When you wander the aisles of Costco, you can’t help but notice how affordably priced the store’s inventory tends to be.
In fact, the whole reason so many people are willing to shell out money for a Costco membership is that they know they can generally make it back in the form of savings on purchases throughout the year.
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A $65 annual fee for a Gold Star membership doesn’t sound so bad when you buy groceries at Costco on a regular basis and save $80 per month in the process.
Of course, shopping at Costco doesn’t make sense for everyone.
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If you don’t have a particularly large family, then you may not be able to take advantage of the warehouse club giant’s bulk discounts. And if you live in a studio apartment, storing toilet paper in bulk may not be feasible.
But if you have a gaggle of kids to feed and a large pantry to stock, then an annual Costco membership can easily pay for itself.
Costco members are upset over a quality issue with a key product.
Image source: Bronstein/Getty Images
Costco prides itself on quality
There’s a reason Costco typically limits its inventory to about 4,000 SKUs (stock keeping units) while a typical supermarket might carry 30,000 to 40,000 different items at a time.
Costco likes to keep a close eye on the products it sells to ensure that it can offer competitive prices and items that are high in quality.
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While it’s true that a Costco membership can easily pay for itself in the form of savings, Costco also knows that people who shop strategically can save money on groceries and household essentials in other ways.
They can seek out other retailers who sell items in bulk (hello, Amazon and Walmart), clip coupons, browse for sales, or frequent discount grocers like Aldi for perpetual savings.
Costco needs to go a step further to ensure that its customers continue to renew their memberships, since the company relies on those fees to pad its bottom line. To this end, it makes a point to set high standards for quality control.
Costco also makes it easy for customers to get refunds on products that don’t meet their expectations. With few exceptions, Costco will take back just about any item if there’s a problem with it – even if it’s long after the purchase date.
Costco members blast store for product quality issue
Most of the time, when you buy nonperishable groceries at Costco, you’re getting fresh, quality items you can count on lasting. But that’s not always the case.
If you’re not careful, you might accidentally walk out of the store with berries that are just starting to turn, or with a case of bakery muffins that have already been sitting out for a day or two.
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In fact, the one area where you might really need to be careful when shopping at Costco is the produce section.
In recent months, Costco members have been taking to Reddit to complain about the quality of the store’s produce. And there’s one product they’ve been blasting in particular — the cucumbers.
As one user wrote, “Cucumbers used to be a really good deal and they lasted a while. Recently, I’ve had nothing but problems with them so I stopped buying them at Costco.”
Another user expressed similar frustration, stating, “They are done within a day or two after buying them.”
In addition to being unhappy with the quality of Costco’s cucumbers, members were quick to express their dissatisfaction with the price.
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“They are more expensive than the grocery store now,” one user complained.
Now the good news is that if you buy cucumbers from Costco that end up rotting quickly, you can return them for a refund.
But let’s face it. If you don’t have a Costco nearby, are you really going to want to drive 20 minutes out of your way to return a three-pack of cucumbers? Probably not.
This isn’t to say that Costco won’t address the issue – perhaps by switching suppliers. But for now, you may want to get your cucumbers from a different source.
Maurie Backman owns shares of Costco.