You underestimate my ability to eat a toddler sized jar of pickles Levi. I promise you, none go to waste.

My family and I cracked the Costco code : 1. We split into 3 households what is perishable or too big for a single household (aka meat, vegs, fruits, bread etc) 2. We buy non-perishables in bulk. 3. We never buy what we still have left. eg: You have 1 box of pasta left? Leave that pasta box on the shelf, you don't need it. 4. DO NOT BUY SALE unless it's something that you wanted in the first place. Make a list and stick to it. this helps with waste management but also helps with the ability to buy good products at a decent price.

I do want to take a minute to say that Costco treats their employees extremely well. They definitely contribute to food waste at an astronomical rate, but let’s also take wins for good employee benefits and pay.

Shopping at Costco without waste requires some careful planning and thoughtfulness...and a lot of freezer space. 😂 But if you plan accordingly, it is absolutely a great way to save money.

I grocery shop and cook solely for myself, which is already challenging when you're trying not to be wasteful, but for some reason friends and family keep telling me I NEED a Costco membership. Like dang, I love the eat, but there's nothing I love THAT much that I need to buy it in bulk. This video made me feel validated, haha

Your average consumer statistically speaking may lose money shopping at Costco, but if you plan right and have self control and only buy certain things you actually do need a lot of, it can save you money. It's like a tool, it can be used correctly or incorrectly.

I think there's another piece of the puzzle that's missing. Driving to the grocery store to buy all the groceries you need for the next 1-2 weeks is ingrained in our culture as a result of car-dependent city planning. In places where your nearest grocery store is a 10-20 minute drive away from the home that you live in, which is true for a very large amount of people in North America, grocery shopping is a dedicated and often inconvenient "trip" outside of your home. Thus, you have to buy in bulk for ALL grocery runs, it's just that costco is a lot more ludicrously bulky than all other stores. Compare this with places that prioritize walkability and public transit over car ownership- There are parts of many large cities like Amsterdam that are like this. If your favorite grocery store is a 2-10 minute walk away from home, you are less incentivized to buy in bulk since it's easier to just pick up a few things you need for just one day (or the next few days) There's lots of youtube channels that talk about city planning and how designing neighborhoods to be fully dependant on car ownership is not a good way to do things, but I recommend the channel Not Just Bikes which has a lot of videos on the topic. There's a short video on the channel called "Why Grocery Shopping is Better in Amsterdam". This video shows a better model for grocery shopping that other places in the world could benefit from if they copied Amsterdam style city planning, and reduce food waste.

I love Costco very specific reason. It makes me able to avoid evil retail empires like Wal-Mart and Amazon. Costco workers are some of the best-treated retail workers in the world. Jelinek is a genius. As for perishable goods, I only buy frozen bulk foods at Costco. Everything else I generally buy at Loblaws, Sobey's or Metro.

Costco also has the cheapest gas in the area so that’s why so many people have Costco memberships here in CA. The gas lines are so long!!

Most of food waste is from restaurants and businesses trying to keep shelfs stock or by cooking too much especially fast food industries. Families buying lots of food isn't causing anywhere near as much food waste

One thing that I really appreciated when moving to Germany is that they have a standard cost per 100 grams on the price tag of basically every item. It's almost impossible to make cost comparisons between most products in the U.S. when you have different items listed with per oz, per pound, or per liquid oz to varying degrees of consistency.

This is why I love how grocery shopping works in other countries. In Mexico, Thailand or Japan you usually shop for whatever you’re gonna cook daily. Usually on their way home because they made grocery shopping so easy and accessible. You can stop at a outdoor market or grocery store while you’re walking somewhere.

This is why I typically only buy non-food items. The bulk is only worth it to me when I’m buying paper towels, tide pods, or shampoo. That makes it so I only have to go to Costco once every few months, but I save a decent amount of money on those kinds of items. I also don’t end up throwing anything away.

I'm buying a lot of shelf stable things, freezing bread and they have great pierogi which are not easy to get somewhere else. And shopping once per month (plus local grocery every week for veggies) saves a lot of time. Even in a household of 2 you can make it work, but I never had a problem with buying too much.

