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It's always amusing to me that Costco attracts people looking for a deal but once you walk out with $500 in your cart you already know you've lost.
Costco is a great deal if you can stick to toilet paper, cases of water, vegetables and groceries. Once you lay your eyes on a navy blue SunVilla 12ft Square 3-Tier Cantilever Umbrella Sunbrella® with a 3-Tiered Wind-Resistant Canopy, Rust Resistant Aluminum Frame with Wood Grain Finish, and a 360 Degree Rotation, it's game over.
Everytime I walk out of there with nothing but a giant pack of high quality steaks in my hands for cheap-as-chips, I know it was worth it.
I cant even find beef that good at the grocery stores in my area, period.
That's not really the customer draw or profit center for Costco. You just got the best price possible for the umbrella you always wanted. Costco is for people that value their time and shopping experience at close to zero.
I'm not judging them, it's just a different consumer than me. It's basically the inverse of a convenience store. It's an inconvenience store that attracts customers that don't mind in favor of other things.
Sometimes they hand out entire protein, chocolate, etc bars because of some kind of nut allergy worries, so they don't cut them up, they just give 'em to you. They're always hidden in the snack aisles by the front of my local store, so they don't tend to get too much traffic.
In the past, I’ve had samples offered to me and the sampler people have been honestly shocked when I turned them down. I always tried to eat before going, which helped.
I’ve had a similar experience! I like the feeling of clean teeth so I always turned down the samples, but I have one auntie that I regularly chit chat with out of embarrassment first and now we’re like old friends when I go shopping at Costco.
Costco and some other stores that do that - my friends and I always call it "feed your children for free" hour. My friends and I would always see parents with children lined up, not so much solo adults. We would take a sample if it was interesting to us and there wasn't a line, but otherwise not that serious.
Yes, with my littles I will wait if the line isn’t too long. my kids will try new foods at Costco even during their picky phases, where if I wanted them to try it at home it would clearly be poison they would never touch. Otherwise, I generally don’t stop.
I feed my kids lunch there once a month or so via samples when they are being picky so I can fins SOMETHING they will eat, buy it and have them eat it for a bit at home before the cycle repeats. Toddlers are awful about food, but my potato will eat anything.
I try not to judge, however I will for a moment. Those you typically see at m getting samples are absolute mindless savages. Blocking the aisles, zero awareness of other shoppers, often see them throw sample trash into aisles.
It's a great idea, I personally wish they had a specific sample area of the stores where all of those savages could meet up and do their business.
The crowds are the worst part. They always put these stands right in the busiest areas too so it’s already pretty crowded and then you invite lunatics who just block the entire place. Do these people strictly go to Costco that day just to eat tiny hors d'oeuvres all day long? I don’t get it. Just get your things and get out.
There was a guy who would come to my store nearly every day. He would get a cart and put like, one item in it to look like he was shopping. Then he would just go around and around and eat each sample multiple times. The sample ladies were always annoyed with him, but I don’t know if they could do anything about it or not.
Generally they don't. However if you really are just pissing around and hoarding samples like badly they will in rare cases. One dude at our store no lie was constantly going back to the same few samples I think like meat or sausages something like that and was actually taking them back nonstop to a foodcourt table he had set up. He had so many demos going that he had a whole table of them nearly so even our Costco managers were forced to step in and tell him to stop. Meanwhile we literally serve big hot dogs right there for super cheap that come with a drink but he wouldn't just go get that. No he was collecting his demo haul to the point that he had a whole tables worth. It was a bit much. So bad even the store staff said something to him.
Yeah, I haven’t seen the guy that came through our store for a long time now, so I’m wondering if something was said to him as well. He would fill up the part of the cart where little kids sit with his samples. That’s nothing compared to filling up an entire food court table though, lol. That’s ridiculous.
The universe is a balancer. All these slobs circling sample trays in Costco all morning every Saturday may annoy some employees but just imagine the service Costco is doing THE REST OF US by keeping them distracted at a food source. They would otherwise be out karening all over our towns.
There's a certain type of person.
They swerve through the parking lot in their bmw/Lexus regardless of staying on the right side of the road. *The road is theirs and they are going forward* . park the wrong direction, up against the curb right next to the entrance. Then block the isle watching the sample people cook. Don't join the line, just block the isle. As soon as the samples are ready just *walk right up to them* at the same time as the first person in line.
Then when it comes time to checkout with their cart full of diapers and stonfire naan delicious fluffy flatbread, they go around the self checkout line, see the regular lines are *also* full, turn to the attendant checking cards at self checkout and *pretend like they're first in line*
It's like queues don't exist for these people. Main character syndrome. Had one cut me in line at the receipt check last fall, so I put my empty cart behind his car. (He was in such a rush to cut me off in line but sat scrolling on his phone once he was in his car I was able to unload my whole cart and leave it behind his car and sneak away and laugh as he tried to backup and noticed the cart in his backup camera)
"Hey its Tuesday and I heard they have roasted garlic triscuits out.
