Friday, December 09, 2005

Costco vs Sams Club, or, Politicizing Bulk Shopping

Now that the holiday season is upon us, we are going to hear about the various places to shop. We are also going to hear about the various places not to shop.

This year, WalMart is evil incarnate. Hence, one should never buy there. And heaven forbid buying at Sams Club - they are merely an evil version of Costco. In fact, my father and my little brother absolutely refuse to go there (and they both often vote Republican), and my middle brother only goes to Sams Club because there is no Costco where he lives.

Why some people get so excited about what is essentially grocery shopping is beyond me.

It has puzzled me why we would want to beat up on a company that has generated a lot of jobs. Until I figured out that leftists like to bash companies that create a lot of jobs - for them, it's the job of the government. So of course it's quite natural they do so.

Now, I usually do not buy stuff at WalMart. This isn't because I am boycotting the store, only that, for me, it's a long way to drive to buy what is essentially crap. Since WalMart is about 1/2 hour drive for me, it's not worth looking at the grocery store, so I would need to buy so-called durable goods (economists define these are goods that last one year). However, my experience with WalMart "durable goods" is that they often last less than one year. So, boycotting a store because they sell garbage is a good reason to boycott it.

However, I do my shopping at Sams Club. And that is about 45 minutes away. While the Costco is 20 minutes away. Of course, going to Sams Club might not be worth it - except I go there and shop when I am in the area of a Sams Club.

Acutally, I shop at both and have memberships at both. I buy most of my non-perishable grocery items at these stores (and fruits and vegetables that last a long time), so it turns out in the long run I am saving money on the memberships - than if I only shopped at say, Safeway. However, Costco has recently had a problem.

When Costco was founded, it essentially existed to buy name-brand stuff, in bulk, at discount prices. However, over time, Costco has gradually reduced the size of their name-brand bulk items, made them unavailable, or switched them to their "Kirkland" brand. (By the way, Kirkland is a nice town, and naming toilet paper after that town is highly inappropriate!). Now, they are switching to "luxury items," meaning that a bunch of wealthy yuppies - oops, bobos - and those who like to waste money can spend money on memberships and spend the same amount on some so-called "gourmet" product, in a much smaller volume, than before (for example, spices). Heck, I am even having a hard time finding bulk apples at Costco!

So, I am buying less at Costco.

Sams Club, on the other hand, still buys name-brand items in bulk, and sells them. Hence, I spend more and more at Sams Club. And less goes to the local company.

Leftists like to complain that the WalMart corporation abuses human rights, doesn't pay it's workers much, destroy's local businesses. "The High Cost of Low Price." Costco, on the other hand, is a model corporation (i.e., gives the majority of it's monies to Democrats), and does pay a high wages (for which of course they should be given credit).

However, the main purpose of a store is to sell items that a customer wants. And if it does not do so, the customer should go elsewhere.

Of course, one should realize that this anti-WalMart spin is due to union pressure. WalMart will not unionize it's over one million workers. So WalMart is made to look like Satan! I thought something was up when I read, on e-mail, that WalMart was forbidding employees from saying "Merry Christmas," and forcing them to say "Happy Holidays." Boycott over this??? I suspected union activity. My suspicions are due to the wedge tactics that were used when Coors shut the union out of it's plant, as was similarly mentioned in a biography of the Coors family (by Dan Baum - I forget the name at this point.) When Coors adopted a gay-friendly employee policy, the union thug in charge of the boycott sent clipping to Jerry Falwell (I believe) with pictures of gay sex-toys - to get conservative Christians to boycott Coors.

Of course, one cannot boycott everyone with which you disagree. For example, if you are a Democrat, and live in the suburbs, and have kids, how will you drive your car? The oil companies overwhelmingly support Republicans (for obvious reasons). And if you are a Republican, going naked is obviously against your values - it seems that the vast majority of the fashion world supports Democrats.

Hence, you cannot boycott something on emotion. Especially something that offers lots and lots of diverse products. You have to be selective. For example, although I could be wrong, it is my understanding that the Cinnabon Corporation supports Democrats 100% (according to buyblue.com), so it is relatively easy (well, politically, not culinarily) to boycott them (well, at least I'll be somewhat healthier from not eating one of their ultra-fattening rolls!).

Hence, one needs to analyze your needs, and not pick out a bulk store, due to some polically-correct emotion. Instead, there is a limit to where your shopping needs supercedes your political emotions. Otherwise, you will make life too difficult for yourself, and possibly, take time away from such things, like, maybe activism?