Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Get your hot dogs here

With all this complaining from me about food price inflation, the one constant I forgot about is the price of a hot dog at Costco. It seems come hell or high water, $1.50 will forever still buy you a hot dog and a soda there. A slice of pizza remains $1.99 as well. There is no freaking way McDonald’s and its $12 for a meal can compete with that.

It’s reputed that the Costco food court is a loss-leader. A marketing spend, an enticement for people to join its membership. That’s why the prices there have not kept up with inflation. That being said, Costco must be hemorrhaging cash at that side of operations now more than ever. Corporate greed aside, it’s indeed true that material costs have increase dramatically in recent years. Even Costco and its buying power can’t be immune to that.

The fact that even under these circumstances, the price of a Costco hot dog remaining the same is a testament to its corporate culture. It’s one of the few brands you can be morally satisified to do business with. (Another is Patagonia.)

But even Costco can only take on so much red ink. Word on the street is that soon, Costco will bar non-members from patronizing its food courts. Previously, anybody off the streets was allowed to buy a whole pizza for the low sum of $9.99. Not anymore! Inflation is so bad that Costco is restricting its de-facto food court subsidy to members only. There’s got to be a return on that subsidy.

The legion of blue-collar workers going to Costco for a cheap lunch will be so disappointed.

The greatness of Costco

Even though I live within walking distance to a Whole Foods, Target, and a Trader Joe’s, I still make the pilgrimage (in relative distance) to Costco every few weeks. It’s one of the few reasons I still own a car (other than, you know, being a huge car enthusiast) - to drive there and carry all the stuff back.

Because Costco cannot be beaten from a price per unit standpoint. I may have to buy more than I really need at that time (four pounds of oranges compared to one pound at Whole Foods), but I am paying significantly less. The key then is to have enough space to store the extra stuff until it is time for me to use it. My favorite is buying many pounds of Alaskan cod, separating them into half pound pieces, and freezing them for long-term keeping.

Fitness guys and girls: don’t forget about the sale on Optimum Nutrition whey protein at Costco. 48 dollars for 80 servings is a superb deal, from a hugely trusted brand. (Though I can remember it used to cost $48 un-discounted before the pandemic.) I took great advantage of this and bought four bags (had to go to Costco twice, since the sale limits two per customer per visit). Suffice it to say, I am set for much of 2024 on protein. (Yeah buddy! Light weight!)

Another awesome thing about Costco: clothing. For your everyday basic items, Costco offers excellent quality and low prices. Every time I visit, I take a look at what’s newly available at the clothing section. (Would that be compulsive?) I own many pants, shorts, shirts, sweaters, et cetera - all bought at Costco. It is fantastic.

I am admittedly lucky in that I get to bum off my father’s Costco membership (one account can have two cards). But even if that weren’t the case, I would happily pay the $60 for the basic Gold Star membership. Much like an Amazon Prime membership, I easily make back the annual fee in either savings or credit card points.

Government work

Last week I wrote about the aim to not spend any money on Black Friday. I am happy to say: mission accomplished. Going away somewhere during Black Friday helped tremendously. I’m not tempted to click on the latest slickdeals tweet if I’m nowhere near a computer! Today is Cyber Monday, yet another black hole of potential spending. I’m doing my best to avoid Amazon right now.

During Black Friday we ran into a friend whilst getting lunch at Costco. Say what you want about inflation, but Costco food court prices have remained consistently low. A hot dog, a soda, and a slice of pizza can still be had for less than four dollars. If gas prices weren’t so enormously inflated, I’d drive to Costco more often for lunch. If the price of a hot dog ever increases from $1.50, surely the American economy have gone to the toilet. Hasn’t happened yet in my lifetime!

Right, the friend. He works at a credit union slinging loans to people looking for a lower interest rate than the big banks (credit unions are great). He said he’s looking to switch to a government job, perhaps with the city of San Francisco. The allure of excellent benefits and a pension at the end is rather tempting for a person in his mid thirties wanting long term stability. Especially during these uncertain times: we’ve all read about big tech massively laying off employees. Companies not doing layoffs are freezing hiring.

I guess I should consider myself lucky to be employed by the State of California. I didn’t realize a government job can be so desirous by those on the outside looking in. The conventional wisdom is that the private sector pays substantially more than the public sector. Everybody wants a solid rock to climb onto during times of uncertainty and recession. Public sector jobs also typically offer excellent work-life balance, something I cherish greatly.

Gas prices, batman!

Holy hell have gasoline prices shot up seemingly overnight. I filled up the M2 the weekend prior at $5.25 a gallon premium (thanks, California), and this past Friday it’s already changed to $5.75. At 10 gallons on a typical fill up, that’s a ~$5.00 increase for me. Not too terrible in the grand scheme of things, because I don’t commute. I get gas at most about every two weeks. But for those who do: this sudden increase has got to hurt.

As evident of the long lines at Costco - known for the cheapest petrol in town - of drivers queuing for gas. Delaying the rest of us from getting to our parkings spots and on with our shopping. Even if you’re entirely supportive of the Ukrainian fight against the Russian regime, you can equally hate the second-order effects at the same time.