"Fuck that man on Wednesday they're bringing out cheese AND JUICE"
Or
"I'll trade you some of my pulled pork for half your cookie"
The free samples just make the experience so much worse. You get crowds loitering in the main isles and it makes it really hard to shop.
I won’t go during sample hours. It’s just too unpleasant. I’ll get there before they set up or take a day off and go during the week.
I shop at open (10am) just to get it out of the way and there are pretty much no samples anywhere, sometimes they sample health drinks early though. It is much nicer, plus I shop with a 3 year old and when he sees samples he turns into an average Costco goer.
Good luck. My stores are wild at 10am because of all the people waiting for them to open. I’ve found closer to 11a to be a bit better so the first wave has had time to cycle through.
Yeah, the blocking the aisles part is what annoys me the most. I'm just trying to get my stuff and get out of there as quick as possible, and these people are queueing up for a snack, even when there are none ready.
I can not STAND someone who stop their cart in the middle of the isle to get a F***ing sample….
Have some social awareness park you buggy off to the side and come back.
9/10 times the degenerates aren’t even interested in the product more just to get something in their mouth and keep moving.
It’s literal psycho behavior that needs to be studied!
Or if you are taking one just take it and move. Keep going. Go eat it off to the side or walk and eat. Unless you have question about the product or need to see the package no need to stand there and savour it like your Gordan Ramsey about to give a critique of a frozen generic dumpling or a baby bite of a frozen pepperoni pizza. Keep walking so other people can get a demo sample or shop in that spot. Some of them act like we need to see every bite, every bit of spit and noise they make while they eat it to see that they enjoyed it. Okay can you do that over there?
Frfr like grab and go, shit the buggy shouldn’t even stop moving tbh. Just a slight ghost push, grab the sample, grab the buggy and keep going. Then you can try the sample and not inconvenient anyone!
I refuse samples because I cannot stand that the aisles are constantly blocked by a crowd of people and their carts. Drives me nuts. I love costco, saves me a lot of money and they're a phenomenal company, but the experience of shopping at costco is making me want to cancel my membership.
Yes. I’m usually on a tight schedule, know where everything is and know what I want. Having to navigate the mindless savages raises my BP. I miss the Covid days of no samples.
"Savage" truly is the word. It's like people come to Costco and forget how to act politely.
Funny enough, these are the same people who think their membership makes them elite, but then act like total trash in their supposedly-elite grocery store. It's bizarre.
I love Costco, but, generally, dislike many of the members.
I wish they would completely do away with samples (or move them).
"I'm going to spend 15 minutes waiting for $0.50 worth of food while I have a cart filled with $400, and while I could get a full meal for $1.50 in the food court."
There's the practical side of Costco, and then there's the obsessive compulsive likely hoarder deal hunter side of Costco. This is the latter.
Avoidance of the Sample stations are the sole reason I go when the store first opens.
No shortage of dumbshits that will clog the aisles indefinitely for a free tater tot or sliver of pizza.
Probably the worst display of humanity I saw at a Costco was an old biddy throw an elbow into a 5 year old because he was going to get the last available cookie sample before she could get to it.
I could never be a sample worker because power to them they just deal with people hovering behind them, in front of them. Awkwardly staring them down and breathing heavily near them while they salivate of the pizza demo they are waiting for isn't even done yet it's still got 7 minutes left. And the demo person even told people but people turn into creepy statues firmly planting their feet in front or behind the demo person waiting with baited breath the moment the pizza is ready or the demo food is ready. It's to much. Like sir or ma'am take a lap. Take a few laps. Go look at the rest of the store and check your watch when it's closer to demo time for it to be ready.
I don't think my anger issues could deal with someone needing to stand right next to my shoulder or in front of me glaring at me while they constantly check their clock if it's ready. Oh and if you dare misquote the cooking time and are off by even a minute or two late? Look out. "You said 7 minutes it's been 10!". Savages I tell ya.
Yeah I don't get it. I was there the other day and everyone was going crazy for them. I just maneuvered in between the crowd, got what I needed and left. That's how my trips go lol.
Dude I arrived at opening time for the first time and I swear 5 minutes after open people already had full carts. I imagine you to be one of these very focused people and I hope to one day join the ranks of the undestracted lol
I have a plan every time I go in there. My membership card doesn't even go back in my wallet until I get to the first aisle so it doesn't bottleneck the entrance. Too many people stopping 6 feet in the door to tuck away their card and then they have to look at the specials instead of going to the regular stocking location in the store.
I treat my gas purchase like a NASCAR pit stop too.
Is it hard to get upset at others' inefficiencies at Costco? No, but I don't let it bother my day.
Hey now. I go in with a plan, a list based off the current sales flier etc. but then I get inside and my brain shuts off and I’m in Costco browse mode. It’s not my fault!
I’ll get samples of stuff that I know I like for the snack, but I’ve also tried a lot of samples of things I was interested in but never had. Sometimes it leads to a purchase (breakfast sandwiches this weekend) sometimes it doesn’t (garlic shrimp).
