Most of us have heard of, or own, a Costco credit card. The rewards packages are great, and Costco is a one-stop shop for the family. However, between the shopping, waiting in line, bagging, and unloading, a trip to Costco can take upwards of 2 hours. Are the savings worth the time?
A recent New York Times writer, Ron Lieber, wrote an article titled Adding It Up: Amazon Ship vs. Costco Shop which discussed how sometimes we misinterpret family savings to just mean money. He gives two situations and then asks you to decide which is less costly on your family budget: the one that takes up time, or the one that limits your family expenses.
The Costco Scenario: family budget > family time
The Costco card is an American Express credit card, and gets all its rewards offers from the Amex brand. This time of year is when Amex sends outs the rebate checks. Some of the best rewards offered from this card include:
- 2% back on all travel purchases
- 3% on all restaurant charges
- At least 3% on gasoline (at any station, not just Costco ones)
- 1% cash back for spending everywhere else
The only drawback to this card is that it can only be cashed at Costco stores. You get back cash, so it can technically be used anywhere, but the Costco stores practically beg for you to use it in their stores. I mean, they offer everything you need, so why not?
The time spent shopping is also time with your family. You can load up on groceries at discounted bulk prices while also chit-chatting with the kids. They might complain that it’s taking too long, or run back into the house to watch T.V. and not help unload the car, but hey, their kids. You’re used to it.
Instead of spending over $400 on a month’s groceries you spent half of that with money you received from rewards. The gas money is additional, but not too much of a family expense. However, how much time do you have to actually cook the dinner or help your kids with homework after that long trip?
The Amazon Scenario: family time > family budget
Lieber points out an alternative savings plan for your family budget that doesn’t include the long trips to the store, the waiting in line, or the rewards and rebates. Amazon.com has a family savings program called Subscribe & Save.
After signing up with Amazon (which, originally, takes about as long as a trip to Costco would!) the program allows you to buy reoccurring shipments of an item for 15% off its normal price. You can receive your product every month, three months, or six months without any shipping rate.
Amazon.com offers the basics that you would get from Costco, minus the food. Depending on the amount of items you sign up for, the 15% savings can go a long way, especially if you consider the extra time you have to drive kids to soccer practice, cook dinner, and that sneaky lil devil called relaxing.
The True Comparison
In Lieber’s article he had a set shopping list and compared the prices for the shopping list at both Costco and Amazon.com. For what he bought the total was 17% savings… on the side of Amazon.com. However, he did make a point to note that although the prices were similar, sometimes Costco had higher discounts on certain products, such as cleaning liquids.
In addition, if you do your grocery shopping at Costco then the savings add up even quicker, and it would make sense for you to continue getting your savings and rebates from Costco.
Which program would effectively save your family more money depends on the size of your family, the activeness of your family, and where you do your shopping for certain things. Unfortunately, there is no black and white right answer as to which is more important.
Which do you think costs your family more?
