Costco, Thy Name Is Frustration!

Oh, they are smart.  They have it down.

And, they are so good at it.

Here's what they consciously do:

1  MOVE STUFF AROUND.
Except for the bathrooms and the freezer section, things move.  Today, I frantically went in search of my favorite SOBE drinks.  It has almost always been right THERE where I knew exactly which aisle to go down.  NOT THERE.  So, I had to go down almost ALL the food aisles.  It was back in the very back corner where the paper products have been for months.  Oh, now that is sneaky making me go down all those aisles.  Could it be they want me to see something and on the spur of the moment, put it into my cart?

2.  PROVIDE NO SHELF LABELS.
Every grocery store has signs overhead proclaiming: Ketchup, dog food, bread, etc.  Not Costco...they number the aisles, and those numbers have absolutely NO meaning to the average customer.  So, a shopper is forced to go down each aisle in search of a giant bottle of pickles that no family on earth would ever possibly consume.  And, while looking for the pickles, of course the shopper is going to pick up huge amounts of other vast quantities of food that will spoil on the shelf at home.

3.  PROVIDE NO ONE TO HELP FIND THINGS.
Oh, sure, there are people at the end of every food aisle, but when you politely ask, "Could you tell me where the pickled pickles are?  They used to be right down here, but they seem to have been moved?"  The helpful lady/man always will say, "I am not an employee of Costco.  I just demonstrate food, so I have no idea where it is/was/or will be in the future!"  Once again, the shopper finds herself going down every food aisle in search of the item....hmmmm, I think I'm seeing a pattern here!

4.  SELL THINGS IN SUCH HUGE QUANTITIES THAT IT REQUIRES A MOVING VAN TO TAKE HOME A WEEK'S SUPPLY OF FOOD.
So, normally RAH and I don't need 278 cookies to have around to snack on, but if we shop Costco, that's what we get.  Or, 56 individual pizzas that will turn to caked ice before we can possibly consume them.  Or 37 tomatoes for a salad we will eat once this week?

What genius marketers they are.

SO, then, why do I always go back for more?

Because I'm no genius shopper....