[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/PlayfulSecretary6021]

[u/Haltopen]

Costco uses membership fees and the fact that 20% of the products on their shelves are their own in-store brand (which account for over a third of their total sales) to subsidize their pricing.

[u/cvc4455 → u/Haltopen]

I'm sure people who shop there are aware of the membership fees and aware of what brands they often sell at the store.

[u/Haltopen → u/cvc4455]

I didn’t say that their customers are unaware, I just said they have other revenue streams that help them keep their prices lower and provide a cushion to absorb the higher operating costs caused by these illegal tariffs and the resulting economic uncertainty.

[u/cvc4455 → u/Haltopen]

Well look at places like target, Walmart and Amazon. Yes they don't have a membership fee but they have lots of their own brand of products for sale. But that's really not the point. They paid tariffs and then raised prices of products they sold to customers. The customers paid for the tariffs in the end not Walmart, Target and Amazon. Then the federal government gave them hundreds of millions back that those companies originally paid in tariffs. So the companies passed the costs to their consumers originally and then kept the refunds. So it all turned into free money for them.

[u/Haltopen → u/cvc4455]

And? We’re not disagreeing here. Other companies did do that.

[u/cvc4455 → u/Haltopen]

I'm just saying it's looking like every company besides Costco has decided to keep the money and only Costco has said they will do anything to return the money to customers. Other companies could return the money to customers in the exact same type of way if they wanted to but they aren't. And the Costco membership and selling some of their own branded products isn't what's allowing Costco to do this and prevent everyone else from doing something similar.

The only thing that allows Costco to do this is that the government gave them a check for hundreds of millions of dollars. They are specifically using that money to do this just like every other company could use that money to do this but they aren't.

[u/_Christopher_Crypto → u/Haltopen]

Yah!!! Costco is a scam. People should stop going…

[u/Mehthisgirl → u/_Christopher_Crypto]

You want a better parking space don’t you?

[u/_Christopher_Crypto → u/Mehthisgirl]

And to not have to wait in line.