I have a costco membership and a dump freezer. When you grow up poor, one of the big purchases your family might make, is a chest freezer. Being able to freeze bread, meats, veg, etc. really helps you save money in the long run. Also, the toilet paper and paper towels are worth it too. I try to use regular towels when I can, but for some stuff, you need the paper towels.

Worse, the bulk means you need to have a car to transport it and the space to store it. I'm lucky to live somewhere where getting something from the grocery market takes less than 15 min.

I used to have a Costco card just because the contacts i use were so much cheaper full price there, than the deductible on my eye insurance when I used to have it. But i also called it "the $75 store" because good luck trying to leave without spending at least $75 😆

Actually, you comment about Costco relying on people buying is wrong. Costco relies on membership. They do not make much money on what they sell. It’s all in the membership.

Have you noticed that Costco is like a Trader Joe’s warehouse when it comes to packaging?! Large bags or boxes of individually wrapped items-double packaging! Stay away from single servings to minimize packaging waste.

I have a Costco membership mostly for gas. My car uses premium fuel and I can get it for $4.09 usd a gallon, which is how much regular fuel costs at non-costco stations in my area. The way I keep myself from spending a ton of money is by going in without a cart and only buying what I can carry on my own. I think I'm the only person that really does that.

The trick with Costco is to use them properly, comparison shop while in the store and figure out how much you can use in a set time period (such as, don’t buy the milk if you won’t finish 2 gallons before your next shopping trip)

When I lived in Canada I got into the habit of having a calculator with me at grocery store visits. Reason: On my 2nd or 3rd visit to the store I found the "value pack" next to the small one and the small one was about a third of the price while having just half of the weight. After that, I started to be curious if there were better-disguised steals out there. Bulk usually is cheaper if you get stuff like dry grains or really long expiration dates. But there are several times when several of the single-serving is the better option

I used to work for costco and the first day on the job my boss walks me around the store and we just find the samplers and eat the food for an hour or two until the next shipment came in. It was pretty cool

Been a costco employee for over a decade. One thing that boggles me is the dedication shoppers have to this place. Never have I seen so many people fawn over a grocery store. People LOVE costco it is quite disturbing.

If it's considered "widely" as one of the most underrated chips is it still underrated?

I feel so old because I actually remember a time when the whole point of buying bulk was to get a better price. Left Costco today with my jaw to the floor. It's the total opposite now. EVERYTHING was over retail price. You're actually over paying at Costco AND you have to pay them for a membership???? WTF. I'm never going in there again.

We went somewhere that had a small shopping cart. My kids were laughing at how small the cart was. I told them that huge carts encourage you to buy more. Look at Costco carts.

They're a good company who treat their employees well. When you're a member you get some stuff just above cost. The essentials you can really affordable,. I really like having a membership and I live alone. They also have instacart so you don't have to go into the store.

My experience at Costco is that items tend to be cheaper than the surrounding grocery stores if it is non-essential (beer, meat, cheese, food you wouldn't normally buy.) When the food items are essential (milk, eggs, etc.) The prices are comparable to the surrounding grocery stores.

For my house, it is better to buy ONLY the non-perishables at Costco because of the bulk. We only go once a month with a budget for the essentials, and then don't go. But that works because the grocery shops we have access to are WAY more expensive for like, 6 rolls of toilet paper instead of the 30 at costco.

Did you find anything about how Costco makes their money through membership fees? A great strategy to minimize waste while still taking advantage of deals is to split orders w friends. I’d also like to hear more about how companies treat their workers, Costco is very good to their employees which is one reason I choose to support them. I’m privileged to be able to choose where I shop.

Last time I was at Costco I price compared the cost by weight for a bunch of items I wanted to buy, and I literally didn't buy anything because vs my local grocery stores everything was more expensive. And no joke, I was comparing to places like Whole Foods and Sprouts which are notoriously more pricey. But I live in a major city, so I realize that I'm lucky to have broad access to many different options within a short drive. Plus, super easy access to specialty shops and ethnic grocery stores.

Went dumpster diving in my area, brought home about $50 in food value or more. Saved me a month of supplies, I can imagine the food that Costco throws out could easily fill that quota faster with their large packs.

Ugh you had to hit me with this video literally hours after I went to Costco… I did only purchase 6 items but they are all accounted for I’m my Feb monthly meal plan so no waste!

