristocrat. She was literally a "Lady."

I bought her mother a hot water bottle she found at a local grocery store for Christmas. At her family Christmas, her parents gave her a set of cooking items from Amazon (not particularly high end) and a large gift card to Asos, which is a cheap, fast-fashion online platform UK kids use to buy (cheap, fast-fashion) clothes. The girl loved Asos and that was what she wore on weekends/non-uniform times: cheap polyester fast-fashion items, and she just threw stuff away instead of laundering anything, since as she observed, "It just falls apart if you try to wash it one time." Another teacher remarked that the girl "looks homeless" sometimes, which was accurate. Friendly, intelligent, popular girl with zero regard or care for "status items" or concern with what anything she did signalled about her social class, because, well, nothing she did or said or wore had any impact on her social class.

We had two other aristocrat families (as in, actual titled aristocrats), and they and their parents put zero effort into fashion or clothing at all. One mother (titled aristocrat) wore a tattered sweater with a small hole in the shoulder one Friday when she came to pick up her son for the weekend, and rubber wellies. Their car was covered with mud.

My experience with them changed my understanding of what "old money" looks like. They truly do not care about impressing anyone. Sometimes they look almost deliberately shabby.

It's one of the reasons Costco is so successful. There are a BUNCH of well off people who don't care about impressing anyone. They're happy with something that is total junk, but also not paying extra for some high end name brand that's marginally better than the next option.

One of Costco’s best practices is how they vet what they carry and what they put their name on. They do not sell garbage.

People who value quality and don’t care about brands love Costco. Someone did a segment or documentary on how they choose which wines to carry under the Kirkland label. It spoke to my heart about finding value in what I buy. Some fancy labels are worth it. Some are not. Costco knows the difference and so do their fans.

Cool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never bought anyone a gift from Costco. Different class/wealth circles, I suspect.

There’s a specific % of Costco card members who are millionaires. It’s high too

Costco's core customer is well-educated and affluent. It's particularly popular among the well-educated and affluent in places like Silicon Valley.

why do wealthy people need/like Costco?

— a wealthy person who shops occasionally at Costco, but more at whole foods/target

Wealthy here. Whole foods is such a rip off and their bakery stuff is terrible. I think a lot of target stuff is of lesser quality than Costco. I don't understand the love of Target other than children's stuff. Nothing is special but it is more expensive than most other stores. All the house stuff can be had for a better price at At Home or Walmart and their clothes are terrible unless for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Costco is lowbrow and vulgar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never bought anyone a gift from Costco. Different class/wealth circles, I suspect.

When I was teaching at a boarding school in the UK, I had a student who was a titled aristocrat. She was literally a "Lady."

I bought her mother a hot water bottle she found at a local grocery store for Christmas. At her family Christmas, her parents gave her a set of cooking items from Amazon (not particularly high end) and a large gift card to Asos, which is a cheap, fast-fashion online platform UK kids use to buy (cheap, fast-fashion) clothes. The girl loved Asos and that was what she wore on weekends/non-uniform times: cheap polyester fast-fashion items, and she just threw stuff away instead of laundering anything, since as she observed, "It just falls apart if you try to wash it one time." Another teacher remarked that the girl "looks homeless" sometimes, which was accurate. Friendly, intelligent, popular girl with zero regard or care for "status items" or concern with what anything she did signalled about her social class, because, well, nothing she did or said or wore had any impact on her social class.

We had two other aristocrat families (as in, actual titled aristocrats), and they and their parents put zero effort into fashion or clothing at all. One mother (titled aristocrat) wore a tattered sweater with a small hole in the shoulder one Friday when she came to pick up her son for the weekend, and rubber wellies. Their car was covered with mud.

My experience with them changed my understanding of what "old money" looks like. They truly do not care about impressing anyone. Sometimes they look almost deliberately shabby.

It's one of the reasons Costco is so successful. There are a BUNCH of well off people who don't care about impressing anyone. They're happy with something that is total junk, but also not paying extra for some high end name brand that's marginally better than the next option.

Costco stuff is not junk. Unless it is their store brand, they sell branded items.