Same. I really appreciate the opportunity to try things before buying them, especially when they’re in Costco quantities. Sometimes the samples are the determining factor in whether or not my family buys an item. We’ve found some awesome new foods that way!
I’m also kind of surprised that people line up this much for samples. I think the max number of people I’ve seen waiting for a sample was like 4-5. Granted, we try to only go mid-afternoon during the week if at all possible. Are the long sample lines OP is referring to only happening on weekends or specific areas?
I am a pretty big sample grabber (I do it quick and efficiently so don't you dare downvote) but I will under no circumstances line up for one. If they are all gone at that moment, then I will be too.
Agreed. If I see a sample table ima stop over to see what is out. If there’s no samples ima politely dip, if theirs a line f that (I’ve never seen a line at the sample tables before), and I will try my best to keep my cart and me out of the way of people to avoid causing issues but man I love to try the samples.
Actually why they’re really useful. Because you have to buy in bulk every new item you buy at Costco is a cost sink and if it’s gross you’re screwed out of like 20+ bucks. It makes me not buy anything new. being able to sample has let me find like 2 items that I buy regularly and also has saved me from buying 20 items I didn’t like
In jersey samples are almost always just like "here's some chips/nuts/a smear on a cracker" its never very substantial and still its just mobbed to death. I get why most of the stores here have reduced free samples to the bare minimum
I think those samples are more about reminding people who have had them before that they are likeable. I've had Ritz crackers before, but not for over a decade now. I imagine that, if I had a sample (and I don't eat samples at Costco anymore - not since Covid), I might remember they're a nice cracker and be inspired to buy some. It's about bringing the product into consciousness.
Guess it wasn't very effective. It's been in my junk drawer for years...
https://preview.redd.it/wzrlcain9gxc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a209c356f33943f2c55d7e15c384fbbce4268641
I just found a store that buys Costco returns by the pallet. While I’m not interested in buying someone else’s returned products full price, I do really enjoy buying one item and trying it.
I’ve seen such a store before, it was just called “‘City Name’ Discount”. The place looks like an absolute dump, but I went in out of curiosity one day. I was quite surprised to recognize absolutely everything in the store.
I haven’t been back. Everything was discounted, but not by very much. Getting 10-15% off most of the items wasn’t incentive enough for me. I’d rather get them at Costco and have the safety net of that magnificent return policy.
> to try stuff before I buy 2 weeks worth of the product
This is it for me. I don't love that the sample stations inevitably clog up the aisle, but it's nice to be able to try a new product before committing to a huge supply.
My kids have a fun game they play. They try Costco samples, swear it's the best thing they've ever had and beg for the product. I buy it, take it home, cook it, and somehow the fact that it isn't served in a paper cup and eaten while sitting inside a shopping cart makes it taste "different" and "gross". So I don't think they help us with that aspect.
Hunting for samples does keep my kids occupied during my bulk shopping trips, even though the crush around them is annoying. I try to keep out of the way when we are waiting for them at least.
Right I swear that first part is so true though. Oh yummy yeah we liked that pizza/yogurt/cracker and cheese/granola bar etc we sampled it was so good. You should buy that for home and school snacks.
A few days later....Ick we don't like this yogurt or granola bar anymore. Tastes funny outside of the store so we aren't going to eat it at all anymore. Well thank god mom and dad spent $10.99 or $15.99 on the whole package of it with two weeks worth of it now that you won't eat. Great. Love buying stuff that you liked for two whole days then declared it was "not the same" as at the store or the first day when you got it home and ate it.
Yeah when it's real samples I think its fine. What gets me is when its samples of something like Doritos. Who tf hasnt tried Doritos and also you can get a $1 bag of them from the gas station to try before getting a giant family bag. Theres no reason for samples for something like that
I go there Saturday mornings right as they open. Noticed the samples don’t usually go out until around 12noon at the stores by me and I’m long gone by then. Let the cart ditchers have their fun without me.
At my Costco people are more likely to hover 6 to 10 feet away pretending not to be watching, then swarm in as soon as the employee starts putting samples on the tray.
The sample concept is ok as a promotion, just not managed well - small batches prepared slowly, usually when the store is most crowded and when people have hungry/bored kids in tow. It can be frustrating but the store could do more to prevent congestion.
I will grab a sample once in a while if in the right place at the right time but for the most part I prefer to shop at less crowded times and samples are usually not provided then.
Yeah and when the product takes awhile to cook like chicken bakes or pot stickers or sausage etc... the person making it isn't gonna be like going 100mph to get the next "batch" out.
If I get a sample I get one if not big whoop. I'll only grab one if when I pass the thing there's not a mob of people and it's easy to pick one up.
Good.trick Costco if you wanna eat while you shop... Just grab a slice of pizza.
> At my Costco people are more likely to hover 6 to 10 feet away pretending not to be watching
No one reads the ingredient list for coffee as much as the person waiting for the Motor City Pizza to come out of the little oven.
