April 26th, 2012 
Insider Tonight at 6pm a documentary called “The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant” will air on CNBC about a lot of the psychology behind what Costco does and why their customers do what they do. I am excited to see what they say about it, and I imagine you will be as well.
I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about the fact that Costco never advertises. That’s pretty cool. Will you be watching?
April 2nd, 2012 Insider 
The new April 2012 Costco coupon book is now available for viewing, and runs from April 12th to May 6th. Clicking the link above will allow you to download and view it in google documents. This is a high quality upload so you can read all the fine print. Before, I had suggested following me on Facebook or Twitter so you could find out when I posted a better copy online, and now it’s uploaded. Not much to write home about here. In fact, I’ve heard comments that this is the worst coupon book ever. I disagree with that statement, although I’m not that excited about it. I really love the Fiber One bars, so will definitely be picking up some of those, and might get the mini tacos again, although they are probably pretty bad for you. For tires it is the Bridgestone coupon for the second month in a row.
Remember, at most locations you can grab a book at your membership counter if you never got it mailed to you and at some locations the cashier will have the coupon there and automatically scan it for you. I heard they are getting more strict on this though. Perhaps to encourage the new coupon email signup program. These coupons will not work in store, as you need the barcode. Have you tried any of the items in this coupon book? What did you think?
March 25th, 2012 Insider 
A lot of people have been asking how many calories are in the new hot turkey and provolone sandwich found in the Costco food court. I did some research and the number was a little higher than I expected. The sandwich has 730 calories according to myfitnesspal. Other nutritional facts include:
- 730 Calories
- 39 g of Fat
- 125 mg of Cholesterol
- 1710 mg of Sodium
- 51 g of Carbs
- 45 g of Protein
- 2 g of Dietary Fiber
Do these numbers turn you away? If you remember the turkey wrap it actually had 810 calories. It’s pretty surprising to me that this greasy hot sandwich somehow has less calories, but I applaud Costco for making it happen. It is also much more flavorful than the turkey wrap. Do the calories surprise you one way or the other?
March 19th, 2012 Insider 
The new Costco food court item you’ve all been waiting for is here! The hot turkey sandwich has arrived in all its glory. It’s served on a ciabatta roll and comes with deli turkey, provolone, red onion, tomato, and pesto. It is baked in the oven and serverd hot. I believe it is replacing the short-lived carne asada bake. The price is $3.99. I will add more details such as locations and calories as I get them. Also coming will be my review tomorrow. I have heard nothing but very positive reviews so far. Have you tried it yet? What do you think?
February 27th, 2012 Insider 
The just posted March 2012 Costco coupon book is valid from March 8th to April 1st. Clicking the link will allow you to view and download it from my google documents. Overall, I would say a pretty good book. Just about everyone loves Costco’s beef jerkey, so it’s always nice to see that on sale. I am also seeing a lot of talk about the Kirkland Signature baby wipes. We will probably purchase the Muscle Milk protein powder, the Ling Ling potstickers and the Kashi Go Lean bars. The tire coupon is back to Bridgestone.
Remember, at most locations you can grab a book at your membership counter if you never got it mailed to you and at some locations the cashier will have the coupon there and automatically scan it for you. I heard they are getting more strict on this though. Perhaps to encourage the new coupon email signup program. These coupons will not work in store, as you need the barcode. Have you tried any of the items in this coupon book? What did you think?
January 25th, 2012 Insider 
Hot off the presses is the February 2012 Costco coupon book, valid from February 2nd to February 26th. The new coupons can be seen as a PDF which opens in google documents, where you can also download the original high quality PDF if you’d like. From what I’ve seen online, there is a lot of interest in the Gummy Vitamins, the HP OfficeJet 8600 and the Brother All-In-One Printer. This book has the usual mix of items, and I would say it has a couple more of the items I would normally buy at Costco. For example, the 3 pack of Kirkland Signature wipes is awesome and the Nature Valley bars are great. It’s hard for me to resist a discounted KS Take & Bake pizza too. I was just talking with a friend this weekend about how great the Ghiradelli chocolate square collection pack from Costco is and now that will be on sale too. I will likely give the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers another try as well. The tire coupon is Michelin for the second month in a row.
Remember, at most locations you can grab a book at your membership counter if you never got it mailed to you and at some locations the cashier will have the coupon there and automatically scan it for you. I heard they are getting more strict on this though. Perhaps to encourage the new coupon email signup program. These coupons will not work in store, as you need the barcode. Have you tried any of the items in this coupon book? What did you think?
January 25th, 2012 Insider 
I recently purchased the Sony BDP-BX58 Blu-Ray player from Costco and thought I’d write my review of it. It is $99 through Sunday, when the coupons expire for the January Coupon Book. If you are on the fence about it, I’d say get it. You have 90 days to return it if you don’t like it. When researching Blu-Ray players I learned that many take a long time to load the disc initially. That is not the case at all with this player. It has many advanced features when compared to other Blu-Ray players as well, supporting Netflix, DLNA, Pandora, YouTube, and HuluPlus just to name a few. The specs also include built-in Wifi (so you can connect it to the internet) and 3D, if you have a 3D TV.
I tested the Netflix interface and in my opinion, it’s not as good as the interface on the Xbox. It was also a little laggy, and if you lose your connection and go back to the movie it will start from the beginning and not go back to where you left off, which is very frustrating. Hopefully that will be fixed in a future firmware upgrade. On the other hand, having DLNA is great. It easily saw my home desktop and presented all my movies for me to watch. Basically, DLNA allows you to stream movies, pictures, and photos from your home computers to the TV through the Blu-Ray player. The wireless signal seemed a little weak, so I would hardwire to the ethernet port if possible. If you have an external USB hard drive with a ton of movies on it you can also plug that into the unit and watch them on your TV that way. The BDP-BX58 model number is special to Costco, which is why you won’t find a lot of information on it. It is basically the BDP-S580, but comes with an HDMI cable. Overall, it’s a good unit at a great price, and with Sony continuing to put out new downloadable firmware updates for it, I think it will continue to be on the cutting edge. Do you have one? What do you think?