- Today, 10 huge insider saving secrets for Costco.
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at Walmart and I've covered that and now I'm doing Costco
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in the comments section.
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The big strategy to saving huge at Costco
is understanding their pricing structure.
For saving secret number one, it's all a numbers game
when you are shopping at Costco.
You need to pay very specific attention
to the numbers that I'm going to show you
where not all deals are created equal.
If you aren't a Costco member, I'm going to show you
why you might become one and also how to still shop
at Costco if you aren't.
For saving secret number one and the information
I'm gonna impart works for Costcos throughout
the United States, as well as Canada.
If you go to Costco and you are shopping online,
and this is also going to help with in store information
in a moment, you're going to see a section
that's called hot buys and, in many cases,
a lot of the deals you see in store
look very similar to this.
If you see a deal that ends in 99,
even though it's classified as a hot buy
and this works for deals in store as well
this means regularly priced merchandise,
means it's not necessarily a great deal.
I'm going to tell you which number you want to pay attention
to in a moment to know if something is an amazing deal
or if something is on clearance,
but I just wanna show you an example of how this works.
If you look in their hot buys section right now, it's $189
for this Nespresso VertuoPlus Deluxe Coffee system.
If you were to go right now
to the Nespresso website directly you're going to notice
that even if you aren't buying it as a bundle
the VertuoPlus prices are 30% off select machines
and 20% off select accessories.
This would be not necessarily a hot buy in my opinion
and just seeing that it ends in 99 means Costco's trying
to advertise it to you.
It's not necessarily at its lowest price.
Let me call up a couple of images
of different Costco price tags
to try and demonstrate my point.
So when something ends in a 99, saving secret number one,
it's not necessarily its lowest price.
If it ends in a 97, and we'll get to
what this asterisk signifies in a moment
it is at its clearance price.
If you see something that ends in an 88,
that means a local Costco is looking to liquidate
that product and that's typically something
that you would see on a local level
and that means that store might have more
of that merchandise that they're trying
to then get rid of it, but it spells huge savings,
so that 88 is key and you're more likely
to see that in store.
Saving secret number two, those delectable samples
you see in store often correspond with
a very high priced product.
You see the samples, you know you want them
and then they try to interest you and entice
you to buy something that is, in fact,
at its highest price.
So reminder, samples are fun, but it's to entice you
to buy something that would otherwise be
at its full price.
For saving secret number three,
and this will actually help you if you're not
a Costco member and if you aren't looking to become one.
Memberships are around 60 bucks and it depends
if that's right for your family and there's
an executive membership for almost double the price,
which has more savings and perks attached to it,
but the pharmacy at Costco is open to anyone.
So if you are looking to enjoy prescriptions by mail
or if you want to take advantage of many
of the discounts available at Costco pharmacy
you do not need to be a member to shop
at a Costco pharmacy.
And for saving secret number four,
if you just want to see whether or not
a Costco membership is right for you,
I highly recommend getting a Costco Shop Card.
Now here's the caveat, Costco Cash Cards
can only be purchased by members,
but they can be used by anyone.
If you have a Costco Shop Card you can use this in store
and a reminder, you do not need to be a member to use it,
you only need to be a member to buy it.
So if you have a friend or family member,
someone who could get you this or if you could buy
one of these online that might be worth your while
as a consideration.
That will also help you shop for other products
which might be on discount without having
to go through the whole membership experience.
For saving secret number five,
watch for Costco warehouse days.
A lot of us shop on the weekends,
that's when Costco's the busiest,
but there are warehouse days that happen during the week
which bring even bigger discounts
and they're staggered either every month or every six weeks.
And these warehouse days give you even greater savings
on top of the regular sale prices,
so make sure you stay on top of the Costco calendar
if you are looking to enjoy greater savings and deals.
Saving secret number six.
I look like a moron every time I do this.
I should have some big fancy graphic,
but this is a frugal YouTube channel.
Thank you again, if you want to subscribe.
The Costco coupons are very valuable.
But you might wanna know,
Costco doesn't accept manufacturer coupons.
So two ways to get the coupons.
First is make sure your address is up-to-date.
Costco will mail you coupons,
which it does for its members every month.
In addition to the coupons and member only savings
you will do very well if you can incorporate
an additional coupon on a sale price.
I'm going to share with you another big secret right now.
If you approach the customer service
or the member services desk you can actually ask
for coupons, to find out if there are any coupons available.
So if you think you might've missed one or you missed
the flyer or your address wasn't correct
or you just don't like clipping coupons, ask them,
before you complete a purchase or if you're considering
a purchase on a specific product, what type of coupons
they have available, for a big screen TV,
a patio set, whatever it is you're shopping for.
I have found that in half my tests,
many customer service representatives
were more than willing to dish out coupons.
That's really important before you finally check out
and pay for that final bill.
Saving secret number seven is tied to where
the best deals are placed physically inside the store.
And if you look at your typical Costco map layout,
you're going to find lots of flashy displays
right around the front, in the sides and the end caps
and these look like they're full of deals,
but if you actually do your math and you cross compare
and you have no life and few friends like I do,
you're going to find the least expensive Costco products
are right smack in the middle of the store,
so make a beeline, right on over to the middle of the store.