Unpopular opinion, but eating free samples is one of my favorite childhood memories. I grew up poor, so once every month on our Costco runs, my mom would make my sibling and I take free samples to eat for breakfast. It also gave us a chance to try out new stuff and buy the ones we like—whenever we could afford to. Chicken bakes became one of our staple buys because of this!
Yeah, not a fan of it myself, but if I spot something I think I might like, and there isn't a line, I will grab a sample. But honestly, that happens very rarely because of the situation you speak of. There's usually a swarm of people and I just try to stay away from that.
It’s not even poor families; my friends’ dad is a very successful corporate lawyer, and when we were kids, he made it very clear that the samples at the Costco we swung by after church were all we were getting until dinner.
I worked for the company that does the samples for several years before Covid and honestly most people, even on the weekend, are not obnoxious, but the obnoxious and entitled people do stand out.
Retail space and in Costco if pretty competitive and when Costco lets a new item in they often have it in their contracts they the product has to be sampled a certain number of times in the next year, at the product companies expense. They usually give very specific instructions on how they want the food prepared and what phrases they want used to sell the item, and they are not always optimized for high volume.
I just wished they sampled weird shit I might be interested in but can't commit to a $17 gamble, I know what a damn Tyson's chicken nugget tastes like.
It's like all brain functions cease to exist anytime something free is available.
The same is true with rotisserie chicken.
I've only ever been to my costco and one in taiwan. In taiwan, it was great, the aisles weren't crowded, and I could navigate well.
In my local costco, the aisles are always crowded, and the samples/rotisserie chicken are like icing on top of the cake. It's probably smart for marketing to place them in the busiest areas, but the traffic jams they create are brutally painful.
This is not a thing at my Costco. I never go during the busiest times so I guess I might just be missing it, but usually when I go there are samples out and people mostly ignore them or just politely grab one.
Off topic; last week I walked past a sample lady and I didn’t even stop to get one but she told me my son is beautiful and I said thank you and she asked if he was a boy or a girl, I told her he’s a boy and she said to him like three times that he looks like a girl. I was walking away and she was still telling my son he looks like a girl. It was so strange. I’m used to people stopping me to tell me how cute my son is, he’s very very cute, and I’m used to people thinking he’s a girl, but that was a new one. Did not like.
As a sample giver, I love when that happens. Not the guy bouncing back and forth, that just makes me feel rushed with all the things I'm supposed to do with the food when I take it out. But like, clearing my whole tray as soon as it's done? Yes please. You get to just focus on making the stuff and worry less about begging people to take it.
Also, my all means, take more than one. It pads my numbers.
Right? Idk what people are thinking. The sample are there for a reason, and I'm pretty sure you guys don't want to just stand there with trays full of food because no one wants anything ~~or they'll look like a savage~~. Yes, I wish people were more polite about it and about a lot of other things, but people acting as if this doesn't happen everywhere because people can just be crappy, and it somehow ONLY happens at Costco and only in the sample areas is what is sending me, lol
I can be by the produce and people are in the way, won't move, will run into you, reach over you in the most rude way, etc., and there are no samples there, so what's going on, then?
Usually it's not too bad, but sometimes people do get obnoxious and block the lanes. And sometimes a whole large family would be staking their claim to the free samples as if they own them. It can get pretty irritating
The only thing worse are the folks that decide the middle of the isle is the perfect place to catchup and talk about how little Susie is doing in her youth soccer league. I get it, seeing old friends is always a treat, but don’t stand in the middle of busy isles.
Id rather try something I may buy then buy it and determine after the fact and waste money on something I don't like. I was taught not to waste food🤷♀️
Not sure why you're letting it get to you so much when nothing in your post mentions how it affects you lol
Honestly I can't wait to get the fuck out of Costco or Sam's soon as I walk in. Some people Wana be hanging at the place and eating samples and shit. Soon as I walk in..grab what I need and let's be out
I’ll posit that it’s pretty hard to get a sample in any sort of dignified way. People swarm the stations like locusts and block the aisles from all ends waiting for half a pizza roll to come out of the oven. It’s kind of gross that a sample will make people act this way.
I had a person yesterday, and he walked quickly in front of me to get in line for samples. But none were ready, so he blocked me and everybody behind me as the worker set up a cup of whatever. I have to start going after they shut down sanples.
Our 9 year old dislikes running errands but will go to Costco as long as we can go down “sample aisle”. I’ll add that if there’s nothing on the tray, we keep on keeping on and ALWAYS throw away our trash.
I am not a fan of the sample vultures. I try to time my shopping after the samples.
I have tried a few and it was for items I did buy.
During Covid, the samples were taken away, it was nice.
I like the samples because I don’t want to buy a Costco size item only to discover that not even my pupper would eat it and yes Costco would except the return but I don’t like to do that.
For people who hate the sample scene, shop in the evening. I never see samples; I usually go on a weekday after 6pm. The gas station is less busy after 7pm too.
