"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote

"RC" wrote in message
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).