Costco membership termination imminent

            The day of reckoning is here.  Our Costco membership card expires in three days.  In the critical month of December, we will no longer have access to all the goodies that this behemoth store has to offer.

            I swore I would never get a Costco membership.  But as with many things in life, I grew soft.  To be fair, we didn’t even buy this one-year membership – it was given to us by a friend. We’ve been sucked in.

            Now we’re one of the lemmings lined up outside the store doors at 10 in the morning, ready to jump off the cliff of financial prudence.  It reminds my wife of Soviet Union times when she was young.  A key difference is that we’re not in a line for a piece of sausage or loaf of bread, but rather a smorgasbord of electronics, clothing, food and accessories that we may or may not need.

            The limes are usually a good price.  The triangle buns you can’t find anywhere else.  And let’s not forget those bulk packs of lip balm (hey, you need it in winter!)

            We went in to Costco the other day to buy one thing… we came out spending nearly $200.  Okay, there was a lot of Christmas spending in there, but still.  We didn’t even buy anything substantive. 

            This is the lure of Costco.  So many different things all in one spot.  I was convinced this would be the problem with getting a membership card - the uncontrolled spending that occurs as soon as you enter the store.

            For some reason this doesn’t happen so much when you enter Superstore or Wal-Mart.  They have an assortment of goods, too, but they’re not as appealing, they’re just not… Kirkland.

            My wife will tell you that there are a few deals to be had at Costco, but it’s not always cheaper than the competitors.  And it will cost you annually.  Can you save $55 a year by going to Costco regularly?  I’m sure you can.  Will you spend $1,000 more than what you would have without a Costco card?  I'm sure you will.

            The letter from Costco indicating our date of membership termination sits on our desk downstairs, waiting for a response.  I’m surprised no one has called.  I guess they don’t think our business is that important (and I'm glad).

            They’re biggest worry probably isn’t a loss of customers but capacity over the Christmas season.  They’ve even got line-er-uppers in their stores (people who tell you which line to go to).  Any store that has to pay for a full-time line-er-upper needs to consider increasing its capacity.

            And this in itself may be the downfall of the Costco Empire.  Not the membership fee, the non-competitive pricing, or the half-kilometre line-ups.  It’s the herd mentality that led to Costco’s greatness, that could just as easily lead to its demise.  As soon as people realize it’s not the panacea of shopping that everyone thinks it is, they may just go elsewhere.  Where that new place is, I have no idea.   

            Always better to be ahead of the herd.  So we will not be responding to our membership expiration notice.

At least until January.