With all this complaining from me about food price inflation, the one constant I forgot about is the price of a hot dog at Costco. It seems come hell or high water, $1.50 will forever still buy you a hot dog and a soda there. A slice of pizza remains $1.99 as well. There is no freaking way McDonald’s and its $12 for a meal can compete with that.
It’s reputed that the Costco food court is a loss-leader. A marketing spend, an enticement for people to join its membership. That’s why the prices there have not kept up with inflation. That being said, Costco must be hemorrhaging cash at that side of operations now more than ever. Corporate greed aside, it’s indeed true that material costs have increase dramatically in recent years. Even Costco and its buying power can’t be immune to that.
The fact that even under these circumstances, the price of a Costco hot dog remaining the same is a testament to its corporate culture. It’s one of the few brands you can be morally satisified to do business with. (Another is Patagonia.)
But even Costco can only take on so much red ink. Word on the street is that soon, Costco will bar non-members from patronizing its food courts. Previously, anybody off the streets was allowed to buy a whole pizza for the low sum of $9.99. Not anymore! Inflation is so bad that Costco is restricting its de-facto food court subsidy to members only. There’s got to be a return on that subsidy.
The legion of blue-collar workers going to Costco for a cheap lunch will be so disappointed.
Two pots.