While I hate that you basically have to make an on-the-spot decision, they absolutely crush it on quality and price 9 times out of 10.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Sierra-Visalia-Hydration-Backpac...

http://www.costcoweekender.com/2016/03/high-sierra-visalia-9...

For example, coffee. The vast majority of what I saw on the shelf was ground coffee – for personal use bulk whole beans are a better value because they stay fresher longer. Most of it was also Seattle's Best / Starbucks / Peets, not terrible but particularly good either. Kitchen equipment – Costco has great prices on Le Creuset, but only has two sizes listed online (both oval). Laundry detergent, mostly heavily scented stuff, pass.

IMO discoverability is on par with Amazon (not a good thing) which discouraged me from spending more time than necessary in the warehouse.

I was looking on the shelves that were stocked with (ground) coffee. If there is a separate aisle for whole bean coffee I didn't bother looking for it -- I dislike the unlabeled aisles and don't want to wander through a huge warehouse looking for a needle in a haystack.

Granted I only skimmed the brands I knew I wasn't interested in (e.g. Starbucks) so there may have been some whole bean coffee on the shelves that I wouldn't have bought in the first place. I definitely haven't seen customer use coffee grinders though. It could also come down to differences in what the warehouses stock, but I'm not going to drive all over the Bay Area to find a Costco with whole bean coffee.

I just though of something else about the dutch ovens. Costo.com also lists a Lodge enameled dutch oven for $58. It's the shape (round) I was looking for and about the right size. I passed because I was looking for a made in not-PRC one. Amazon carries the same Lodge one for only wants $60 though. I ended up with the Williams-Sonoma house brand one (made in France by Staub) for less than Costco wanted for their similarly sized Le Creuset one.

I've heard good things about the print lab, pharmacy, and optometrists but have never used them. The Costco prices on vaccines compare favorably to the normal prices of the city/county run SF clinic, but not by a whole lot. The state of California subsidizes some vaccines for low income folks though. At $26 those are cheaper than what Costco charges (except for the flu vaccine).

https://www.sfcdcp.org/aitc/aitc-regular-prices-low-cost-or-...

https://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/adult-immunization-program.h...

The price/value proposition just wasn't there for me.

And that’s not really how Costco works. I don’t buy coffee there either, to be fair.

Yep. However I went in looking for coffee that Costco does stock (Peet's Holiday Blend) and only saw it pre-ground. I looked around for other roasts that grocery stores sell as whole bean in 2 lb packages (e.g. french, espresso, or italian) and only saw pre-ground on the shelf. The prices were on par with what Safeway charges off-sale.

Even for other items where I largely don't care about a specific brand the quality or price wasn't worth maintaining a membership.

e.g. Costco sells prime-grade brisket for ~$4/lb. where I live. You generally can't even find prime brisket at an average grocery store, and the choice-grade will routinely run $7/lb or more.

Have you never been to an IKEA? If you want to see what maximizing browsing time looks like IRL, you should visit one some time.

Ikea actually minimizes it if you know what you're looking for. Try doing that at Costco where they re-arrange the store just to make you have to look at things you didn't intend on buying. This practice has been the subject of many articles even:

https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-store-layout-how-to-g...

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/25/443519599/epis...

If Costco has the piece of furniture, its either in the middle display area or on the furniture aisle. That's it.

1) Are you comparing equivalent quality meats? It's easy to find crap quality meat near its expiration date for cheaper than Costco deli price. It's pretty hard to find equivalent high quality fresh meat at the same price point without a bunch of coupons or random sales.

2) I'm not sure why you think the store design is horrific. Maybe it's particular to your local Costco, but I've been to at least 15 locations and they're all laid out pretty neutrally with logical aisles and departments. If you know what you want, you can go straight to it as quickly as you can navigate oblivious people pushing their carts at grandma-with-a-walker pace.

3) You're right - items do go in and out of stock because of the whole Costco business model. They arrange for preferential pricing on a contractual basis to get members deals they won't find elsewhere. Sometimes the supplier decides not to renew the contract or Costco decides the shelf space is better used for something else. That's just how it works. If you find a product you like, you can always order it in bulk online when Costco doesn't have it anymore. If you're only going to Costco for one or two items you like, the membership isn't for you.

The large packs are also $1-2 cheaper and you can split and freeze them yourself if you’re not a total carnivore.

https://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-cooking-b...

If I'm wrong, please correct me!

The other option of course would be that it's just HN-style 'nerding out' on any topic, (which is great) but I see it on Reddit and cooking blogs/recipe sites too.

I'm not sure that's accurate. Some of them definitely are but I believe the filet's (for instance) are not. I guess I'll have to double check next time I'm there.

Eh, all those recommendations are very conservative. I've been eating undercooked ground beef my entire life (it tastes better.) If it's ever made me sick, it wasn't sick enough to notice.