There was a time years and years ago (3 to be exact) that I was a Costco member. And then my membership lapsed and when I mentioned to PB that I needed to renew our Costco membership he said no.
There were a few problems with Costco. The biggest one being that I couldn't get out of the damn store without spending $250. That might have been a cart full of some big bargains, but still...$250? The second problem was that I took PB to Costco one day thinking he'd love the deals and get excited. Instead he became enraged. I spent the entire hour listening to him rant about why North Americans don't need 11 pound jars of Cheese Whiz (fair...we don't) and questioning why the carts had to be so big...was it to make you feel smaller? He was not impressed by the $12 bags of Ravioli (we don't need that much ravioli) or the cases of diced tomatoes (Walmart sells them cheaper and we don't have room to store them anyway). At the end of the shopping trip - PB stated that we would allow the membership to lapse and that was that. The MAN had spoken.
So in an unusual move for me, I followed his direction and have avoided Costco for three years. I too was bothered by a few things. Why should you have to pay to shop somewhere? Why is the parking lot such a disaster zone? Where do these massive bags of produce even come from? Why don't they carry organic free range grain free dog food?
But then Jane came to visit. And Jane has a Costco card. And Jane took me back to Costco. And Jane.....who has all grocery prices memorized down to the cent/gram - pointed out some amazing deals to me including things I spend way too much on at Superstore because we eat so damn much of it (spinach, lettuce, quinoa, frozen fruit) and I got very excited. Costco has frozen cherries...Walmart and Superstore don't have frozen cherries. Costco has orthopedic dog beds that even Molly will fit on (which is pretty much impossible to find) for only $30!! Costco has 50lb boxes of cat litter for $7.99!! (Can I sue Costco after I throw out my back trying to heave a 50lb box of cat litter into my cart that's bigger than my Mini?)
And so I returned home to tell PB all about this magical Costco trip. PB was apathetic at best. PB was not over the moon about the frozen cherries. PB pointed out that since I was now letting Molly consistently sleep on the couch she probably didn't need an orthopedic bed.
And so the debate goes. The arguments Jane presented to me had little affect on PB. He wasn't swayed by the cheap propane. He thought the size of the bag of frozen strawberries was obscene and he pointed out he doesn't even like sweet potatoes and wasn't sure how I was going to eat a 10lb bag myself. He's a hard nut to crack when it comes to paying a fee to shop somewhere.
I'll keep you posted.
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