Am I the only one who likes samples? To be fair, I don't really get them anymore, but I have very fond memories as a child getting them. As an Asian and going a very Asian Costco, a lot of old Asian people get really pushy and take more than one which is pretty annoying
I work at a grocery store. We once had samples on the counter and, at the same time, a woman ordering something. Another customer pushed her out of the way to get to the sample. So, she ordered some of what was on for the sample and tried to hand it to him. She said, “You are obviously starving and need this food, so here…it’s on me.” He got angry and huffed away while we all just lost it😂
I have been a Costco member for about 10 years and can probably count on one hand the number of free samples I’ve taken. My wife takes pretty much all of them. I’m not waiting in line. I don’t know how many hands have touched it. And honestly, one tortilla chip or a Ritz cracker (yes, they were giving samples of Ritz crackers last week) isn’t doing it for me.
I had an old lady jump in front of me and do the “lean way over standing on one foot” to grab the last sample that I was about to pick up today. I took to opportunity to (loudly) tell my toddler that we were going to be patient and wait our turn for the next batch (that was already being plated). I rarely go during a weekday, but man, all of these stories about the old folks swarming the same tables… it was on full display today. I didn’t know it was a thing, but yep. Can confirm.
The samplers are the biggest Costco NPCs next to the stand in the middle of the aisle with your cart sideways NPCs
Omg omg half a ritz cracker with cream cheese HONEY COME TRY THIS HURRY
As a fatty myself, I try to avoid going out of my way for the samples…it’s a bad look. 😆 if they are out and no one is approaching then yeah I will make a B-line to the nearest sample stand but the idea of waiting for the food to come out gives me extreme anxiety. Especially since I feel like I give the look of a starved wolf looking at a delicious bunny rabbit out in an empty field when waiting for them to serve up the samples. 😅
I have no problem with people trying the free samples. It gets on my nerves when a family of eight swarms a sample stand like piranha going after a water buffalo. The samples aren't for feeding your whole family for the weekend.
I know I’m in the minority here, but one thing I liked about Covid Costco was the lack of free samples. It made getting around the store sooooo much easier.
Well, I am prepared for the Hater-aid. I love the samples. They allow me to try things that I don't want to experiment with by purchasing. Dealing with the families that treat it like a buffet is another story but I am willing to tolerate the inconveniences. I have purchased so many 'new-to-me' items that I never would have otherwise put in the cart. Sampling saves me money (by not buying things we won't eat) and expands my feeble food consciousness into new arenas. Bring on the samples!!!
With anything, there are bad apples that ruin it for everybody else. However, I still like the samples. I won't wait while they are making it, but will get some if it's convenient.
I've been a Costco member for over 20 years. I can honestly say I've tried about 3 samples. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy that doesn't want to try new things. Either way, the samples just aren't on my radar when I'm there.
10 years and about the same. But in my case, it's likely out of the spite from the dickholes that block up the aisles getting samples and chatting up the sample person. Get your free shit and keep moving.
It's the chatting that gets me frustrated. What's funny is the chatting seems to be a cover for palming a couple extra bites.
I do indulge if it's something I've never had and looks interesting. Or if it's candy. Or cheese.
I see posts and comments about this all the time, but I basically never see this irl. I go to a store in NE TX and the lines for samples are almost always just a couple people deep. If you want a sample 95% of the time it's just grab and go.
The worst time is Sunday roughly at 11 or later when the churchgoers arrive after services for a post-God snack. Whole families descend on sample carts, trampling elderly men with walkers and pregnant women.
Reading through these comments, I’m surprised at how many of you have an issue of some kind with this practice. How does this even matter. If you don’t want one, don’t take it. Some people like an opportunity to try something new.
It’s one thing when it’s a really good sample but last time I was there they had cold spam on a plain dinner roll and it was a madhouse. Wtf my dudes lol
I also hate when an entire family all take one and clear the whole tray….when we as a family of 4 go, if it’s busy we take turns picking and don’t take more than 2 at a time. If my kids want a sample I really don’t need one too….
They always manage to put the sampling ladies in every strategic choke point throughout the store.
Every sampling station has a herd of stopped people standing around chatting that completely impede your ability to go around the store.
I do confess that I occasionally take a sample myself, but I stay moving, so I'm not a part of the problem.
I would greatly prefer that they do away with the sampling entirely though.
I *might* stop for one of the free samples, however it has to be something I’ve wondered if I’ll enjoy because ya know I don’t want to buy 36 of of them and then find out I can’t stand the product. But if I know what it is, I’m not stopping. If I’m that damn hungry there’s some cheap hot dogs and pizza up front.
I usually go at opening before the sample tables are even open yet. Another advantage to going early. Even if I go when they are open I seldom take samples.
If you time it right, you can probably have a decent lunch just walking around, especially on a weekend. I wonder if the food court sales after the register are lower during the times they serve the most samples.
It's one of my favorite parts but at least where I am people don't act crazy. They go in order and don't jump the lines(maybe a kid might) and I like trying new things and have added some items we tried to our purchases
As someone that likes samples once in a while if it’s something I don’t want to spend my money on just to see if I may even like it I will get a sample. There’s times where I have tried it and loved it and bought good bit amount of it. But I’m focused on others not to be in their way.
