The attraction of Costco is straightforward: large servings, a treasure hunt, which is never-ending, and some products, which seem nearly impossible to win. The thing is that the bulk can conceal the weak points.
Older members are more likely to have an apparent never again list that is not necessarily connected to brand loyalty but rather to consistency, food quality, and the speed at which something can feasibly be used by a household. These are those buys, even those loyal to Costco, will often choose to do without.
1. Kirkland Signature Tequila Blanco
The liquor aisle of Kirkland is known to have its surprises but this bottle has gotten abnormally serious attention. One of the areas of class action lawsuit has been on whether the product is what the labeling claims it to be, and as such some shoppers hesitate to make it a safe grab and go item. A sticking point to the members, especially many of them, is trust: as soon as a spirit becomes an object of labeling conflicts, it ceases to be perceived as a simple value purchase.
2. Bulk soft drinks
Costco is designed to stockpile, but most frequenters claim that frequently it is soda where the mathematics fails. Shoppers often observe on member forums that promotions in grocery-stores can reduce the price of a heavy case of cola such that it is not as good a deal as it appears. Freshness is another issue that is being complained by some buyers, with a repeat complaint that Diet Coke apparently goes flat quicker.
3. Beans (canned and dried)
The beans appear to be the ideal warehouse buy before the consumers can contrast the individual prices and the store brands with the weekly grocery offers. The members often mention that bulk prices of chickpeas and black beans are higher than they should be, and some might even say that they find cheaper prices on organic ones. The aggravation is enhanced by the fact that beans are a traditional pantry item- people purchase them knowing that the warehouse club is supposed to win on prices.
4. Mechanically tenderized steaks that are already cut
Other steak consumers shun certain packages when they see the labels that show that the meat is mechanically tenderized (also referred as blade tenderized). The complaint has something to do with texture: customers report a more processed bite, which can border on mushy or rough. To the purists, a bigger problem is control- lots of them will rather select cuts that have not been cut off and tenderness can be managed by cooking instead of processing.
5. Kirkland Signature Smoked Pulled Pork
It is one of such things, which sound foolproof: cook it, sauce it, serve it. However, reviews by the members are extremely negative and tend to be concentrated on the texture and surplus fat. One of the customers referred to it as being very greasy and fatty and others have been complaining that it reads like chopped pork instead of pulled. When a pre-cooked meat is purchased as a convenience item, it is pointless to have to cook it at home.
6. Kirkland Signature chicken breasts
The quality variability of chicken breast is expected to be the reliable workhorse protein, and it is thus particularly frustrating when this happens. Between the members, many complain about having “woody” chicken breast- an unsavoury toughness and stiffness coupled with fast growth in certain birds. There are also complaints of odor issues with one customer reporting a package that “smell[s] like roadkill” when the package arrives at home. When the confidence in freshness is lost, the packaging that is ready to go into the freezer becomes not an advantage.
7. Bananas
A typical impulse toss-in is bananas, however, in Costco, the bananas are dinged because of a particular failure, which is the act of ripening the bananas. Customers keep saying about the shop fruit that remains green, and then becomes spoiled even before there is any yellow window to use it. That becomes costly in quantity, and soon, as it may involve losing the majority of a huge batch as opposed to a handful of pieces.
To Costco regulars, avoiding these products is not so much about being choosy as it is about avoiding unwelcome irritation: dubious uniformity, unsatisfactory texture, or quantities of something that taper off into waste. The messaging is quite straightforward: once a product needs an additional troubleshooting at its residence the warehouse benefit begins to fade.
