"I'm a Costco Junkie..." 'James "Kimo" Rosen' (Kimo's world #177)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired professional photographer
 and amongst other things lived in a tent outdoors for 7 years.
Rosen currently resides on the tropical island of Kaua'i
with his best friend and spiritual adviser Ivanka Da Dog!

Check out my new Costco hat!

Editors note;

Many Costco employees ask how I got a Costco hat?

I lucked out. One day I asked a manager

how I could get a hat, he said  see me when you check

out today. The rest is history. Many employees are jealous

because they ran out of hats and they don't even have hats

as of this writing! ;-)

Kimo's world's #177~Blog #1916-

Another editors note, 
I am trying to write about something besides politics, 
like the good ole days of dakinetalk. The problem is, every time I do, I do not get  as many views as when I write about Donald Trump? Let's see what happens?   I only put Trumps name in the sentence so this blog will now show up in a Google search with Trump!   Sneaky me!  ;-)

I'm a Costco Junkie 

Eric Briksa enjoying a hot-dog
and drink back in 2006,
the first year Costco Kaua'i opened.
The price remains the same, $1.50

 Every Monday for the last 10 year since  since Costco has opened on The Garden Isle I have gone to Costco as long as they were open or I wasn't sick.  

 I used to drive it, it  was the only place I drove my car. It's funny-- when I eventually sold my car one of the selling points was this old 61 year old guy only drives it to Costco on Mondays. Like the old used car sales pitch of the old lady only drove it to church on Sunday.

My old car, the only place
I ever drove it to was Costco

Fast forward to the latter days. I now take the Kaua'i Para transit public bus every Monday.

It picks me up at home and drops me off right in front of the front doors of Costco, then picks me up 3 hours later.   I eat lunch, talk story with people and shop. It's my Monday ritual.

I start out at the out door cafe where Ivanka and myself  eat lunch with the traditional and famous $1.50 hot-dog and drink. The price hasn't changed in  over 20 years. Costco sells them at a loss as a customer service to members.  If you price the hot dogs,  buns condiments, paper products, the price of the drink and paper cup, it far exceeds $1.50.

They know me at the outdoor cafe, I always order my bun cold, not steamed and ask them to please shake the hot-dog before placing it in the bun, so no excess water gets in the bun and sogs the bun and dog. Most of the dogs are pre-made and are sitting 5-15 minutes and unless you ask them to make your dog special, your buns will be soggy. Don't know why Costco wastes their money steaming the buns, makes them soggy. 

Serge, Sila, Ivanka
and Kimo enjoy
some fellowship and
 grindz at Costco!

 I work my way to the rear of the store and the  rotisserie chicken station, only $4.99 for chickens the size of small turkeys.  Costco sells these at a loss and always has the chickens at the rear of the store. It's an advertising ploy. Instead of advertising on TV or in Magazines, they absorb the loss on chickens and it gets everyone to walk to the rear of the store while passing tons of merchandise, brilliant marketing.

 The folks handing out samples all know me on a first name basis and do not mind if I take seconds or thirds. Many times I have purchased what they are sampling. Shrimp Tempura, Fish sticks,Prime rib, chili, hummus, Smoked salmon, etc. For some reason the samples always taste better at Costco?  I tease them and ask them if they add some sort of addicting drug or chemical to the store samples since they never taste as good at home? They all give me a courtesy laugh in hopes I buy what they're sampling since they make additional commission on every item they are sampling.

Last week I decided to buy a sound bar after researching the Yamaha 1050 sound-bar I had seen the previous week. The sound on my TV sounded  like it was coming out of 2 tin cans.

The sound-bar was on sale for $119.97.  Great deal!

Best deal I ever purchase at Costco!
Did I mention,
I Love Costco!

I got home checked it on on Amazon and it was selling for $139.00 and those were reconditioned ones!
(link enclosed below) Amazon had great reviews with the clear sound feature, built in woofers, wireless blue tooth, etc. I was just hoping Costco would still have them in stock on my next Monday's sojourn.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GG16DTS/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER Something all my fellow Costco junkies need to know that a manager there once told me;  when something ends with .97, 1.97, 9.97, 21.97, 119.97, it means Costco is discounting it.  Most their prices  end in .99. When something  ends in.97 grab it!