Hey, it doesn’t cost gas money to drive virtually on Gran Turismo 7! The latest version of the famed racing game - celebrating its 25th anniversary - came out last week. And I won’t be getting it, at least for a while (super sad face). It’s just physically impossible for me to position my steering wheel controller setup in front of the TV (there’s a whole bed in the way). I don’t want to use the regular controller to play. Hopefully when PlayStation VR 2 comes out, GT7 will be a supported title.

At least reviews for the game are looking good. Seemingly a return to form of GT4, arguably the best title in the series, and the last Gran Turismo I played through seriously. It’s a true celebration of the automobile, at a time when electrification threatens the existence of our beloved internal-combustion engines. Disappointingly, my BMW M2 Competition is not featured in the game. Neither is my previous car, the 991-generation Porsche 911 GT3.

I guess I’ll just have to buy a Toyota GR86 to be able to play a virtual copy of my actual real-life car.

Buy in bulk

One of the conundrums of living alone is: do you buy toilet paper and paper towels in bulk? A 32-pack of toilet rolls from Costco will last me well over a year. It’s not about saving money really, but rather it’s allocating the space to store the extras. Thankfully, I have plenty of unused cabinet space in the kitchen. If I were scarcer on storage space, I think I would buy a smaller batch from Target instead.

I mean, why move within walking distance to a Target if I don’t take advantage of it to the maximum?

I actually go through paper towels at quite a good pace, so the industrial-size pack from Costco is actually worth the initial storage hassles. My Asian mother would surely disapprove of how rapidly I go through a roll. I can remember her treating paper towels as if it were paper gold: only under the worse circumstances should I take a piece to use. Nowadays, I’d rip off a fresh sheet just to mop up some water on the bathroom sink. The Brawny branded towels do absorb very nicely.

The environmentalist part of me is just screaming in anger, but us first-world humans don’t care about that stuff when it comes to providing convenience and comfort for ourselves. Incentives have to come from above. The whole reason we’re getting the electric revolution in cars is not because of Elon Musk, or any altruistic feelings in the customer. It’s the super stringent European emissions regulations that are forcing automakers to ditch internal combustion.

I think if you have the storage space, you should still buy everyday essentials in bulk. Even if would take forever to go through a pack. Like the 24 dish scrubbing pads that would last me for many years to come. Something enticing about a low per-unit cost, even though we make good money now. Or perhaps I’m simply a hoarder at heart.

Stock up!

One of the things I greatly miss about Japan is the sheer availability of drinks vending machines everywhere. You literally cannot go a few blocks without spotting one of them at a corner, ready to dispense refreshments. These vending machines are a godsend during Japan’s notoriously hot and humid summers. It’s also quite nice, too, to be able to have ice cold coffee practically anywhere, anytime, at a moment’s notice.

Obviously, such a concept of street-side vending machines everywhere would never work here in America. Our culture of rugged individualism would never allow such an enterprise to flourish. The machines would get vandalized and items stolen so quickly that they will never make any money from it. It’s a shame that we can’t have such convenience, though I guess there’s always the neighborhood Walgreens or CVS. Assuming the one local to you haven’t shutdown due to… vandalism and theft.

To sort of replicate having an arsenal of drinks at my disposable, I make weekly runs to Costco to stock up a on variety. Green tea is a given, plus cans of both Diet Coke and cold-brew coffee, and an aloe-vera drink. Whenever I’m hankering for something other than plain water - which is almost always - the cache of drinks is right there. Probably costs less than getting it from an actual vending machine, too.

Of course, it would be cheaper still - free, even - if I simply drink water from the tap. But that’s a terrible way to live: I make money so that I can enjoy tasty refreshments here and there. Until I actually move to an Asian country somewhere down the future, stocking up drinks at home is the way to go.

Costco rethink

Who doesn’t like going to Costco? I sure do. There’s no place else that can get you as best a bang for your buck, no matter what it is that you buy.

Groceries is what my family most often buys from Costco, and now that I’m living by myself away from my parents, I’ve continued on that tradition. However, there’s a problem: buying in bulk is great in terms of price per single unit, but now, that giant bag of potstickers will need to be eaten entirely by me. There’s no other persons in the household to share in that burden of depleting a multi-pound tray of fish, so while it remains tempting to buy, these days the purchasing decisions involve careful planning on how to eat it all.

It turns out, that stops all the fun. Instead of buying multiple items, I’m stuck to buying just one package of breakfast sandwiches, because it will take me some time to get through all 10 of them. Never mind the fact the fridge I’ve got in the studio unit is not that large.

It won’t stop me from going to Costco probably every other week, but now I have to be more strategic with what I buy. If variety is what I want, then it’s the smaller chains like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods where I’ll need to shop at for groceries.

Luckily, there’s a Trader Joe’s within minutes walking distance from where I live, and sometime in the near future, there will be a Whole Foods as well. Be that as it may, I don't think I can give up going to Costco. It remains the most economical place to shop: a box of Keurig cups is half as expensive on a per-cost basis compared to Target.

Good thing those cups don’t need to go into the fridge, because mine is absolutely full.