The next Costco US coupon book starts this Thursday, May 9, and runs through June 2.  It seems like way more than a week and a half, huh?  This coupon book has $1,700.00, which is a bit more than last month.  There’s also an additional $4,800.00 in Costco.com savings, which is quite a bit less than last month.  But I have a feeling that most people would rather have more warehouse coupons anyway, especially since there’s so many more of those.  Not to mention, they’re always having good savings on various items online.

Costco US Coupon Book: May 9 – June 2, 2013

I’ve uploaded the new Costco US Coupon Book PDF (or view it in the Google PDF viewer) so you can browse it if you haven’t gotten yours yet.  While you can print these out for reference purposes, Costco only accepts the original coupons (if your location requires you to hand them in at all).  If you didn’t get your book or never do, you should stop by Customer Service and make sure that they have all of your mailing information correct and that you have allowed them permission to send you things in the mail.  Also, while you’re there, ask them for a copy of the latest coupon book.  Also, you can view the coupons via the Costco smartphone app as well, but only for the days that they are valid (you don’t get a sneak preview, sadly).  You can also view them on the Costco.com website (again, no preview).

As usual, in the regular coupon area there’s one for $70.00 off a set of Michelin tires.  You can also take advantage of this deal through Costco.com. Plus, it lasts 10 more days than rest of the coupon book.  However, you’ve got plenty of time to get some new tires if you’re thinking of taking an early summer road trip or need to replace your tires after a rough winter driving season.

There are some really great deals this month in the coupons and I really do like that most of them are the no clipping necessary type of coupons or Instant Savings.  My favourite Instant Savings deal is probably the one for $30.00 off the Sonicare rechargable toothbrush kit.  The set comes with two handles and two heads, a travel charging base, and a charging base with UV sanitizer.  After the instant savings, the cost is just $119.99.  I think this is a great deal because the Sonicare toothbrushes are awesome.  You will just not believe how clean your teeth will feel when you use it.  It’s like that just-had-a-cleaning feeling all the time.  Plus, with the addition of the UV sanitizer, you don’t have to worry about the regular bunch of bathroom germs ending up on your toothbrush head.

Another good Instant Savings deal is on the set of 15 Space Bags for $14.99; $5.00 instant savings.  Did Ziploc buy SpaceBag?  The image on the coupon has both the Ziploc and SpaceBag logos on the box, so I’m unsure.  In any case, these are the great vacuum seal bags that you can use for storing all of your soft items, like pillows, linens, and clothes.  They are a great way to compress all of your off season clothing or your down filled comforters when its not winter.  We used these when we moved and they are great when packing up all of your stuff and storing since you don’t have to worry about water or pest damage.  We’ve also used them to pack in our very large suitcases because they are the perfect size and you can pack so much more that way.

There are several other good coupons this month, but I’m trying to get this up in a hurry since I’m so late with it.  So, make sure you look through all of the coupons before your next shopping trip!

Costco Australia Coupons through May 12, 2013

I noticed recently that Costco Australia has been putting out little coupon flyers that cover two week periods and I thought I should make sure to mention it because you might miss it otherwise.  You can find the link to the coupon flyers on the Costco Australia website, right at the top on the right-hand side of the page.  It says in very large letters: “Click here for Warehouse Savings” and then it gives the appropriate dates.

Of course, when I say little, I really mean little.  The latest bunch of coupons that is valid from April 29 – May 12, is just four coupons.  You read that right, just FOUR coupons.  But at least there are some coupons.  This is a great filler since they don’t put out regular coupon books like they do in the US or UK.  Nor do they have the ongoing coupon selections offered in Canada or South Korea.  So, this is a good in-between offering, I think.

Currently, the four items with coupons are all food.  You can get $4.00 off a Kirkland Signature boneless lamb leg.  You can also save $2.00 off an 8 pack of apple strudel from the Costco bakery area for a final price of $12.99.  Or, you can get $2.00 off a 5 kg bag of white potatoes for a final price of $4.99.  And lastly, you can save $2.00 off of Costco’s 1.8 kg container of chicken laksa soup for a final price of $9.99.

So, if you’re a Costco Australia shopper you might want to make a note to check out their website for the lastest little bunch of coupons.  I’ll try to keep an eye on them and post any coupons here as well.

