So, recently I was poking around on the Costco Australia website looking for information about hours and holidays in preparation for changes I’m planning to make to my blog.  While looking around, I noticed that they have a section called ‘In the Warehouse’ that is sort of similar to that on the US website.  However, under that section they have something amazing that you won’t find on the US Costco website:  they have sections for ordering cakes and deli platters.  That is to say that they have the forms online and allow you to email them to their bakeries or delis directly!  How wonderful is that?

Costco.com.au makes ordering a cake easier

Under the Cake Orders section of their website you can find out all of the information regarding the freshly made Costco Bakery cakes.  They let you know that the cakes will serve 48, if each serving is a 5cm x 5cm square, and that they will cost you $26.99 (AUS).  Much like other places now, you can choose from white or chocolate cake, with raspberry or chocolate filling and white or chocolate whipping cream icing.  To order a cake you simply download the Costco Australia order form and then email it to the appropriate warehouse.  The order form is quite similar to what I have found in the UK and US Costco stores.  You choose what type of cake you want, or 20 cupcakes, what kind of filling and icing, and then you choose the design and add any custom message that you would like.  They have very nicely added images of all of their cake designs to the page as well, so you can get a perfect idea of what your design will look like.  I think this is so great and really wish that all of the Costco websites offered this useful information for customers.  To get the email address for your location of choice, you do need to go to the Locations page though.  They should put that information on the Cake Order form or page too for bonus usability points.  I would also like to see them add the price information to the order form, just for total clarity.

Deli platter ordering is a snap

They do something very similar for the Deli Platters page.  You can order those using a form that you download and then email to the appropriate warehouse.  On this page they show you an image of the four deli platter items you can choose from: wings, prawns, ham and cheese rollers, or rotisserie chickens.  The order form for these items is a bit more what they should probably move towards for the cakes because it has images on it, which are maybe less pertinent here than they would be for the various cake designs.  In any case, this form gets the bonus usability points for including the email addresses right on the order form, as well as the prices for each type of deli item.

I was really amazed that they had all this information so readily available.  Amazed and impressed!   This is the kind of information and processes that should be on all of the Costco websites, but definitely isn’t.  Why can’t that level of information be on the websites for other Costco stores in the US, Canada, UK, and everywhere?  It doesn’t take that much more work to create and once you do, you’ve taken out just one more step or hindrance for Costco members to order cakes or deli platters from the warehouses without needing to actually go there first.  In any case, kudos to the Costco Australia website for doing something even better than the flagship Costco US website!  Of course, they still don’t have an ecommerce side to the Costco Australia website, so there’s only so much woohooing.

This upcoming coupon book starts on Thursday, January 5, and runs throughout January ending on the 29th.  Just in time to kick off the new year.  This month there are coupons worth more than $1,400.00 in discounts, and then another $4,400.00 in online deals at Costco.com.  Also, there are some great instant savings deals that you can take advantage of in the warehouses.  I’m very jealous of this month’s US coupon book because the current UK coupons are less impressive, to say the least.  I’m going to be in the US next week, so I might actually have to leave some space in my suitcase to bring back a few things from Costco.

Costco US Coupons: Jan 5 - 29, 2012

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).  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 you were not aware, the coupon books are only mailed to the primary member on the account.

If you haven’t noticed, in the last couple of coupon books Costco has somewhat changed the format.  The instant savings deals are now the first few pages before they start the actual coupons.  You can tell the difference by the color coded bar at the top of the coupons: red for instant savings, blue for coupons.  Then after the warehouse coupons, there are several pages of deals offered at Costco.com only.  There’s also a special page listing a couple of deals from Costco Travel for the month.

As usual there is a tire coupon this month, which is certainly timely if you are in need of new tires since there’s lots of nasty winter weather to look forward to in the coming weeks.  This month there is a coupon for $70.00 off a set of Michelin tires.  The coupon can be used for an unlimited number of new sets of tires.  Nothing says love like a belated gift of tires.  This is one of the coupons that you might miss if you are used to it always being on the first page of coupons.  With the new format to the coupon book, it is several pages into the book now.

Aside from the tires there are several things with coupons this month that I’ve actually written about before on my blog, like the Alexia Sweet Potato Fries ($2.00 off; limit 4) or the Bellatoria Pizzas ($4.00 off; no limit).  There are a few other things as well, so if you’re looking for a review you should try searching my blog for past posts (use the search at the top of the right-hand column, set the selector to my blog and search away).

In addition to the many things I’ve written about before, there are a couple of things that I would might be good purchases this month because of the deals.  One of my favorite is something that I haven’t written about before, but I do have:  Bissell ProHeat 2X Carpet Cleaner (instant savings of $30.00; limit 3).  I’ve had a previous version of this carpet cleaner for a number of years and LOVE it!  It is so easy to use because it is shaped and operates more like a conventional vacuum cleaner and doesn’t have a complicated set of settings either.  And despite the large size I always found it really easy to manoeuvre as well; easier than my regular vacuum cleaner actually.  I also like that it keeps the water warm with its on-board heater which seems to help with dirt removal.  You can also use it to clean hard surface floors as well.  It also has a host of accessories for different cleaning needs.  If you want to keep your carpet clean and have been looking for a good cleaner to purchase, I would totally suggest this one.