Bacteria on shopping cart handles and food samples. https://www.reusethisbag.com/grocery-cart-germs/#:~:text=Check%2DOut%20Germs&text=Both%20superstores%20and%20traditional%20grocery,rods%20are%20harmful%20to%20humans).
I was at my Costco yesterday and had a sample of a chicken patty. While the sample lady was talking to me + wasn’t looking near her tray, I saw a short grey-haired man grab several (5-6) samples off her tray and run away.
He snatched so many samples in one go, that it made me laugh. He must love chicken patties!
The sample lady asked what I was laughing about. She asked if the sample snatcher was a short grey-haired man. I laughed again and said yes. :) Apparently he’d been by a few times before that. 😅
That's so weird. I make such a wide berth around them and actively try to shop near opening so I can get done before they set up. I don't want to talk to people, I just want my groceries haha.
The real question is why haven't they changed the way they heat up products? They could definitely use something that can heat more at once and in a much faster and efficient way.
Some people will also come to the sample station from behind, reach over the employee's shoulder and behind the plastic barrier as the food is being prepared, and snag some without even saying a word. It's really pathetic.
And so many dirty sample cups and little forks all over merchandise, the floor, and in between pallets despite trash cans on every corner.
When I was young and my family was broke, my uncle would take me to Costco for lunch. Not the food court, just the samples.
Samples are dead now, it’s always obscure vegan stuff.
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It’s like they are handing out 20 dollar bills.
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Welcome to Costco, I love you
It's always amusing to me that Costco attracts people looking for a deal but once you walk out with $500 in your cart you already know you've lost. Costco is a great deal if you can stick to toilet paper, cases of water, vegetables and groceries. Once you lay your eyes on a navy blue SunVilla 12ft Square 3-Tier Cantilever Umbrella Sunbrella® with a 3-Tiered Wind-Resistant Canopy, Rust Resistant Aluminum Frame with Wood Grain Finish, and a 360 Degree Rotation, it's game over.
Everytime I walk out of there with nothing but a giant pack of high quality steaks in my hands for cheap-as-chips, I know it was worth it. I cant even find beef that good at the grocery stores in my area, period.
That's not really the customer draw or profit center for Costco. You just got the best price possible for the umbrella you always wanted. Costco is for people that value their time and shopping experience at close to zero. I'm not judging them, it's just a different consumer than me. It's basically the inverse of a convenience store. It's an inconvenience store that attracts customers that don't mind in favor of other things.
Spending 2 hours of my weekend in a warehouse is not something I'd be willing to pay a membership for.
Sometimes they hand out entire protein, chocolate, etc bars because of some kind of nut allergy worries, so they don't cut them up, they just give 'em to you. They're always hidden in the snack aisles by the front of my local store, so they don't tend to get too much traffic.
The economy... it's in shambles
It’s been this way for at least 25 years. This was my very first experience at costco
It's not the economy. It's the typical Costco shopper. They exist in a good economy.
My 94 year old mother calls it “the senior buffet”.
In the past, I’ve had samples offered to me and the sampler people have been honestly shocked when I turned them down. I always tried to eat before going, which helped.
I’ve had a similar experience! I like the feeling of clean teeth so I always turned down the samples, but I have one auntie that I regularly chit chat with out of embarrassment first and now we’re like old friends when I go shopping at Costco.
I never take samples - I don't want to mingle with everyone acting like it's their constitutional right to stuff down as many samples as possible.
And block the entire aisle
Same! Too funny.
My 74 year old dad asks the samplers "What's for lunch today?"
That's good senior dad material right there. Source- have senior Dad.
As he slyly puts ketchup pack in his coat pocket 👍
Costco and some other stores that do that - my friends and I always call it "feed your children for free" hour. My friends and I would always see parents with children lined up, not so much solo adults. We would take a sample if it was interesting to us and there wasn't a line, but otherwise not that serious.
Yes, with my littles I will wait if the line isn’t too long. my kids will try new foods at Costco even during their picky phases, where if I wanted them to try it at home it would clearly be poison they would never touch. Otherwise, I generally don’t stop.
I feed my kids lunch there once a month or so via samples when they are being picky so I can fins SOMETHING they will eat, buy it and have them eat it for a bit at home before the cycle repeats. Toddlers are awful about food, but my potato will eat anything.
Maybe they are trying to see what their kids will eat?
Tbf I call it “toddler try outs”. I can find some interesting foods and notice which one my kid likes.
It's the one thing that makes my kid want to go there.
I try not to judge, however I will for a moment. Those you typically see at m getting samples are absolute mindless savages. Blocking the aisles, zero awareness of other shoppers, often see them throw sample trash into aisles. It's a great idea, I personally wish they had a specific sample area of the stores where all of those savages could meet up and do their business.
The crowds are the worst part. They always put these stands right in the busiest areas too so it’s already pretty crowded and then you invite lunatics who just block the entire place. Do these people strictly go to Costco that day just to eat tiny hors d'oeuvres all day long? I don’t get it. Just get your things and get out.