The day I found your channel, without looking at the subscriber count I would have guessed that you at least had over a couple hundred thousand subscribers but I was shocked to see how underappreciated your videos are. You're doing great work. Love the videos!

I’m best reminded of the mistakes that can be made at a shopper’s club bulk buy place by that episode of “Seinfeld” where Kramer bought so much food it barely fit in his old clunker of a car and he was desperate to eat/get rid of it all before it went bad. “Sunk Cost Fallacy” is exploited by so many companies (from mobile games to these stores.)

I am on my parent's costco membership since we realized that only my mom ever goes to costco and not my dad. The main reason why we have the membership is because for a really long time in my area, it was the easiest way to get certain things that we couldn't get anywhere else. Recently that has flipped so we end up only really going there for toilet paper and paper towels.

I lived in Ontario for half a year and I was flabbergasted by the giant Costco hauls my housemates would bring home every fortnight. They legit took their biggest suitcase and took a 30 minute busride to get there! Meanwhile I walked to our cornerstone and, as a brave dutchie, would bike to our nearest supermarket a mere 20 minute bikeride away. It was wild!

When it comes to shelf stable items there is no "buying more than you need" there is only buying what you need for a longer period.

This is why we only go to Costco for: laundry stuff, cooking oil, most spices, coffee (online), Tetley tea, balsamic vinegar, razors, shampoo/conditioner/soap, garbage bags, ziplocs, paper plates, foil, food wrap, parchment paper, pam, TP/paper towel, some canned chickpeas, brown sugar, butter, cheese sometimes, every like 2-3 months, ~$350-450 at a time. Reg groceries are done at like a Freshco or Zehrs or Metro or whatever.

Good advice here most of it is stuff I already do. I have been a Costco member since 2018 and I’ve thrown away more food that I’ve bought from regular supermarkets than Costco. The reason is I’ve been very selective about the groceries I buy from there. I’m not feeding a huge family so I buy very few perishables from them for obvious reasons. And the ones I do occasionally get are things I know I can eat before spoilage and are at a good price. Where I live we have the weight per kg labeled on all grocery prices and it’s been great as it saves me having to get my calculator and work it out, plus I can easily access the prices of equivalent products from competing major supermarkets online while I’m in Costco to know if what they’re offering is really a good deal and if so by how much. And the cherry on the cake is I hold out for items that have been reduced because Costco needs to clear them out to make room for new stock. It’s rarely more than 25% off but if the normal price is less than supermarkets and the item has a long shelf life then I’m getting good value. For most of my perishables I get them from a particular supermarket chain that discounts them drastically if you happen to be there at the right time. They get to claim their losses off their tax paid so they don’t seem to mind and the majority of shoppers prefer to get non discounted stuff because it is further from expiry and they’d rather shop once every two weeks than shop twice every week and pay a tenth of the regular price.

Side note: I’m super happy to see this channel doing so well. I’m excited for you and Leah.

People throw away food? That's hard to believe tbh. I have absolutely no problem using every last bit of the bulk items I get from Costco and we don't even have kids yet. If anything I wish the portions were bigger so I wouldn't have to go to the store so often. I think it's important to consider that buying in bulk saves on gas too.

As someone who comes from a small family, Costco never appealed to me. My partner loves Costco and he always ends up buying a bunch of junk food that wouldn’t have been bought at a regular market.

I shop at Costco for myself and there are a few rules for me to follow to avoid 99% of the time, waste. 1 - Frozen fruits or vegetables. These are often more nutritious than regular "fresh" produce simply because fruits and vegetables are generally flash freezed moments after being harvested meaning it'll retain the majority of its nutrients for a long period of time. "Fresh" produce goes through shipping and in which case, it'll have to go through shipping time and that in itself already starts reducing the nutrient content by the time it gets to you. 2 - I buy non-perishables like toilet paper, trash bags, etc etc. 3 - Protein powder and such items that has a shelf life of 1+ year minimum 4 - Buy one order of anything perishable because I'm sure as heck coming back at some point next month and I end up rebuying these so no need to buy a crap ton right now. Anything else with a longer shelf or fridge life, I tend to buy again every second or third visit. 5 - And a final general rule, eat before going and make a list. No seriously, make a list so you know what your list is. A non-list is going to be an ever expanding list based on what your stomach or eyes feels fits the list.