Since Costco.co.uk opened its digital doors in October 2012, there have been a ton of great items on there.  And not all of them are crazy expensive like the F1 Race Car Simulator.  Most of them are just great items that would prove interesting and enticing to most everyone.  The only problem I’ve had with the site is that it won’t take my Costco US membership as a valid membership number.  As a result, I haven’t been able to make any online purchases from Costco UK, unless I want to pay the 5% surcharge for non-members (which I really do not want to do).  I could debate the unfairness of this policy, I feel, since I do have a valid Costco membership, but it’s clear they aren’t going to change that policy.  However, they have given people like me and other non-Costco UK members a new option: Online Subscriber.

Get an Online Subscription to shop Costco.co.uk if you don’t have a Costco UK membership

If you’re not a Costco UK member, whether it is because you are from another country like I am or because you don’t live near an actual Costco location in the UK or maybe you just don’t like to buy in bulk, now it won’t matter because you’ll still be able to shop at Costco.co.uk and not pay the 5% non-member surcharge.  Costco UK has come up with a great alternative to being a full-fledged Costco member in their Online Subscriber membership, I think.  This is a great option because getting a Costco membership in the UK is a bit harder and confined to those meeting certain membership criteria and clearly not meant to include everyone in the general public, as they do in other countries.  As a result, a lot of people can’t experience the joy of shopping at Costco UK, which naturally, I think is a real shame.  But at least now there’s a way that those people can take advantage of the great deals offered through Costco.co.uk.

So, how does the Costco UK Online Subscription work?  For £15.00 per year you can shop online all you want and not worry about incurring the 5% non-member surcharge.  You still won’t be able to shop in actual warehouses, but you can still take advantage all of the online deals and bargains.  Unlike a full Costco UK membership, there are no pesky membership criteria to get in your way either.

Signing up for the Online Subscription membership is quite easy as well.  I would suggest that you sign up for a Costco.co.uk account first, by clicking on the Login or Register link in the upper right-hand corner of any of the pages.  This is simply adding your name, email address, and picking a password; all stuff you’ll know and can fill out in about 2 minutes.  After you’ve done that, you can shop for any items that you want and put them into your cart.  On the “Your Details & Delivery” page of the checkout process, you’ll be able to choose to add an Annual Online Subscription for £15.00 (inclusive of VAT, without VAT the membership is £12.50) to your order or you could just accept the 5% surcharge.  Clearly, you will opt to get your Online Subscription and save lots of money.  If you purchase more than £300.00 from Costco.co.uk in the 12 months of your Online Subscription you will have saved money.  And with all of the great items on there, how can you not buy more than that?  At this point the only way to purchase an Online Subscription is during the checkout process.  So, with your first order from Costco.co.uk, or your next one if you have already placed an order and taken the 5% surcharge hit, you can sign up and from then on your online orders will be free of the 5% non-member surcharge for the next 12 months.  Renewal will come up on your first order after your Annual Online Subscription expires.  It’s all so easy.  And so much better than paying that 5% extra.

So now you can buy big things like furniture, appliances, or a garden shed, or small things like a 2 pack of Kirkland Signature rubbish bags, cosmetics, or a book, and not worry about adding that 5% extra at checkout.

This is great for all of the people that might not live near enough to a Costco UK location to actually make a membership worth it, or people like me that have a membership in another country but are at least temporarily in the UK, but still want to be able to shop online.  I’ll admit it, I am cheap frugal enough that I don’t want to pay that 5% surcharge to shop online at Costco.co.uk.  It’s a psychological thing for me, and not even really that the 5% extra necessarily makes the online deals less appealing.  I just don’t want to pay that much extra every time I shop at Costco.co.uk.  So, I will definitely be signing up as an Online Subscriber and imagine that the £15.00 will more than pay for itself in the first purchase.

And don’t forget that if you register up by the end of May, you’ll be registered in the big £8,000 giveaway for new Costco.co.uk registrations.   If you thought you weren’t going to be able to register and be in with a chance to win, now you can.  So, go register today!