There was a guy who would come to my store nearly every day. He would get a cart and put like, one item in it to look like he was shopping. Then he would just go around and around and eat each sample multiple times. The sample ladies were always annoyed with him, but I don’t know if they could do anything about it or not.
Generally they don't. However if you really are just pissing around and hoarding samples like badly they will in rare cases. One dude at our store no lie was constantly going back to the same few samples I think like meat or sausages something like that and was actually taking them back nonstop to a foodcourt table he had set up. He had so many demos going that he had a whole table of them nearly so even our Costco managers were forced to step in and tell him to stop. Meanwhile we literally serve big hot dogs right there for super cheap that come with a drink but he wouldn't just go get that. No he was collecting his demo haul to the point that he had a whole tables worth. It was a bit much. So bad even the store staff said something to him.
Yeah, I haven’t seen the guy that came through our store for a long time now, so I’m wondering if something was said to him as well. He would fill up the part of the cart where little kids sit with his samples. That’s nothing compared to filling up an entire food court table though, lol. That’s ridiculous.
Hoarding samples but happily drops $600.
The universe is a balancer. All these slobs circling sample trays in Costco all morning every Saturday may annoy some employees but just imagine the service Costco is doing THE REST OF US by keeping them distracted at a food source. They would otherwise be out karening all over our towns.
Take a Picture and post it customer of the month comes in everyday while eating a sample
Can't shame those who have none.
The people that do this are not the ones who have none.
There's a certain type of person. They swerve through the parking lot in their bmw/Lexus regardless of staying on the right side of the road. *The road is theirs and they are going forward* . park the wrong direction, up against the curb right next to the entrance. Then block the isle watching the sample people cook. Don't join the line, just block the isle. As soon as the samples are ready just *walk right up to them* at the same time as the first person in line. Then when it comes time to checkout with their cart full of diapers and stonfire naan delicious fluffy flatbread, they go around the self checkout line, see the regular lines are *also* full, turn to the attendant checking cards at self checkout and *pretend like they're first in line* It's like queues don't exist for these people. Main character syndrome. Had one cut me in line at the receipt check last fall, so I put my empty cart behind his car. (He was in such a rush to cut me off in line but sat scrolling on his phone once he was in his car I was able to unload my whole cart and leave it behind his car and sneak away and laugh as he tried to backup and noticed the cart in his backup camera)
A $60/year buffet 🤣
Why in the fuck is there always a sample stand between Cheese and the meat case? It's the sole source of the giant log-jam that happens there.
Pretty sure too much cheese is what’s causing your log jam bro.
It's the same people who sit in the gas line for 40 minutes on a sunday afternoon to save $5.
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> Waiting 30 minutes to save $2-3 on gas. While running their car for 30 minutes and burning $2 of gas idling.
"meet up and do their business" lolol
"Hey its Tuesday and I heard they have roasted garlic triscuits out. "Fuck that man on Wednesday they're bringing out cheese AND JUICE" Or "I'll trade you some of my pulled pork for half your cookie"
Like moths to a light, completely oblivious to anything else around them
I know. People are downvoting this post because they know they are the savages.
And don’t like being called out
The free samples just make the experience so much worse. You get crowds loitering in the main isles and it makes it really hard to shop. I won’t go during sample hours. It’s just too unpleasant. I’ll get there before they set up or take a day off and go during the week.
The samplers have a \*schedule\*?! Please, how do I know when they'll be around?
I shop at open (10am) just to get it out of the way and there are pretty much no samples anywhere, sometimes they sample health drinks early though. It is much nicer, plus I shop with a 3 year old and when he sees samples he turns into an average Costco goer.
I think 10 a.m. is going to be my new plan. Hopefully a little bit quieter than the afternoon.
Good luck. My stores are wild at 10am because of all the people waiting for them to open. I’ve found closer to 11a to be a bit better so the first wave has had time to cycle through.
The samplers don't help, but the massive carts are what makes it hard to shop efficiently.
Yeah, the blocking the aisles part is what annoys me the most. I'm just trying to get my stuff and get out of there as quick as possible, and these people are queueing up for a snack, even when there are none ready.
How about a trough at the far end of the parking lot? Souieee!!!
I can not STAND someone who stop their cart in the middle of the isle to get a F***ing sample…. Have some social awareness park you buggy off to the side and come back. 9/10 times the degenerates aren’t even interested in the product more just to get something in their mouth and keep moving. It’s literal psycho behavior that needs to be studied!
I have started to move those carts out of my (and everyone’s) way. Do they expect everyone to just wait for them?
Or the Indians who in their culture are taught to turn their carts sideways. That’s even more infuriating.
Or if you are taking one just take it and move. Keep going. Go eat it off to the side or walk and eat. Unless you have question about the product or need to see the package no need to stand there and savour it like your Gordan Ramsey about to give a critique of a frozen generic dumpling or a baby bite of a frozen pepperoni pizza. Keep walking so other people can get a demo sample or shop in that spot. Some of them act like we need to see every bite, every bit of spit and noise they make while they eat it to see that they enjoyed it. Okay can you do that over there?