We don't have Costco where I live. But when I go, which is very rare, it's a real treat! I find a lot of items that I can't get at my regular supermarket, and being a baker it's nice to find ingredients that I could use.

Every store has their own ways to hook and bait you in, wasting your money, wasting your time. I've been training myself like a carriage horse, nothing in these stores has got that could interest me so much to make me buy more than i intended to

Ah Costco, home of the $100 rotisserie chicken. You come in for a $5 chicken and leave with a cartfull

costco not having signs saying where things are is a nightmare. i shop for grocery deliver and the one time i picked up a costco order i was late when i had a full two hours to do a ten item list because its impossible to find anything... including employees! and none of the ones i asked even knew where anything was either, so i just had to wander more and more frantically until i either found everything or assumed they didnt have it

Generally speaking, I only go to Costco to purchase food IF I'm doing a large dinner, or a party. That's the only time I think it makes sense. I also find that the stuff they have, like vacuums or canned goods, is great to get. I never get fresh produce there.

The real savings is their online store. They offer mortgages with closing costs limited to $500 instead of the normal 1% of the mortgage. That was enough to save me $150 a year or enough to pay for 30 years of Costco membership

costco actually saved my household lol. between california rent and student loans we didn’t have the money to buy basic essentials. after finally trying out costco, with a strict list and budget and food prep plan in hand we’ve managed to stay afloat and even cut down on some debt thanks to the savings. if you are working class, live paycheck to paycheck, or something else along those lines where money is always tight, costco can be a lifeline where as the upcharging at safeway is literally an eviction sentence.

You made me realize that they have the more expensive electronics and jewelry items at the front of the store to anchor your mind around that price range, so when you do spend $500 you feel like you got a deal cause you saw the first price of $1200 for a TV.

As a college student the only thing I truly buy in bulk at Costco is pizza rolls😂

Future Proof: Dude, your videos are awesome. I just discovered your channel randomly in my feed this morning and now I'm binge watching all of them to catch up. 🤠

sometimes it more cos effective just to buy a smaller size, cuz the bigger size might only be a few cents more but your likely to throw half of it when you inevitably don't eat it. effectively throwing half of that money you spent on it away too. things to buy in bulk : dry goods, canned goods, items you can freeze, shelf friendly stuff.

It was easy to shop once a week (if that) during the pandemic and it has limited my trips to the grocery store. I have found gluten free items in bulk and love the quality of the food.

As a single person who shops at Costco, this store is a godsend. Before I moved out of my family's house, my appetite made up half of the food budget in a family of 4. I'm not overweight or out of shape by any means, either. I'm just a young dude who built enough muscle as a teenager that his appetite never slowed down as an adult (yet). If you shop at Costco, the freezer is your best friend. I only have to buy perishables (bacon, lunch meat, croissants, other freezer friendly stuff) once a month because I freeze 3/4ths of it the moment I get home. Do it this way and you will actually save money.

I finally broke down and got a Sam's Club membership last year. I gotta say, it is not worth it at all. The Walmart is right down the street, and when it comes to $/lb or $/oz, almost everything is cheaper at Walmart in smaller packages...

LOLOL!!!! My wife and I refer to Costco as the $600.00 an hour store.

pretty sure costco doesn’t make much from products. rather, all their savings come from the fact that they save so much on transport. what about all the fuel savings since they don’t have to distribute to smaller stores? the store is literally the warehouse. no transport. no extra carbon emissions from extra buildings on top of warehouses, i.e. walmart. rather than a company problem, it’s a customer problem. it’s up to the individual to know how they’re shopping and know their limits. if you’re dumb enough to fall for the marketing, that’s on you.

We ran the numbers and for our household, and our food costs went down 40% by switching over to Costco... The average bulk item is the same price if not cheaper than the regular sized item at our local grocery store (which is normally more expensive than whole foods). The largest sized container of cottage cheese is normally around $9 and at Costco it's ~$3.50.

You nailed this! took me 3yrs of Costco membership/shopping to work out exactly what you are laying down here. Stopped membership 4 yrs ago and will never go back!

i can tell this channel is a bomb, waiting to blow up at any moment. You and whoever you work on these videos with (good on you if you’re some kind of solo gig) are going places!

