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Posted by cshenk on April 8, 2008, 6:11 pm
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote
>> On the whole however I've never understood these buying clubs - like
>> Sam's for instance. I know the answer is always MONEY, but it seems
>> to me a place like Sam's (I think Costco might be another example of
>> the clubs) would make more money if they did away with the membership
>> fee and exclusivity and just let everyone shop there.
RC, you can walk into any of them with no fee just to check it out. If you
decide you want something, at least at BJ's you can fill your cart then
apply at the checkout (took me all of 2 mins and the fee is for the family
so we have a card for my husband too). When we returned from Sasebo Japan,
it was our first stock up place and of course, our old cards had long
expired but they have our records still and were happy to see a returning
customer.
> For the longest time I thought it was silly to spend money to join a club
> to spend more money. Then I went to a BJ's once and I've been a happy
> member for many years now. While it costs $40 to join, I save that many
> times
Same here, Ed.
> over. When I bought my TV, it was $100 cheaper than any of the discounters
> like Best Buy. Every time I fill a propane tank, I save $7 over the
> local
Try beat it by 250$ in our case and that included best price at military
exchanges.
> places. I can save a bundle on quality meats compared to the supermarket.
Even the Commisary can seldom beat their meat prices when buying in bulk.
The one drawback is their fish isnt up to my standards unless it's a frozen
sort.
> Not everything is a big savings but if you know prices and keep an eye out
> for the right stuff, you can save a lot of money over a year.
I save an average of 40$ a *month* at BJ's. Here's a specific thing:
Victoria Inn french vanilla cappachino (powdered coffee blend). I was going
through a tin a week of the 'general foods gourmet coffee tins' (hey, we all
have our weak spot!). At roughly 2.50 a GF tin, this 6$ huge can equals
about 12 'tins' easily so about 8$ a month savings. Pedigree dog food cans
at almost 1/2 off the price of commisary or petsmart = 12$ a month savings
here. There's 20$ savings just on 2 items
we will buy no matter where we shop.
The difference though is also related to storage. We have a deep chest
freezer in the garage because it's cost of running is considerably lower
than the food dollar savings we get by being able to buy in bulk then
refreeze in 'our family sized portions'. I will spend an average of 20$ a
month at BJ's for meat (pork loin, whole chickens, chicken thighs, chicken
wings) which same cuts and amounts would cost me about 10$ more at the
commisary. Thats got us now up to 30$. (we arent major meatarians here but
that amount is augmented by seafoods at a local asian grocery with
outstanding quality we trust). I save about 1$ a month on flour (I make
most of our bread). I save 1$ a month on ice cream (have a 14YO here).
The remaining 8$ (possibly more) are in laundry soaps, dishwasher soap,
toilet paper, trash bags, and cat litter.
Canned goods for *me* are a break even as commisary runs the same or just a
tiny bit lower, but the gas prices to get to the commisary unless I think of
it on the way home, are about 4$.
Oh, BJ's gas is cheaper than the base gas station but that varies and
generally close prices are involved.
Now on to a *major*. Sun room addition being done. This is a repair of an
existing 'enclosed porch' with a good roof and 2 good walls. Has major mold
damage and structural supports at outer corner of room (holds up the roof!)
are damaged. BJ's membership is getting me one for 10,000$. I spec'd this
out well with several estimates and the next nearest for the same job (with
a lower quality rating and a far lesser guareentee for workmanship) was
4,500$ more. The same company at BJ's said without membership, I'd be
16,000$. I seemed to catch them with a BJ's special <happy grin>. Oh, and
a nice frill was a 25$ gift certificate to BJ's just for asking for a free
estimate for the sunroom which arrived 2 days later and before we had done
more than setup an appointment for the fellow to survey us.
-To bring this to code they are footing the existing slab (if it had been
footed to current code it would be about 2,000$ cheaper but it's an old
house and the codes changed). They are removing all the bad material
including the moldy rug and bringing the whole thing to code spec with
inspections and all that. The first contractor wanted 35,000$ and said it
would go up once he got into it. The next one wanted us to rip out and
dispose of: all the molded materials, the ceiling, the rug, the side fence
to that portion of the house and arrange ourselves for the electrial install
and footing of the slab as it wasnt in their deal (they quoted 18,500$).
The next cheapest wanted 14,500$, uses workers with no insurance and asked
lots of questions about our home owners policy was set to cover if one of
them got hurt.....
So like, how do I add in that particular BJ savings? (happy grin).
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Posted by SMS on March 28, 2008, 11:52 am
dpb wrote:
> DerbyDad03 wrote:
> ...
