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A comment on Sears has another chance to avoid closing down. Parent comment

Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by bluGill on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @11:45AM (#18856932)
They are. You need to have a good amount of extra money to afford the membership and the cost of buying 6 months of toilet paper in advance. Those are cheap items that you will need, if you are not poor you probably don't even think about it. However when you are poor it doesn't matter if it is cheaper or not to buy in bulk because you don't have the cash to afford it. (you also are unlikely to have the storage space for all of that)

Costco serves the upper class.

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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by IWeldMelons on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @02:31PM (#18858747)
Do not forget about ALDI - it is cheaper than Costco, does not require buying in bulk, but the quality is stable and generally well worth the money. ALDI is the place to go for the working class.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by samfriedman on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @11:56AM (#18857056)
Upper class? It's true that those living in poverty often don't have the means to buy in bulk or pay a Costco membership, but I don't think the designation of "upscale" describes the store either. Many working class and middle class people shop there.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by uxp100 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:35PM (#18857466)
Upper class is a bad descriptor, and many working class people do shop there, but I think Costco does have a bit of an upscale connotation. A different one than whole foods or a natural food co-op, but I think it still has one. It's not the "normal" grocer.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by bluGill on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:07PM (#18857166)
The poorest people in the US are still upper class. Except for a few homeless who refuse all support services perhaps.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by moate on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:35PM (#18857471)
This basically renders your point meaningless, since now literally all businesses in the US are servicing the upper class.

There's relative poverty in the US still. Currency still has relative purchasing power. Saying a person living below the US poverty line should be put in the same class (upper class) as Jeff Bezos seems disingenuous as best.

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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by wil421 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:24PM (#18857340)
Your other comments contradict themselves.

Comparing the poor of a rich nation to everyone else is an apples to oranges comparison. The poop still struggle hard in the US.

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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by noarchy on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @01:12PM (#18857831)
Don't know about "upper" class, but definitely middle class. A lot of things at Costco (at least where I live) are only available in organic formats, for example, which jack up the price for no real benefit (imo). The working poor don't usually have the flexibility to do these kinds of things.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by tracker1 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @11:58AM (#18857080)
I've known plenty of people on various levels of welfare support who would shop at costco/sam's club. They got their support once a month, making a big shopping trip perfectly in reach. The busiest Costco locations I've been to have been the lower income areas of town (Phoenix area).
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by wil421 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:22PM (#18857322)
This was the reason I asked. I’ve known of people using food stamps there.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by melq on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:02PM (#18857124)
Membership at Costco is like 60 dollars a year. Not saying it's doable for everyone but its hardly something 'you need to have a good amount of extra money' to afford.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by dragonwriter on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @01:14PM (#18857848)
> Membership at Costco is like 60 dollars a year. Not saying it's doable for everyone but its hardly something 'you need to have a good amount of extra money' to afford

If you are poor to the point of relying on public assistance to meet basic needs, an extra $60 up front even if it will pay off over a year means foregoing other essential expenses now.

But the bigger cost in many parts of the country is the space needed for inventory to maximize the benefit of bulk purchasing. Sure it works well for my family, but we live in a decent sized suburban home with an second refrigerator, and a storage closet converted for additional pantry space.

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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by melq on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @04:31PM (#18859908)
Why do you think I was talking about people who are poor to the point that they are relying on public assistance? Did you gloss over the part where I said 'not saying it is doable for everyone'? You even quoted it. This thread was debating whether or not Costco is an 'upscale' place that only the well to do can afford, not whether or not Costco is an option for people on public assistance.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by lotsofpulp on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @01:06PM (#18857775)
If you look at the locations of Costcos in any metropolitan area, they will not be near the poorer areas. Walmart is more frequently located near poorer areas, and what I was getting at, was that Walmart can't just up its pay to match Costco because many people that shop at Walmart don't have any extra money, whereas Costco can afford to raise prices to help pay for better wages.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by jandrese on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:55PM (#18857658)
You can also get the $120 membership that gives you a percentage back. If you shop there regularly the membership becomes effectively free. But this doesn't help someone living paycheck to paycheck. Where the hell are they going to find an extra $120?
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by projektfu on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:48PM (#18857583)
You need to be buying enough to make it work out. A single person often doesn't benefit from Costco unless they're also a small business owner.
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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by Scoundreller on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @12:58PM (#18857698)
And you can usually get a second card « for someone else that lives in the same household ».

You can also tag along with someone else that has a membership if they’re willing to offer you their time.

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Re:Sears has another chance to avoid closing down by melq on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @04:29PM (#18859879)
I never said or implied that poor people are able to shop at Costco.
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