Lots of news this month about proposed locations or locations that are pretty far along in the planning process.   I think I’m most excited for the Sioux Falls one though, since that is the first Costco location in the state.  I haven’t heard anything about any of the areas people have been emailing me about, but I’ll try to keep my eyes out for those places.  I will say, I haven’t seen anything about a new location in north Kansas City because someone asked me about that, as well as everyone in my family, so I keep track of that quite often.  Though my guess is that they’ll build one there eventually.  I think that the Metro North shopping mall could use one, or anything really, to bring it back to life.  That place is like a creepy ghost town at this point.

Fort Worth, Texas

Good news for Fort Worth Costco fans, a new location is coming your way!  Costco has a contract to buy a 17 acre parcel in the Presidio Junction development in north Fort Worth.  Construction on the store will begin as soon as LNR Property Corp., Presidio’s developer, completes some infrastructure work at the site.  The new location will be located at 8900 Tehama Ridge Parkway, on the west side of I-35W and south of North Tarrant Parkway, across from Alliance Town Center.  Once that site work is completed, it will take Costco about four months to complete the store, according to Steve McArthur, a real estate broker with Northwest Atlantic who works with Costco in the Texas market.   The city has already issued building permits for the 153,000 square foot store that will cost around $11 million to build.  The new location will have around 200 employees, with a 50-50 mix of full and part time workers.

• Star Telegram: Costco plans north Fort Worth location

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

It’s truly official now that Costco has purchased land for a new location in Sioux Falls.  Woot!  The 15 acres of land was purchased for $4 million from the Durham Co and is located at the former Williams pipeline site near 41st Street and Grange Avenue.  Costco currently plans to start work on the site on May 1 and have the new store open by Fall.  How great is that?

• Sioux Falls Business Journal:  Costco buys land for store; work set to begin May 1

North Plainfield, New Jersey

Costco will be building a new location in North Plainfield along Route 22, between West End and Rock avenues.  The new Costco is located on a site that was formerly a KMart.  They’ve already started demolishing on the old KMart store to make way for the new 156,000 Costco warehouse.   This initial phase of the project also includes demolishing Pathmark, Chase Bank and  auto repair shop on the western portion of the property.  Since the KMart and Pathmark stores have been vacant  for quite a while, so this should really improve the look of the area.  The new store will employee around 250 full and part time workers.  There’s no specific opening date yet, but the borough hopes that Costco will target an opening date in Fall 2013.

• NJ.com: Demolition at former North Plainfield Kmart site makes way for Costco later this year

Bellevue, Wisconsin

In mid-April Costco applied for a building permit for their new location on Monroe Road/County GV and Lime Kiln Road/County V, just north of Wisconsin 172.  Costco should be closing on the property soon and will then start building.  It will take around 110 days to get the new 150,000 square foot warehouse, as well as the gas station, built.  It looks like this new Costco location will open around October 2013.

• Green Bay Press Gazette:  Costco applies for building permit

Baton Rogue, Louisiana

Looks like the proposed Baton Rogue Costco location has hit some bumps in the planning process.  There’s a question about the $7 million tax increment funding that Costco was promised by the city to offset construction costs.  There’s also some complaints from homeowner in the area about noise, traffic, and crime concerns from the new Costco location at Dawnadele Avenue, at the intersection of Airline and Interstate 12.  Ted Johnson, a Costco project development manager and traffic engineer believes that the $5 million-worth of plans to add extra turn lanes and to streamline traffic flow would only improve the area’s traffic woes; this is part of the reason Costco has sought the tax increment funding from the city.  However, Costco is still awaiting state approval for  their traffic impact plans.   Costco has received all necessary permits to complete the $12 million 148,000 square foot warehouse.  Of course, first they must demolish the existing Coca-Cola bottling plant that is currently on the site.  If everything goes to plan, the new Costco location could be open in March or April of 2014.

• BusinessReport.com: Neighbors voice traffic concerns at meeting on Costco

Camillus, New York

Here’s a new one.  The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency declared Costco a tourist attraction.  Which seems totally strange, until you realize that classifying them as a tourist attraction will allow them to provide certain tax breaks to the development.  A tourism destination, in this case, is defined as a development that will attract a significant number of shoppers from outside the region.  The deal that the developers struck will allow them to use $9 million of the $41 million that the Township 5 shopping plaza would pay in property taxes over the next 25 years to fund roadway improvements and a sewage pumping station required for the project.  The new shopping development will have more than 500,000 square foot of retail and entertainment space, as well as apartments and office space. The $58 million development will obviously include a Costco, but also a 12-screen Frank Theatres, and Buffalo Wild Wings, Olive Garden, Mesa Grande Taqueria, Longhorn Steakhouse and Papaya Asian Kitchen & Bar restaurants.  The new 150,000 square foot Costco warehouse will be their first location in upstate New York.