> ...other comments from DB comments site elided...
>
>> "stuff I bought was real close to what I would have paid for it at the
>> store. The difference is I can sit on it, touch it, feel it, think
>> about...
>>
>> Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how a person can spend thousands
>> of dollars on something like a couch or other furniture ...
>> without actually seeing it, sitting on it, lying on it, etc. ...
>
> My guess would be most of the yuppies suckered into this deal will use
> the facilities of the various other brick-n-mortar stores in town as a
> showroom then go order--still another mark against both the store and
> the clientele imo.
Yuppies are not dumb enough to fall for the DirectBuy sales pitch. They
are targeting the uneducated, lower class consumers.
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Posted by EXT on March 26, 2008, 11:09 am
If you like high end products, you will not find them at this outfit, as
only authorized dealers are allowed to sell them if you want to have a
warranty. By providing no real comparison in prices to specific product
models you have no idea if it is a deal or not. You will do better by doing
your own searching, shopping and bargaining. That way you know what you are
getting and how the price compares to other outlets.
> All,
>
> Have you tried the direct buy warehouse? I hear the radio commercial
> about saving thousands on a single purchase. If you've tried it or know
> someone who has, what's been the experience? Positive? Negative? It
> seems like another type of Costco to me.
>
> Djay
>
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Posted by SMS on March 28, 2008, 11:49 am
djay wrote:
> All,
>
> Have you tried the direct buy warehouse? I hear the radio commercial about
> saving thousands on a single purchase. If you've tried it or know someone
> who has, what's been the experience? Positive? Negative? It seems like
> another type of Costco to me.
Hardly a Costco. The membership is thousands of dollars. The savings are
minimal, if any, _unless_ you're someone that normally buys everything
at MSRP from a high end store, and even then it won't benefit you
because they don't sell high end stuff. They charge high shipping and
handling fees on each purchase as well.
The informercials are so distorted that they are amusing. Always avoid
any product that relies on testimonials from clueless people. I.e., as
most people in "alt.home.repair" know, granite is actually one of the
cheapest materials for counter tops, with the massive amounts of Chinese
granite being sold ate very low prices at many smaller building supply
stores. Yet many clueless people buy granite only from stores like
Lowe's, Home Depot, Expo Design, or similar stores that are selling the
same Chinese granite at much, much higher prices (Italian granite is
another story). The DirectBuy informercials have one guy explaining how
thanks to DirectBuy he was able to have granite countertops in his kitchen.
Do they also sell carpet? That's another item where the big box stores
charge far higher prices for the same product than smaller stores.
They suck in clueless consumers with their slick sales presentations.
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Posted by terry on April 7, 2008, 4:11 am
> djay wrote:
> > All,
>
> > Have you tried the direct buy warehouse? =A0I hear the radio commercial =
about
> > saving thousands on a single purchase. =A0If you've tried it or know som=
eone
> > who has, what's been the experience? =A0Positive? =A0Negative? =A0It see=
ms like
> > another type of Costco to me.
>
> Hardly a Costco. The membership is thousands of dollars. The savings are
> minimal, if any, _unless_ you're someone that normally buys everything
> at MSRP from a high end store, and even then it won't benefit you
> because they don't sell high end stuff. They charge high shipping and
> handling fees on each purchase as well.
>
> The informercials are so distorted that they are amusing. Always avoid
> any product that relies on testimonials from clueless people. I.e., as
> most people in "alt.home.repair" know, granite is actually one of the
> cheapest materials for counter tops, with the massive amounts of Chinese
> granite being sold ate very low prices at many smaller building supply
> stores. Yet many clueless people buy granite only from stores like
> Lowe's, Home Depot, Expo Design, or similar stores that are selling the
> same Chinese granite at much, much higher prices (Italian granite is
> another story). The DirectBuy informercials have one guy explaining how
> thanks to DirectBuy he was able to have granite countertops in his kitchen=
.
>
> Do they also sell carpet? That's another item where the big box stores
> charge far higher prices for the same product than smaller stores.
>
> They suck in clueless consumers with their slick sales presentations.
Our impression; based only on TV advertising, never met anybody who
has actually signed up, is that its a complete antithesis of the idea
of shopping around for the best price and best service!
Sells a sort of a 'snobby' exclusive idea that you are getting a
bargain?????
The amounts of dollars that some, in the adverts, say they have saved
exceed what we would be willing to spend, in total.
Keep looking around! Also tieing oneself to a single supplier doesn't
sound like good business.
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Page 4 of 4 << first < 1 2 3
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