Shopping math

[avram]

akawil, ladymondegreen, and I have been thinking for a while of joining BJ’s Wholesale Club (no, they don’t sell discount fellatio, though that could lend a whole new meaning to the concept of “making it up in volume”). We were going to go up to the membership desk and get a one-day pass to go browsing and note the prices on object we buy a lot to see if it’d be worth it for us. (You can buy stuff with the pass, but there’s a 15% surcharge, which rather defeats the purpose.)

Anyway, yeah, it would pay. Here are some examples:

Bounty paper towels, 15-count:

Pathmark: $13.99
BJ’s: $10.99
My parents got us one of these almost exactly three months ago, and we’ve used ten rolls so far. Figure we’ll go through three of these in a year, that’s $9 in savings.

Bumblebee pink salmon, 14.75-oz can:

Pathmark: $1.99 per can, $3.98 for two cans
BJ’s: $2.99 for a pack of two cans.
We eat a lot of salmon, and could eat a lot more. We’ll save at least $30 a year on this.

PowerBar energy bars:

Most supermarkets: about $1.50 per bar
BJ’s: 20-pack, $16.69 (84¢ each)
For a while I was eating at least one of these a day, though I stopped buying them after the box from Costco ran out, because I was thinking of going on Atkins. If I go back to making these a regular part of my diet, this alone will save me over $40 a year. They’re expensive enough that I probably shouldn’t.

Quarter-pound beef patties:

Pathmark (store brand): 40 patties, $19.99 (50¢ each)
BJ’s (name brand): 20 patties, $8.69 (43¢ each)
And BJ’s sells lean beef patties, which Pathmark doesn’t (at least, not in bulk).

I’m sure we’ll save lots of money on toilet paper too, and pasta and cereal, but I didn’t get prices on those.

My mother warns that the danger of these places is that temptation to buy lots of stuff you wouldn’t otherwise have bought. I figure we’re protected by our lack of a car.

We stopped off at ShopRite on the way home (whimsy purchase: blood-orange sorbet!) and met cjsherwood, who turns out to live about four blocks from us, and gave us a lift home.

Y’know, you can sing The Association’s “Windy” to the tune of the Eels’s “Souljacker Part I”, though you wouldn’t think so comparing the lyrics.

Comments

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

you almost certainly will have to check prices other places first, because BJs isn't always cheaper. also, their burger tends to be grotesquely fatty, as does their turkeyburger.

if you're willing to do your homework (and you have a closet you're not using and occasional access to a car) it's not a bad thing.

[camfangrrl.livejournal.com]

We joined BJ's a while ago when we started having fairly frequent access to a car, and in this household have come to depend on them for the best deals on things we buy lots of. Best recent score was packages of Hebrew National beef franks for two dollars a package. Our local Associated store has them for 3.99 most days, and even when they're on extreme sale they're still 2.50, so BJ's to the rescue.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

We belong to Costco, which is the same sort of place.

You won't necessarily get the BEST price on everything at the warehouse (if you're willing to shop hard), but you'll get a good one and on certain things (milk, eggs, orange juice, paper towels, toilet paper), it's not only better but worlds better.

There's definitely a risk of buying things you dont' need, like the Speed Racer DVD that I got the other day.