If I were in the US I would definitely be taking advantage of the coupons for Clorox2 ($3.00 off; limit 5), Vanity Fair napkins ($1.50 off; limit 2), Swiffer dusters ($3.00 off; limit 4), Aveeno lotion ($4.00 off; limit 2), and Oral-B Advantage toothbrushes ($4.00 off; limit 2).  Those are some great things to stock up on while there are coupons available.  Two things that I will certainly be picking up at Costco on my visit to the US will be TurboTax ($10.00 off; limit 2) and Quicken 2012 ($20.00 off; limit 2).  We haven’t updated our version of Quicken for a couple of years, so this is the perfect time to upgrade to the latest version.

Are you having a big party to ring in 2012?  Maybe you were planning on stocking your liquor cabinet and fridge with goodies from Costco?  If so, you need to get over there sooner rather than later, as in by Saturday afternoon.  Costco is closing early Saturday, December 31, anywhere from 4 pm to  6 pm (depending on where you live) for New Year’s Eve and will be CLOSED on Sunday, New Year’s Day too.  Of course, they are opening a half hour early too at 9 am instead of 9:30 am.  However, if you’ve been putting off shopping for your New Year’s Eve party, you don’t have much longer to procrastinate.  You need to get all of your last minute shopping done for your festivities or for a special New Year’s Day meal in the next day or so.  And don’t worry, Costco will be well stocked for all of the New Year’s party shoppers with lots and lots of champagne!

Costco will resume their normal operating hours on Monday, January 2, 2011 (unless you live in Scotland)!  Have a safe and happy New Year’s, everyone!

Costco UK Coupons: Dec 27 - Jan 15, 2012

The current Costco UK coupon book started on 27 December and runs through 15 January. This is a surprisingly short span of time for a coupon book, but at least you’ll have a few weeks to get your shopping done.  This coupon book has about £530.00 worth of coupons.  Much like the earlier December coupon book this one feels a little light on deals, like it isn’t the full or real coupon book.  But at least it does have a few good ones in here.

I’ve uploaded the latest Costco UK Coupon Book PDF (or view it in the Google PDF viewer) so you can browse it if you haven’t gotten yours yet.  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.  Here in the UK I never have to actually give them the coupons, and they don’t seem interested in taking them from people that have cut them out either.  But 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 I post to my iPhone before I go to the store so that I can easily reference it while shopping.

I think the big goal of this coupon book was so that everyone would be able to save a little money on the liquor they need to celebrate for New Year’s Eve.  The first 12 coupons in the book are all for liquor, beer, champagne, or wine.  Certainly something to appeal to any party goer.  The rest of the book is made up of the usual assortment of coupons.  There are coupons for laundry and cleaning items, televisions, small kitchen appliances, as well as some white goods and a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  There are a few food items and some vitamins and health supplements too.

I’m hoping that January brings the regular sized coupon books back with more items that catch my interest.  The last couple of coupon books have been a little meh in terms of items that are on offer.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!  I hope you all have a nice holiday season.  Don’t forget that Costco is closing early today and will NOT BE OPEN on Christmas day. However, normal hours will resume on Monday in North America.  Costco UK and some locations in Canada (Atlantic Provinces and Sudbury) will also be closed on Boxing Day (Monday) but will resume normal hours on Tuesday.  If you’re in doubt, you should check the website for your country’s Costco stores and see what their specific holiday hours will be this year.

Fairy Non-Bio Liquitabs

Fairy Non-Bio Liquitabs – So the last time that we went to Costco I was completely out of laundry tablets.  And of course, there wasn’t a coupon for anything laundry that I use but I figured I would still be able to get the same stuff that I’ve been buying for at least a year now.  Yet, no, of course not.  Don’t you hate it when that happens?  They were out of my preferred Persil non-bio tablets that I usually pick up.  Just my luck!  After being annoyed for a couple of minutes and searching through the whole area and finding no evidence of the Persil tabs, I decided to try these Fairy liquitabs.  The biggest, most obvious, difference between the two is that these are little liquid packets that you toss right in the washer with your clothes, instead of the compressed powder tablets that I get from Persil.  I’ve heard from a few people that the liquid detergents are better at dissolving, especially in colder water (or during the winter when the incoming water is colder from the pipes), so I can see that might be an advantage of the liquid tabs or pouches.  Of course, when I do really small loads I could split the Persil powdered tabs in half but definitely can’t do that with these liquid things.  In my baby washer-dryer combo, I could never put enough clothing to get over the load size where I require two tabs, so this box will do 45 loads.  However, if you have a normal size washer they say you should use two liquitabs per load; so that’s just 22 loads.  To me they seem a little pricey for the amount of loads you can do with each box.  Without the discount that I was fortunate enough to get (I guess there was a coupon) each load has a cost of £0.21, as compared to £0.10 per load for the Persil tablets.  Yeah, that’s a big shocking difference, huh?  Even with the £2.80 off, each load costs £0.15.  Having done several loads with these I can’t really tell any big difference in the quality of washing either.  They don’t seem to make a huge difference on my laundry, certainly not twice as good as the Persil.  So, I’m really, really hoping that the Persil tabs are back at Costco in January for my next trip.  45 tabs for £6.69 (£9.49 – £2.80 coupon).  Item #: 0120596.

