New Costco Connection Online Subscription

March 8th, 2011 Insider

Did you know that you can now subscribe to Costco Connection online and stop receiving a printed copy every month? That is now the case, via the Costco Connection Online Subscription page. You can choose between receiving an email alert only, email alert and printed edition, or neither. I can only imagine how much money this will save Costco. The magazine has a circulation of 8.3 million (as of December 2010). At $0.50 a magazine (which I imagine is on the cheap side), plus the cost of postage and labor, we’re probably talking at least $8 million a month that it costs Costco to print the magazine. I don’t know what percentage of subscribers actually read the magazine every month, but I would bet at least half simply recycle it every month without ever opening it. If those people subscribed online instead, that would save Costco a lot of money, as well as save a lot of trees.

If you recently read my post on the new coupon book, renewal and refund email program you might be familiar with the new approaches Costco is taking to be green and saving some money. I think this is another way they are doing that. I found some interesting facts about the magazine while researching this. Costco Connection has the fourth largest magazine circulation in the United States and of that 8.3 milion, 18% of its readers are millionaires, with 55% owning their own business. If you advertise in the Costco Connection, 57% of readers make a purchase because of an ad they saw in the magazine. If I sold a high-end product in Costco you’d better believe I’d be advertising in the Connection after seeing those stats.

I think that readership will go down due to this new program. With the print edition I feel like it would lie around the house, maybe sit on the coffee table or kitchen counter, and when someone was bored, they would pick it up. Now, it will be easy to “mark as read” or delete, alas to never be seen again. That is likely to reduce advertising rates, but I think the millions saved per month have to make up for that. What are your thoughts on this? Will you switch to an online only subscription?

Sources: Echo Media, Wikipedia, Costco Connection

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Kirkland Signature Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner Review

March 5th, 2011 Signa Ture
Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner

After a long wait, I finally received my free sample of the new Kirkland Signature Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner. So often I get free samples only to use them while traveling. This one, however, I opened right away. Reviews had said that it was as good if not better than expensive salon products. Plus, while it’s not a requirement for me to buy, it’s great that it is sulfate free, paraben free, 100% vegan, gluten free, had no animal testing and is safe for color treated hair.

A little background: I have semi-fine curly, highlighted hair that I wash every other day. I straighten it pretty much every day, which makes the color treated sections much drier with damage. I try to protect it and add more moisture by using serums before blowdrying and straightening. The challenge for me is to find a shampoo and conditioner that has the moisture needed for my curls and damaged hair, but that won’t make it oily.

My first impressions of the shampoo were that it was thick and creamy, unlike most shampoos I use which are more gel-like. The scent wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad either. It didn’t lather as much as most shampoos, but it didn’t completely lack it even though it’s sulfate free. In all, it felt like it cleaned my hair and started the moisturizing process. It worked much better than the other sulfate free shampoos I’ve used (Organix and Burt’s Bees). The conditioner was close to perfect for me. It was creamy, almost pearlescent. It seemed to soak in much more than the Dove Go Fresh one I have been using (also sold at Costco).

The day after, my hair was still soft, but not oily. Or at least, not much more than normal. I used much less serum before blowdrying and straightening because my wet hair had retained much more moisture than before. In reading more about the conditioner has added UV protectants that “filter out the sun’s damaging rays.”

In the past, Dove has been my cheaper shampoo and conditioner of choice, particularly their Advanced Color Therapy lines. The Kirkland Signature Shampoo and Conditioner, however, surpasses them all. I am ready to ditch my Dove Go Fresh and stick with Kirkland. While the price is more than what I’ve paid in the past, it may just be worth it for what it did to my hair. Plus, it would last a good long while.

Have you tried it? What was your experience?

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Costco Coupon Book 3/10/11 to 4/3/11 (March 2011)

March 2nd, 2011 Insider
2011 March costco coupon book

Checkout the upcoming March 2011 Costco coupon book, which as usual, is uploaded here in my Google Docs. The dates run from March 10th to April 3rd. People seem to be excited over the beef jerky, which I enjoy quite a bit myself. Also, I’ve heard a lot of great reviews on the Palermo’s pizza and the chocolate chips are a steal at the after coupon price. Another steal will be the 55″ Sony LED 3D TV. After coupon it should be only $1589.99. I still can’t believe that price. I plan to pickup some beef jerky, try the Palermo’s pizza, and the 6 ft. folding table, which has not been on sale for a long time, if ever. What about you? Anything excite you? Here are some prices after coupon:

Sony 55″ 3D TV: $1589.99
Bounty Paper Towels: $16.89

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.