I always recommend you start your shopping there,
that's where the best deals are and that's also
where the most frequently depleted,
high stock items are centered.
If that just sounded like a bunch of big words
and mumbo jumbo to you, remember flashy displays
on the sides, not great, and the items
that everyone is trying to buy and shop for
right in the middle of your Costco.
The layout's obviously different,
but that middle of the store wherever it is you're going
is where you're going to find some of the largest savings.
That's different from the Walmart approach.
In a lot of the physical Walmart stores
that I've surveyed, you go all the way to the back
and sometimes the back right is where you're going to find
many of the better deals, which is strange.
Target has a different approach.
And, by the way, if you do like this type of information,
I've done breakdowns for Target, Walmart
and will continue to do so, so you can save money.
Saving secret number eight.
Remember when I said not too long ago,
that if a price tag ends in 99, either online or in store,
it's not at its lowest price?
Well, obviously if you find things in a 97
or even that 88 you're doing really well.
But what happens when you see a 97 and something
like this asterisk in the top right-hand side
of the screen?
That means this product will not be restocked.
It usually means one of two things.
It means that this is a highly sought after product
that is in its liquidation phase and the store's
not going to make any move to buy more,
but it also means that the product is being faced
with a discontinuation.
So that doesn't really affect you on something like
a waffle mix that you're likely just going to consume
and not return or fish sticks or things like that.
But what about when you're buying a home theater system?
Maybe you do want some type of follow up,
maybe you do need a manufacturer's warranty
from a company that will support it and maybe the company,
in fact, is just getting rid of everything.
So these are things to keep in mind
when you are reading the prices.
An asterisk could be your best friend because it means
you're locking in a really good, clearance, closeout price,
especially if you see the 88 and the asterisk.
That's like the best thing ever.
Strange gesture.
But if you do see a 97 or a 99 it just simply means
they're getting rid of it and it might
be for another reason.
The number nine saving secret is throw out
all of the coupon rules and all of the asterisks
and the 97s when you're dealing with my friend, special K,
and that's Kirkland.
Now, I know I gave you a lot of information tied to prices.
That all applies on everything except
for Costco's in house brand, Kirkland.
Couple of things that I want to tell you.
When you do see a so-called huge deal on Kirkland products,
please keep in mind that Costco controls this.
So the list price and the sale price are all things
that they can manipulate.
I'm not trying to say that they do so vindictively,
but I am trying to tell you that a lot of it
is just mumbo jumbo garbage.
A Kirkland product, in my experience as a consumer reporter,
is a very good store brand.
I love the Kirkland batteries,
I like many of the food products that I featured.
I found that in many cases that very high-end brand,
is just as good as Kirkland.
Kirkland automatically has around 60% savings built into
the fact that you're at Costco, you're getting a discount
as a member and you're able to buy in bulk
from a very well-made brand.
But with that being said, don't get overly excited
if Costco tells you that there's a sale on it
or they start doing limit one per member
or things like that.
It simply means they just might not have enough stock
or they're trying to get rid of something
because they've repackaged or they're bringing in new deals.
So while I highly support shopping the Kirkland brand
and I like many of the products tied to it,
don't get overly fixated on sales and blowouts
and clearance when you're shopping under this umbrella.
If anyone right now has recommendations
from the Kirkland brand, if you're a frequent Costco shopper
and there's something you love, like some type of olive oil
or kitty litter, drop me a line, let me know,
and, in fact, leave a comment so other people
can read from it.
I found that the subscribers of this channel are brilliant,
the viewers, I'm so lucky to have you guys.
But you're very helpful to each other
and you're also helpful to me.
So point that out, drop someone a line
in the comments section and we will all read your advice.
And for saving secret number 10, before I get to a bonus,
shop for candy at least two months before Halloween
and at least two months before Christmas.
I know that sounds like crazy advice.
But if you actually look at the candy pricing,
the bulk pricing tied to candy is unbelievable throughout
the year and seems to undergo some type
of weird clearance phase,
about two months before each holiday.
I'm not quite sure if that's
when Costco stores regularly restock their candy.
I'm not sure if it's tied to just an overall rotation
that happens throughout the retailer with their distributors
but that golden eight-week mark, prior to Halloween,
prior to Christmas, will have you saving significantly
more cash than if you shop anytime within the month
or within the couple of days in the vicinity
of that holiday.
For your bonus, if you do want to consider
the Costco Anywhere Visa, not only do you save a lot on gas,
4% on eligible gas, including gas at Costco
for the first $7,000 per year and then a percent thereafter,
3% on restaurants, all right, whatever that's fine.
But you get an additional cashback of 2% on all purchases
from Costco and Costco.com.
The 1% on all other purchases is lame,
but if you are a frequent Costco shopper
there is no annual fee with your paid Costco membership
for this card.
And this is great because there's
also decent customer service with this card in my tests.
If you are interested, all of the links to make this
a reality on MATTSDAILYDEALS.COM.
I hope you like what you saw.
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'cause this information hopefully was worthwhile to you
and thank you so much for making time for me today.
I love you, stay safe, stay healthy
and I'll be back soon.