Kirkland Signature Men's Dress Belt

Kirkland Signature Men’s Dress Belt - Dave is always looking for a nice leather belt that isn’t super hard but is thick enough that it won’t look all broken down after using it for a week.  All of which seems like it should be fairly easy to find in a reasonably priced belt, doesn’t it?  But alas, it is not anywhere near as easy as it should be I have found.  In the last year, we have purchased a belt from John Lewis that was way more than this one and did not live up to the standards that Dave has set, and then we bought a belt from Lands’ End that he absolutely hated, luckily it wasn’t hugely pricey.  The KS belt is full-grain leather on the top and the back, much like the others, but I think the difference is that they use a soft leather on the back of the belt with a feather edge so that it is more flexible and doesn’t get that crunchy, bent look right away. Plus, it is more comfortable to wear since it doesn’t feel like you are wearing a steel cable around your waist with absolutely no bending or flexing.  The belt is 1.25 inches in width so it is the perfect thickness for wearing with dress trousers or casual trousers like jeans.  The buckle is a pretty simple silver affair that is just a regular, simple buckle like you’d find on most belts like this, but it is a nice weight.  The thing that I think is nice is that on the packaging they have a size guide so that you know what belt size to get based on your pant size.  Sometimes it is hard to determine this without trying the belt on and if the person you are buying it for isn’t with you, well, you just have to guess and that usually does not turn out well.    £12.99.  Item #: 0584416.

Jacob's Biscuits for Cheese

Jacob’s Cheese Biscuit Selection – If you like crackers and cheese, or crackers and something else, this is the box of crackers for you!  There are eight different types of crackers so you get a wide variety to have for pretty much any occasion.  And more importantly they’re all good.  The eight types you get are:  cheddars, digestives, choice grain, water biscuits, Cornish wafers, cream crackers, high fiber cream crackers, salt & cracked black pepper bakes.  Some of these are round and some are squares, so you have a lot of options if you’re trying to come up with different toppings.  I loved the cheddar crackers, but the cream crackers are really delicious too.  And of course the water biscuits are great because they go really well with anything you want to put on top of them – sweet or savoury; they’re juts a delivery vehicle for the topping.  Honestly, they all taste yummy with some cheese on them.  Though I will say that you have to be careful about what cheese you pair with the digestives as the crackers are kind of sweet (sort of like a toned down graham cracker) so not every cheese or topping is going to make a good companion for these crackers.  I even like the little plastic box that they come in because it is a great way to store your crackers without them getting stale.  I do wish that the trays of crackers inside were individually wrapped, just to make extra sure that your second layer of crackers isn’t getting stale while you are munching your way through the first layer.  The storage is great though since there are approximately 130 biscuits/crackers in this box.  I’m not sure exactly when they did it, but sometime over the last couple of years they have increased the size of this package too because there are about 15 additional biscuits in this box than there were last time I purchased it.  900 grams for £3.19 (£4.79 – £1.60 coupon).  Item #: 0002942.

Lucky Country Soft Liquorice

Lucky Country Soft Strawberry Liquorice – Dave likes this kind of thing for a snacky treat.  Luckily this tastes a whole lot better than the yucky Red Vines he made us buy not too long ago (those taste like wax lips to me).  This is little ropes of liquorice, like they cut a big rope of it into little mouth-friendly sized chunks.  It’s also nice that it is soft and not all hard and rubbery so you don’t feel like you’ll rip out your teeth chewing it.  The strawberry flavour is nice and not too overly flavoured in that fake Hubba-Bubba bubblegum type of way.  They call this Aussie liquorice, which I thought was just because it’s from an Australian company, but I guess the soft-ness is really what makes it Aussie.  Who knew?  But it’s Australia’s best selling liquorice and I can see why.  The softness makes it much more enjoyable.  It’s very chewy but since it is so soft it’s more like gum than hard, waxy liquorice.  I’m not usually a fan of liquorice because of that waxiness but I found this really good.  Plus, it’s fat free, so you can get a little sweetness and not feel guilty like you would with other fatty candies.  I read on their website that Costco has asked them to make a marionberry flavoured liquorice too.  Since those berries are only available for a few weeks a year, I’m guessing this flavour isn’t available year round.  However, you can always get the strawberry and black from Costco.   682 grams for £2.99.  Item #: 0083590.