I love Costco for many reasons. The membership allows me to get cheap fuel for my cars. That in itself is worth paying the membership for. I only buy non-perishable goods in large quantities. It's good for stocking up our pantry due to product shortages at local supermarkets. That also applies to things I can freeze like chicken breasts, beef, salmon, egg tarts, croissants). I find that the foods they sell have higher quality compared to common brands sold at supermarkets. And lastly, during the lockdown, I couldn't go to any shops that weren't essential. That means I couldn't buy clothes, socks, shoes, etc. at the mall. I also started working from home and needed a comfy office chair (to sit on 8+ hours/day). I couldn't go anywhere to try out the chair before buying. But I could get all those things from Costco. I do agree though with the food waste. That's why I wouldn't buy fresh produce there because it's just too much. I'd make a separate trip to get those things somewhere else.

I love cucumbers and I will buy 2 packs of cucumbers for 1 week for my family because we go through them. I think with Costco you just have to really understand what your family eats and the timeline for products to stay fresh and edible. So maybe only buying a couple vegetables in bulk that week and switching it up next week, or prepping your food and freezing meals, or using food that's about to go bad up in some other way (making stock, inviting friends over to help finish up food, canning it). I think one of the biggest issues with overconsumption and overbuying is simply not understanding where food comes from, how many resources, time, and energy it takes to grow something, and also not knowing how to store food correctly for it to last.

i only get non perishable items at cost co like paper towels, dryer sheets, laundry detergent, toilet roll, aluminium foil etc so nothing ever goes bad

MAN I subscribed to this channel last friday and it was at 33k subs, it grows by the minute. To the moon lol

Costco taps into the efficiency paradox, where in a product become more efficient you end up using way more and your total consumption goes up.

I will not stand for Costco slander!

My favorite Future Proof so far! So relatable and hilarious, well done y’all!!

I get your point about oversized packaging. HOWEVER, undersized packaging is ALSO IF NOT MORE DAMAGING TO THE ENVIRONMENT. I live in the Philippines and the sheer amount of plastic that's wasted on packaging, and wraps that are useless as soon as we got them is just STAGGERING. It doesn't help that our country doesn't have a good waste management system. Plastic trash can be seen in every corner of the city! (Except for wealthy parts). Considering how poor the average Filipino is, it's been long hammered into our brains that we must not waste precious food. Bigger and environmentally-friendly packaging would benefit us greatly. I think Americans just have to value food and create a system that will bring the extra food to the poor. The Philippines' problem of undersized and plastic packaging requires the transformation of all our products and supply chains. Which is, frankly, far more challenging for a developing country.

Don't mind me just intracting for the algorithm

Not if they charge you more then somewhere else, for the product by weight. Learn how to do that and you will be able to tell if ur getting a good deal or not.

This channel makes high quality videos, I was surprised to see how small it is. I can see this channel getting large quickly, hope it does!

Juice produce before it goes bad to minimize waste; can be frozen & added to smoothies, soups, etc. Greens & other things not supposed to be frozen can be when juiced.

Your cause & effect is as tangled as your logic. The mark-ups are lower than regular retails stores. So, you're basically saying limit warehouse purchases to non-perishable items, and you'll be ok. I'm not a Costco defender. If it went out of business, I'd just shrug and go "Oh, well.". But I do like that my paper towels won't run out for 6 months.

Funny story Levi. So about two months ago I found this and Macy gray puma sweatpants, and I can successfully say that I was one of the first ones to wear them at my school and now entire School is wearing them. So I can really see your point about that😀😀

In Iceland stores are actually legally required to show the cost per weight/volume on the pricing label next to (or below) the cost of the item itself. Most people I know could tell you immediately whether or not 20 dollars for a 1 kg block of cheese is a good price. Or if 1.5 dollars for a 2 liter bottle of coke is cheap or not. This is such a fundamental skill that I can't imagine not thinking about cost per weight/volume when trying to decide whether to buy something.