• Syracuse.com: Agency declares Costco a tourist attraction, grants planned Camillus shopping plaza tax breaks

Holiday Closures and Hours

The new Costco UK coupon book starts on Monday, 29 April, and runs through 19 May.  It seems like that is a really short amount of time but I guess it is the usual three weeks.  There are £500.00 in savings, which is way less than the previous coupon book, almost a third of the previous one.  I didn’t find a whole lot in this book that piqued my interest, but there’s always a few things I like.  And I find that sometimes, it just seems like Costco comes along with a coupon at just the right time for something that I have been looking for or in need of, like a new vacuum or even something mundane like toothpaste.

Costco UK Coupon Book: April 29 – May 19, 2013

I’ve uploaded the new Costco UK Coupon Book PDF (or view it in the Google PDF viewer).  If you didn’t get your book or never do, you should stop by Customer Service and make sure that they have all of your mailing information correct and that you have allowed them permission to send you things in the mail.  Also, while you’re there, ask them for a copy of the latest book if they didn’t hand you one when you walked in the store.  In the UK they print the coupons on both sides of the pages and without the codes, so they clearly do not want you to clip the coupons out and give them to your cashier; they just automatically deduct them after they ring up your items. I still find it useful to have a copy so I know what to look for because I don’t always notice the signs that they’ve posted to let you know what has a coupon.  I usually download a copy of the PDF to my iPhone before I go to the store so that I can easily reference it while shopping.  If you sign up to receive emails from Costco.co.uk, they will send out an email that lets you know that the new coupon book is available online.  Since they now post the coupons on the Costco UK website, you can always download a copy of the latest coupon book from there; you can find a link to it on the Warehouses webpage.

I noticed that Dave’s favourite Lucky Country Liquorice has a coupon this month (£2.40 with VAT after 33% off a 682 gram bag). So, I have to say that I am glad, as I’m sure his dentist is too, that we are not there to get several bags of this.  It’s soft, Aussie-style liquorice and is actually quite good, and I don’t even like liquorice usually.

If you’ve got a baby, there’s a nice deal this month on the Kirkland Signature baby wipes for £3.00 off.  They come in a big box that contains 9, 100 wipe packages and after the discount you’ll pay just £14.38 with VAT.  I don’t have a baby but I’ve heard these are great.  Of course, I’ve also heard from a number of people that say they buy them to use to take of their makeup and for general purpose wipes.

While it may be one of the smallest coupons in the whole book this month, I do like that you can get a £1.00 off of the Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus assortment.  That means you’ll be paying just £3.99 (no VAT) to have a world of words at your fingertips.  I know that in this day and age of Google and Wikipedia this might seem out dated, but a good dictionary or thesaurus is something that every kid should have, in my opinion.

If I were in the UK this month, I would definitely be taking advantage of the £1.50 off a Costco bakery carrot cake.  That makes the big Costco carrot cake just £6.49 (no VAT).  Of course, Dave isn’t a fan of carrot cake, so I might have to get him the Costco bakery chocolate cake that is also £1.50 off  and also just £6.49 (no VAT).  Yum!  Cake, cake and more cake!  But seriously, you can slice these up and put the individual slices in the freezer to take out when you want a little dessert or something sweet.  I’ve always had excellent outcomes from freezing the Costco sheet cakes or their cupcakes and I imagine these would be the same.

Despite this month’s coupon book being valued at so much less than the April coupon book, there are still lots of nice coupons in here.  I think it is great that they point out a few great deals on the Costco.co.uk website too.  I especially like the one for the Apple iMac 3.2 GHz and 27.3″ display, as well as a boost to 12 GB of memory, a 1 TB hard drive, and a wireless mouse and keyboard for just £1,579.99 including VAT and delivery.  That price is considerably less than the £1,699.99 that Apple wants for the standard version of this iMac that only has 8 GB of memory, plus you’re still getting that extra 4 GB of memory upgrade (I tried to price this option online but they instead offer a 16 GB upgrade for £160).