I go to Costco and they still have the sound-bar to my delight. I purchase it. I get home and I wasn't looking forward to connecting it because I am not a techie, however one wire from the TV to the sound bar, a small audio cable , that's it. Then it says it can play music from Pandora on my iPhone to the sound bar!   OK where's the wire for that? No wire? I read the directions. Click on Blue tooth on your smart phone and it wirelessly reads your Blue tooth  model, then you just click blue tooth on the remote, go to Pandora or iTunes and you have the most amazing stereo!  Unreal. Best deal ever.    These sound-bars retail for $260.00-300.00 brand new.

Sorry folks, story not over.   I go back to Costco the following week and as I am walking through the electronic section I see the sound-bar is now selling for $80.00, a manager once told me when merchandise sold at Costco ends in .00, double zero, buy it. It's a bargain-- one time only closeout. However I missed out because I paid a higher discounted price the previous week. I got a great deal the previous week but still wish I had waited one additional week.

My personal pet peeve finally solved!
After eight years of asking for roped
off lines at the food court, Costco
does one better! They paint
yellow lines on the concrete floor
so you no longer have to wait in separate
lines, but proceed to the next available
order taker!  Mahalo to the Costco Gods!

I proceed to the membership and they say If I can produce my receipt  they would refund my balance. I don't have my receipt. They say if they still have the item in stock next week when I return with a receipt on my weekly sojourn  they could refund my balance.  I knew it would be too late.  So, after I finish shopping I flag down one of the managers I know and ask her I can get a cash return balance on the sound-bar without my receipt?  Can't you look it up on the computer by using my Costco card? She grabs my card and proceeds to look things up. She says "Kimo, you sure it's on closeout, my computer still says $119.97," I say  pretty sure? She then gets on the store intercom system and calls to the electronics department for a price check, and sure enough my sound-bar was on closeout for $80.00. She said "Kimo, your right!  I just smirked! She proceeded to give me $41.60 back,  as I continued smirking so more!   ;-)

That's my sound-bar set up
on the left. My recliner is directly
in front, perfect position! My
Roku is on the bottom
left of the TV in case your
interested. This was the TV
that was broke and brought
back from the dead. Now it's got
awesome surround sound
 and the once dead smart TV
is smart again with ROKU!

How many stores would do what Costco did?  If I went to the grocery store and bought a jar of peanut butter for $5.97 and the next week it was on sale for $2.00 would the grocery store give me $3.97 back?   I don't think so. This is one of the many reasons I love Costco and admit to being a Costco junkie.

For those who still drive the savings on the gas alone will pay for your yearly membership before ever stepping foot in the store. 

Costco is like a cult. Wherever I live there must be a Costco!

The beauty of Costco in Hawaii, most prices are the same as mainland prices whereas everywhere else on the islands prices are 50% and sometimes higher than mainland prices. Costco prices are cheap to begin with, living on a rock in the middle of the Pacific makes Costco the ultimate bargain! 

If you are like me and consider yourselves a Costco junkie;

Repeat after me, My name is, _____________ and I'm a Costco junkie! 

Hail to Costco!

Epilogue;

As President Trump might say, (To be said with a NY Trump accent) Costco prices are terrific, merchandise sells for a fraction of the price of anywhere else. There are deals for everybody, everyone with a membership will be winning and I mean winning like you've never seen.There will be so much winning that heads will spin. Heads will spin so far that you wont know how great a deal you really got until you get home. Believe me Costco will give you everything I mean everything.

P.S.

Check further dakinetalk reading on Costco;

1-A letter to the Costco Connection Magazine 
(This was resolved with painted lines, photo above)

http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-letter-to-costco-connection-magazine.html

2-Murder at Costco- submitted by my dear friend the late Debbie Eayrs

http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2013/05/murder-at-costco-debbie-eayrs-source.html
3-Costco farm and Gardens
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2013/02/costco-farm-and-gardens-james-kimo-rosen.html
4-My last trip to Costco..." Obama da Dog (Source)
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-last-trip-to-costco-obama-da-dog.html
5-Gourmet meals for less than $5.00
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2012/06/gourmet-meals-for-less-than-500-obama.html
6-The news not reported in the paper..."Costco Fire..."
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2011/02/news-not-reported-in-papercostco-fire.html
7-At Costco, eat like a king on a budget
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2010/01/at-costco-eat-like-king-on-budget.html
8-Happy dumpster diving my friends
 (The one thing I miss about driving is still finding all these treasures, oh well!)
http://dakinetalk.blogspot.com/2012/07/happy-dumpster-diving-my-friends-james.html

                                         
Hana Hou, Encore!