I'm single and I buy at Costco, but I tend to reduce my waste a few ways. 1) I buy mostly shelf stable products- canned food, clothes, prescriptions, etc. 2)when I do buy produce, it's normally stuff that I can easily freeze or emulsify excess - unused bananas are frozen, same with greens, tomatoes become part of frozen homemade chili, etc. 3)most of my costco purchases are really gas - I live really close to a few costcos and you can't beat the gas prices, especially with the extra 4%. It pretty much pays off the membership, which negates me feeling like I need to over buy as much. Also, one great positive with Costco - during winter 2020 and through 2021 I had to take some cross county trips to help take care of my parents with cancer. Thankfully Costcos are generally placed EXACTLY within one gas task between each other so I had a place to rest, fill the tank, grab a bite to eat, not worry about a messy bathroom and get on my way. I appreciated that SO much.

We raised a large family of boys by watching the deals at local stores. Been to Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's. Never found their prices saved us anything in comparison to the local grocer literally down the street. You know the place.... the smaller grocer that doesn't require hours of our time and gas.

Such a good video on consumerism 😍😍

We like that we can get frozen foods in larger packaging than our bulk store carries. We never buy fresh foods there, learned that quickly. Hate to say it, but organic flour is $2 per pound at the bulk store and Costco has paper packaged organic flour for 59 cents a pound. We make all our baked goods at home. The bulk store near us is still our favorite. When we moved, being closer was a definite pro when choosing a house.

While I do shop at Costco, I don't buy everything I need there because there are some things that I cannot possibly consume in bulk without it either going bad or taking up valuable pantry real estate in perpetuity.

Loving the host of these videos!

These videos are so cool

I felt that when you said "they are in the back" the mapping of stores is such an awesome topic. Hopefully you have seen wendover productions videos on this but he does and awesome. Btw great job on this video and keep up the great work. I really enjoy the memes and subtle self comments. You have very good comedic timing which I am still working on for my videos so I hope to learn from you!

I one made a wedding cake thing for a friend. Thought I would get my ingredients from Costco but once I costed it out I went to Superstore.

Costco has the best quality merchandise at the lowest possible price. They treat their employees better than any other retailer in the industry and Costco invests in Feeding America’s local member food banks to help feed neighbors in need. In regards to Costco's waste management they work very hard to divert 80% of waste generated within their global operations. This entire video is miss information and opinion based. I expected better research out of this channel.

Thank you!! I hate Costco. It’s so wasteful.

My entire extended family in the same city shares my uncle's membership. He buys a crap ton of stuff for 3 households and then we distribute it all amongst ourselves. Zero waste there lol

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I just got a free subscription. Thank you so much! Great video👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Am I the only person in the world who has never been in a Costco? Since I am single, it never made any sense to me to buy food in bulk. I'm not even tempted to join Costco. 🙁

You are awesome and everything you said is true… but I love Costco, My kids can eat the 3 huge cucumbers in a sitting. Pinky promise to eat all my food every time before going back for more 😊

On gas and tires alone, the annual membership is worth it. I make my trip to Costco when I need gas and then get the stuff I only need!

I live in a rural area and my Costco is an hours drive, we typically buy in bulk because we don't go to Costco/Sam's more than once per month. Tbh its really great saving time and money when you take care of disabled adults and are getting ready for a little one.

It is so weird to hear about a shop like this. Like damn this is the definition of American capitalism lol

I appreciate your work, but you say literally A LOT my dude, and mostly incorrectly.. Thank you sir

I lived in San Francisco from 1795 to 2005 and during that time there were no Walmarts or Costcos there. All of my shopping was done via a tiny corner store in my building owned and managed by a Korean immigrant family. I may have been aware of Walmart or Costco, but I had never been to one, until I moved to Portland OR. One day a neighbor was going to Costco shopping and wanted to know if I would give them a hand ( which I thought was odd, why would they need a hand bringing in two bags of groceries ). We drove, and drove, and drove and finally ended up in some out of the way suburbia, parked the car a half mile away from the store, and we walked in, .........I don't know if I can express the first impression I had, but "Shock" was probably the best word. Shock at the scale, shock at how overweight everyone was, shock at the volume of what they were purchasing, and shock at the scale of the things being purchased, EVEN the shopping carts were the size of small Japanese trucks. I was a "Stranger In A Strange Land". In some ways too it was disturbing, and very Only-In-America, which was disturbing as well in its own way as well

My experience with Costco was as a kid through late teen years and going shopping with my parents. Got a cup of frozen yogurt or a slice of pizza, and then I'd browse the books, find one the display seats, an just comfortably read until it was time to go. Was always a good time.