Danger
Apparently there is danger in not correcting one's son when he mispronounces a word. Joe has not yet learned how to say almonds properly, instead I am now also calling them 'walmunds'. I realized while shopping at Costco with my mother that I am referring to walnuts as walmunds as well. I guess I am just simplifying life by merging the two words into one :0) Things seem to be deteriorating by the minute around here.
Speaking of danger, there is a subject near to my heart that I would like to discuss. It is our giant mega-store that masquerades as a wholesale store. Costco. In reality I doubt very few us who shop there actually resell our "wholesale" goods. I have yet to see anyone on the streets peddling parts of a deliciously moist rotisserie chicken they purchased at Costco.
There is a reason that people who have guests from another country often include a trip to Costco among their sightseeing adventures. If we weren't so darn used to it (and in love with it I might add) we might find the sight laughable. Masses of people teeming around with giant carts filling them with 48 rolls of toilet paper, gallons of mayonnaise, and enough mustard to last newlyweds for their first 5 years of marriage (A fact I have personally verified).
It is dangerous. The average consumer may run in for a few bananas and some milk and find that they have somehow come home with 25 lbs of salt and and $179 shopping bill (okay maybe I'm not the average consumer). I go so I can save a dollar on my eggs, but somehow I end up spending $89 extra dollars. It is a mystery how I spend so much while saving my money.
The problem lies in the fact that at Costco, you don't really spend less, you just get more. Take cheese for example. I have lived a large portion of my life without high quality cheese. I did not want to spend $7 for a small smackerel of brie at my local grocery store. BUT, when that same brie is selling at Costco for $9 it is 76 times as large as my grocery store brie, I feel wildly delighted at the bargain price. No, I don't actually save money by getting it at Costco, but I get SO much more. And of course, if I use some simple math skills I can explain that the per unit price of any good at Costco is about 25% less. So I am saving money - theoretically at least.
Somehow things I wouldn't buy at a normal store, such as expensive cheese and brand name toilet paper, I get at Costco because they are more reasonable. Just wandering the aisles at Costco makes me feel like royalty. They even serve me small morsels of food to keep up my energy while I shop. I happen upon such items as Lobster Bisque in large plastic tubs and think, "Isn't it great to be an American?" Where else can you find giant bags of scallops wrapped in bacon right across from a 26 pack of yogurt?
I always laugh at us lining up for the free food. It is miniature, and to be honest, most of us have tasted everything already. Yet here were are, jostling for a position in line as though we are underfed orphans. I found it especially amusing last time I was there and they were sampling canned green beans. COME ON. Do we not know what canned green beans taste like? Maybe this one was for the foreigners who had come to gawk, and had perhaps not ever tasted a canned green bean.
So here's to all my fellow Costco shoppers ( I know there are a lot of you because of the difficult parking and the fact that I always see someone I know while there). We may not be spending any less money but we are eating Lobster Bisque, using Huggie's diapers, and not likely to run out of canned goods and paper towels anytime in the near future.
Speaking of danger, there is a subject near to my heart that I would like to discuss. It is our giant mega-store that masquerades as a wholesale store. Costco. In reality I doubt very few us who shop there actually resell our "wholesale" goods. I have yet to see anyone on the streets peddling parts of a deliciously moist rotisserie chicken they purchased at Costco.
There is a reason that people who have guests from another country often include a trip to Costco among their sightseeing adventures. If we weren't so darn used to it (and in love with it I might add) we might find the sight laughable. Masses of people teeming around with giant carts filling them with 48 rolls of toilet paper, gallons of mayonnaise, and enough mustard to last newlyweds for their first 5 years of marriage (A fact I have personally verified).
It is dangerous. The average consumer may run in for a few bananas and some milk and find that they have somehow come home with 25 lbs of salt and and $179 shopping bill (okay maybe I'm not the average consumer). I go so I can save a dollar on my eggs, but somehow I end up spending $89 extra dollars. It is a mystery how I spend so much while saving my money.
The problem lies in the fact that at Costco, you don't really spend less, you just get more. Take cheese for example. I have lived a large portion of my life without high quality cheese. I did not want to spend $7 for a small smackerel of brie at my local grocery store. BUT, when that same brie is selling at Costco for $9 it is 76 times as large as my grocery store brie, I feel wildly delighted at the bargain price. No, I don't actually save money by getting it at Costco, but I get SO much more. And of course, if I use some simple math skills I can explain that the per unit price of any good at Costco is about 25% less. So I am saving money - theoretically at least.
Somehow things I wouldn't buy at a normal store, such as expensive cheese and brand name toilet paper, I get at Costco because they are more reasonable. Just wandering the aisles at Costco makes me feel like royalty. They even serve me small morsels of food to keep up my energy while I shop. I happen upon such items as Lobster Bisque in large plastic tubs and think, "Isn't it great to be an American?" Where else can you find giant bags of scallops wrapped in bacon right across from a 26 pack of yogurt?
I always laugh at us lining up for the free food. It is miniature, and to be honest, most of us have tasted everything already. Yet here were are, jostling for a position in line as though we are underfed orphans. I found it especially amusing last time I was there and they were sampling canned green beans. COME ON. Do we not know what canned green beans taste like? Maybe this one was for the foreigners who had come to gawk, and had perhaps not ever tasted a canned green bean.
So here's to all my fellow Costco shoppers ( I know there are a lot of you because of the difficult parking and the fact that I always see someone I know while there). We may not be spending any less money but we are eating Lobster Bisque, using Huggie's diapers, and not likely to run out of canned goods and paper towels anytime in the near future.
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