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New Coupon Book, Renewal And Refund Email Program

February 15th, 2011 Insider

A brand new program is being introduced by Costco where they will now email you your coupon books, yearly renewal forms, and executive membership refund, among other things. It is part of their go green initiative, saving a lot of paper in the process. They will not entirely discontinue coupon books; the electronic version will be on a voluntary basis. You can also unsubscribe from the email list at any time, and you will then resume receiving paper coupon books. This should be a nationwide campaign, but I have seen it pushed at some Costcos while others are not promoting it. Usually while you’re standing in line, or when you first walk in an employee may ask you if you’d like to sign up for the new program.

To get an idea of how much money Costco would save, they are also considering going paperless with their payroll. From what I understand, if they did not give paper checks to all the employees currently on direct deposit (which they are considering) the company would save $1 million a year. That makes sense taking into account that they have roughly 150,000 employees and 26 pay checks per year. So, considering there are at least 33 million households with a membership, not mailing coupon books to all of them could be quite a cost saver, and environment saver. What do you think, would you prefer coupon books by mail?

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New Costco In-Store Recycling and Waste Program

February 2nd, 2011 Insider
Recycling Bins

I was at Costco last week when I saw something very surprising. One of the Costco workers was pouring the recycling and compost bins into the garbage bin. I thought I was capturing the next breaking news scandal. Instead, it led me to learn about a fascinating new product being introduced by Costco. It turns out the workers are instructed to pour the bins into one, because the trash has to be sorted by hand in the back. If you’re wondering why by hand, it’s because Costco can’t rely on everyone to put just compost in compost and just recycling in recycling. If there is one extra straw in the compost it will cause havoc for Costco’s new item — dirt.

Recycling Outside

New Recycling Program (Source: Nevada Appeal)

That’s right, Costco is making and selling dirt/compost. This program is not at all Costcos yet (Norcal and Nevada), but if you see the trash/compost/recycling bins in your food court then it is probably participating. The idea is that Costco will be making compost in the back of the store/lot, and will eventually start selling it. It’s a win for Costco because they can severely reduce their waste (Livermore went from 65 tons to 9.5 tons), they “look” greener and they can potentially make some money off the compost and recycling. Not all the stores plan to sell the dirt, but it should be an interesting product when it is ready. Have you heard about this yet?

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Costco Coupon Book 2/3/11 to 2/27/11 (February 2011)

January 27th, 2011 Insider

There are some good deals in the upcoming February 2011 Costco coupon book, which I uploaded to my Google Docs. It is valid from 2/3/11 to 2/27/11, much longer than the previous book. The Cetaphil coupon is the talk of the town this month. Besides that, people seem to be interested in the laminate flooring, the Huggies diapers, the shredder, the Kashi bars, the cookie dough and the take and bake pizza. I will probably try the ribs, might be convinced to try the Kashi bars, defintely pick up a bucket of Toll House cookie dough, the Teriyaki chicken, and might get the Cafe Steamers depending on the flavors in it. Here are some of the prices before coupon:

Ribs $14.99
Northern TP $18.79
KS Facial Tissue $13.79
Shredder $49.99
Kashi Bars $20.99
Jelly Beans $15.79
Noodle Bowls $10.99
V8 $16.19
Prego $7.69
Ranch $8.99
Izze $11.59
Hefty Plates $9.49
Teriyaki Chicken $8.99
Gold Bond Lot $13.99
Pantene $7.99
Dove $12.99
Soft Soap $7.99
Cetaphil $16.99
Snapware $24.99
Sonicare $149.99
Hoover Floormate $129.99
Vizio 37″ $499.99
Vizio 26″ $369.99

Remember, at most locations you can grab a book at your membership counter if you never got it mailed to you and at most locations the cashier will have the coupon there and automatically scan it for you.

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Costco Family Night

January 13th, 2011 Insider
Costco Family Night

Last month I attended an event titled Costco family night. In short, the employees and their family members get Costco all to themselves after hours. We got to shop the store quietly, Santa was there, there were raffle prizes, and best of all, there was free food court food. All the pizza, hot dogs, churros and more I could eat! This was the first time I was able to make the event and a nice employee benefit that I look forward to going to in the future. The picture is one I took of some of the food they had there.

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