Costco hasn't raised the price on its hot-dog-and-soda combo since 1984

I’m a Sam’s Club member, not a Costco member (My nearest Sam’s Club is within a half mile of my house, the nearest Costco is about 10 miles away, and is located right next to a really busy mall).

But the chickens that they have as rotisserie chickens seem larger than most chickens that I’m used to buying whole, and larger than most rotisserie chickens at other stores. (As someone who is allergic to pork, I’m also very appreciative that the Sam’s Club version of the $1.50 hot dog and drink combo is an all-beef hot dog.)

I guess I just always kind of assumed that these two items were about as close as they could get to each other, since they are kind of locked to each other.

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While we’re at it, why not just go full circle and look at this previous discussion of the strange economics of food pricing:

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Isn’t that what the cheapo “Kobalt” store brand screwdrivers, flashlights, etc… in the aisles near the checkstands are for?

I mean, I never really need another flashlight for a couple of bucks, but it’s LED, and I could use one in…

Our local Costco’s (Kona, HI) food counter is outside the store, and they don’t ask for a membership card when ordering. It’s sometimes more busy than the inside of the store.

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They charge the same price, but a year or two ago, they did change from a Polish Dog to a Beef Frank. They’re still good, but not nearly as good.

In California, neither pharmacy nor alcohol sales can be limited to club membership. I’m a member via my company, but before I’d go there and stock up on both of them without membership. It was often kind of a pain in the arse for the cashiers and I felt bad – but not so bad that I didn’t keep coming back.

I was there last year. Bought a week’s worth of groceries for our rental condo. And, yes, a hot dog.

We have an outdoor foodcourt downtown Vancouver as well, so I became accustomed to just walking up and ordering, sans membership. When I tried this at another store a while back, I was floored by the change, and I couldn’t understand why the employees wouldn’t just concede there had been a policy change. Now I realize the employees were probably just ‘fresh chickens’ themselves, and didn’t know any different (or are just too fatigued turning away non-members.)

At least in Chicago and parts of Wisconsin, Home Depots have hot dog stands in the exit area. Chicago Dogs for ~$1.50!

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I mean, they ask nicely to see it, and I’m not a dick.

I really wish I had never taken a chance on the distilled (V times) Kirkland French Vodka. Now I feel obligated to pick up the 1.75-L bottle for $20 every trip. I would pay double for it.

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I’ve worked for Costco since 1987. You have no idea how hard they work to keep the hotdog at $1.50, or how important it is to the culture of the company. What they’ve done to keep the rotisserie chicken price stable is astounding. What they’ve done to reduce waste, to be more sustainable, and to help the cashew vendors get a fair price for their crops is unlike any other company in retail. And best of all, you’ll never hear about it. Costco doesn’t brag. They just try to quietly do what is right. Ask an employee. They’ll tell you. GREAT company.

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Costco is for rich people. Sometimes about the only thing I buy is a hotdog.

Sure there are deals there, but I often go through a little mental debate on do I really need the thing that is such a good deal? The exception is when I buy gifts for the holidays. It tends to carry the sorts of things I find easy to get for people. Bottle of scotch, cashmere scarf, fruit and nut platter, and so on. You know the sorts of gifts adults actually want. (that’s right kids, your Daddy probably wants nice booze for Christmas and time to share it with his friends)

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In Canada, currently this combo is actually cheaper (when considering the exchange rate). This combo used to be $2.00 CAD, then in 2011, they reduced it to $1.50 CAD.

If only health care providers were so motivated.

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I can’t believe that nobody has actually priced out what a hot dog and soda cost the company, which certainly doesn’t pay retail, and come to the conclusion that the labor is easily the largest cost, and the ingredients themselves can’t cost more than 50 cents.

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As evidenced by their heavy presence and origins in and around economically hurting areas especially rural ones.

I grew up broke in a big family. At one of these warehouse clubs you might think “do I really need 4 gallons of milk”. We though “holy shit those four gallons of milk we need are so much cheaper here”. The whole thing with these places is bulk purchases, large packages and house products to bring the unit price down. Rich folks don’t fret about saving a couple a bucks on ten pounds of chicken, they also generally don’t holiday shop at grocery stores.

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They also happen to be delicious (for beef hotdogs, anyway).

What you really need south of the border is Costco Canada’s Poutine!

Try BJs or Sams. They carry the sorts of products working class families buy. Rather than Ski tickets near the check out.