Comments on: No Coke, Pepsi!

By: scott

scott — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:15:50 +0000

I purchase some 30+ bottles of coke per week . No one at work drinks Pepsi products we just don’t like them. The point of having a club membership is to do all of your shopping in one place. Costco still could have carried coke at a higher price right next to Pepsi products. They will be spiting themselves. After I collect my next rewards check from costco and AMEX. I am done with them.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:57:01 +0000

The fact that Costco decided NOT to carry Coke products just reinforces my faith in Costco that they strive to get the very best prices for their members. I trust them unequivocally. Costco members should be happy that Costco buyers are looking out for the best interest of their customers. Sure – it would have been more profitable for Costco to just accept the price that Coke gave them and raised their price a little – probably 95% of the members wouldn’t notice the price difference – but culturally Costco fights for their members to get the best price and a price that it is at least equal to what Coke offers their other large accounts. This is what Sol Price (founder of the warehouse concept and who Jim Sinegal worked for) used to call “an intelligent loss of sales”. Hats off to Costco!

Message to Concession Queen: I too had accounts at Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s and my experiences have been much, much different than yours. As far as pricing, I’ve found Costco has at least equally if not better prices on like items and I’ve NEVER, EVER had an issue with returns at Costco. I would rate them in this order: #1] Costco – #2] BJ’s and a distant #3] Sam’s Club. As a matter of fact, their is a huge delta between #2 BJ’s and #3 Sam’s in my opinion – BJ’s, though regional, is much better than Sam’s as far as quality of goods and shopping experience. I wish that weren’t the case because Costco is a longer drive for me. I find Costco is the high-water mark for membership club stores and Sam’s is just a wannabe – they try to mimic everything that Costco does. I will give Sam’s credit for offering a much larger selection of eye-wear in their stores than Costco though. Just my opinion, for whatever it’s worth.

By: Costco Investor

Costco Investor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:07:54 +0000

As an investor in Costco for a very long time, I would like to clarify a few things that others have said here. First and foremost, Sam’s is much smaller than Costco. Costco’s volume this year will exceed $68 Billion, and Sam’s, with about 150 more locations in the US, will only do $50 Billion. Sam’s annual volume with Coke is lower than Costco even though Sam’s carries more items. As a company Costco is VERY ethical. I have never, in 25 years of Costco watching, seen them behave any other way. They only call vendors to the carpet who are clearly not being equitable.
As for the return policy, it has only changed once in 25 years. that change was to keep people (unscrupulous people) from returning two year old computers to “upgrade” to new technology at Costco’s expense. Again, in 25 years of shopping at Costco, Sam’s, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.. I have NEVER seen an easier return policy than that at Costco. The only way they would question a return is if the person returning the product is a known abuser of the very open return policy. In which case, these returns cost ALL members money in the long run, as they increase the cost of doing business because a few people abuse the return policy.

By: Concession Queen

Concession Queen — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:35:42 +0000

I have memberships at Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s. Sam’s has the best prices of any of the clubs. Why??? Because they are bigger and most likely buy larger quantities than the other clubs. Both Pepsi and Coke are volume based businesses. The larger the purchase volume the lower the case price. It is the same in most businesses. I do find this amusing from a consumer standpoint because Costco’s fee to join are higer than both Sam’s and BJ’s. Why is this? Can someone explain this? Are they that much different than Coke or Pepsi in what they are doing? As a Coke drinker and a concessionaire, I have spent thousands of dollars a year at Costco. I have done so because of the AMEX card and rebates, but have recently had a issue with their return policies. Sam’s will take any product or over purchases without a question and give refunds, Costco does not, they’d rather argue with a longtime customer and threaten to cancel my membership. After all of this, I may need to re-think where I purchase my concession products as well as my personal purchases.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:28:43 +0000

@Mike In case you didn’t realize, the point of Costco’s change is that they’re sick of not getting better prices on coke products for their customers. That is, they’d rather not sell a product at all then have their members pay higher prices than are necessary. They want you to go buy your Coke at Smart N Final or whereever. I applaud them for such a stand, and it certainly makes me feel more comfortable buying other things at Costco.

If the membership fee isn’t worth it to you, then by all means shop elsewhere. In my case, the value and the savings way overcome the membership fee so I’ll stick with Costco.

By: Omar

Omar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:45:07 +0000

It’s sad the all these big companies can dictate over consumers, I just hope some day they will have awake up call, and us as customers get together and send them a message that at the end we are the ones which choose what to buy.
Here in central California there a good territory that Coke has lost great amount of sales and Pepsi has grown stronger.
As far as the Coke from Mexico it does taste better with sugar cane and that is why the growing popularity.

By: umbriago

umbriago — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:53:28 +0000

Apparently it is true, now.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:57:44 +0000

For someone who left Costco for Smart N Final 5 years ago because there is no membership fees and the prices are not much different to get rid of Coke to this Pepsi hater will surely keep me away I do not like Pepsi or it’s products I will not even eat at a restaurant that carries only Pepsi, I am diabetic and drink Iced tea but my wife HATES Pepsi Wake up Costo there are MILLIONS of coke lovers that will be cashing in their membership card Heck you can find at Food 4 Less prices better than Costco and again Smart N Finals prices are very competitive and NO Membership fee

By: liljohnny51

liljohnny51 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:19:22 +0000

i work at a costco and it is true we are not selling coke anymore. we are having a so called price war with coke. either on tue or wed of this week we have to take all of our coke products out of the store. everything coke is gone!

By: Dez

Dez — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:38:15 +0000

Soft drinks have gone up in price a lot the last couple of years. We’re gradually switching over to stuff that Costco doesn’t carry at all- Diet Gingerale. Trying to drink less colas because of caffeine. Rarely see regular gingerale and never see diet.