Subscribe and save isn't too bad, but I agree, costco is definitely cheaper. Unfortunately in the metropolitan area without a car it's extremely difficult to get there. Have you guys checked out Boxed Wholesale? The prices are pretty comparable.

I did a comparison to Walmart a while back and Amazon was definitely pricier for bulk goods/detergent/etc. And I have one close by that I can easily drive to. If I lived in a city without a car, the savings in hassle might be worth it but otherwise doing a few runs to a local big box store each year is pretty low on my list of tasks to eliminate.

At least in San Francisco, Costco offers Google delivery for a subscription fee. I don't remember what it cost, but it didn't seem absurdly out of line.

I don't use that because I live three blocks from Costco and can just drop in for a couple of things, so I do usually just walk instead. Once every few months I rent a Zipcar to get huge bags of whatever home.

Legitimate question - do they pay their employees a living wage? What is the executive:average employee wage? Even if Costco were more expensive, I like to believe I'm helping our country out just by supporting a company that doesn't pay such a shit wage everyone collects welfare just to get by.

For some this may be a concern. I'd make more money working for 2 hours than the money I'd save from driving to Costco. Substantially more. It's worth it to me.

If you own your own company or are really bringing in real tangible money for every hour you work that's true. Otherwise it's just a way to justify spending more money.

No it should be true for everybody. You might spend a little extra by buying on Amazon, but it is money well spent if it allows you to spend 2 extra hours of quality time with your family or on a hobby, instead of wasting 2 hours driving & shopping at Costco.

"If you don't shop at Amazon, you just don't value your family that much." Someone call the marketing department....

Amazon used to beat competitors on both price and convenience. To imply those unwilling to compromise on price have screwed up priorities is spurious, glossing over how Amazon either cant or wont compete on price.

Have you factored in all the free samples and the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo? That might change your calculus. :)

For real, though. I can easily turn the free samples into my lunch whenever I'm there.

Sure, but you have to subtract out the expected value of your cardiac care.

You mean add in. By the time I'm old enough to be experiencing heart problems, I'm sure mechanical, less-failure-prone hearts are going to be commonplace, which means far less expenditure on maintenance costs and longer estimated longevity.

I can't find a link now, but I once saw a scan of a magazine article from the late 19th or early 20th century century that said pretty much exactly the same thing.

Heh heh. Well, I guess retirement planning is all about the assumptions you make.

While this holds true for many here, frankly I would just rather turn my brain off on occasion or should I say exercise it, by going out amongst others.

There are enough shut ins in this world we don't need to add the entirety of the tech sector to it. I know far too many who use work as an excuse to avoid public encounters.

I do the mental time = money calculation all the time and come to the same conclusion. And I greatly prefer my work to shopping.