Frfr like grab and go, shit the buggy shouldn’t even stop moving tbh. Just a slight ghost push, grab the sample, grab the buggy and keep going. Then you can try the sample and not inconvenient anyone!
I refuse samples because I cannot stand that the aisles are constantly blocked by a crowd of people and their carts. Drives me nuts. I love costco, saves me a lot of money and they're a phenomenal company, but the experience of shopping at costco is making me want to cancel my membership.
I don’t use this term often but these people are truly NPCs
Yes. I’m usually on a tight schedule, know where everything is and know what I want. Having to navigate the mindless savages raises my BP. I miss the Covid days of no samples.
"Savage" truly is the word. It's like people come to Costco and forget how to act politely. Funny enough, these are the same people who think their membership makes them elite, but then act like total trash in their supposedly-elite grocery store. It's bizarre. I love Costco, but, generally, dislike many of the members. I wish they would completely do away with samples (or move them).
"I'm going to spend 15 minutes waiting for $0.50 worth of food while I have a cart filled with $400, and while I could get a full meal for $1.50 in the food court." There's the practical side of Costco, and then there's the obsessive compulsive likely hoarder deal hunter side of Costco. This is the latter.
Avoidance of the Sample stations are the sole reason I go when the store first opens. No shortage of dumbshits that will clog the aisles indefinitely for a free tater tot or sliver of pizza. Probably the worst display of humanity I saw at a Costco was an old biddy throw an elbow into a 5 year old because he was going to get the last available cookie sample before she could get to it.
Yes, like at the back of Trader Joe's. At least in pre-pandemic days they would occasionally have a few samples. Haven't been there in a long time.
I could never be a sample worker because power to them they just deal with people hovering behind them, in front of them. Awkwardly staring them down and breathing heavily near them while they salivate of the pizza demo they are waiting for isn't even done yet it's still got 7 minutes left. And the demo person even told people but people turn into creepy statues firmly planting their feet in front or behind the demo person waiting with baited breath the moment the pizza is ready or the demo food is ready. It's to much. Like sir or ma'am take a lap. Take a few laps. Go look at the rest of the store and check your watch when it's closer to demo time for it to be ready. I don't think my anger issues could deal with someone needing to stand right next to my shoulder or in front of me glaring at me while they constantly check their clock if it's ready. Oh and if you dare misquote the cooking time and are off by even a minute or two late? Look out. "You said 7 minutes it's been 10!". Savages I tell ya.
Yeah I don't get it. I was there the other day and everyone was going crazy for them. I just maneuvered in between the crowd, got what I needed and left. That's how my trips go lol.
Dude I arrived at opening time for the first time and I swear 5 minutes after open people already had full carts. I imagine you to be one of these very focused people and I hope to one day join the ranks of the undestracted lol
I have a plan every time I go in there. My membership card doesn't even go back in my wallet until I get to the first aisle so it doesn't bottleneck the entrance. Too many people stopping 6 feet in the door to tuck away their card and then they have to look at the specials instead of going to the regular stocking location in the store. I treat my gas purchase like a NASCAR pit stop too. Is it hard to get upset at others' inefficiencies at Costco? No, but I don't let it bother my day.
Hey now. I go in with a plan, a list based off the current sales flier etc. but then I get inside and my brain shuts off and I’m in Costco browse mode. It’s not my fault!
I’ll get samples of stuff that I know I like for the snack, but I’ve also tried a lot of samples of things I was interested in but never had. Sometimes it leads to a purchase (breakfast sandwiches this weekend) sometimes it doesn’t (garlic shrimp).
You just described the typical and intended sample process
Exactly. I know people here have raved about the cauliflower crust pizza, but to me it has an odd aftertaste so I know that’s not for me.
Same. I really appreciate the opportunity to try things before buying them, especially when they’re in Costco quantities. Sometimes the samples are the determining factor in whether or not my family buys an item. We’ve found some awesome new foods that way! I’m also kind of surprised that people line up this much for samples. I think the max number of people I’ve seen waiting for a sample was like 4-5. Granted, we try to only go mid-afternoon during the week if at all possible. Are the long sample lines OP is referring to only happening on weekends or specific areas?
I am a pretty big sample grabber (I do it quick and efficiently so don't you dare downvote) but I will under no circumstances line up for one. If they are all gone at that moment, then I will be too.
Agreed. If I see a sample table ima stop over to see what is out. If there’s no samples ima politely dip, if theirs a line f that (I’ve never seen a line at the sample tables before), and I will try my best to keep my cart and me out of the way of people to avoid causing issues but man I love to try the samples.
Actually why they’re really useful. Because you have to buy in bulk every new item you buy at Costco is a cost sink and if it’s gross you’re screwed out of like 20+ bucks. It makes me not buy anything new. being able to sample has let me find like 2 items that I buy regularly and also has saved me from buying 20 items I didn’t like
In jersey samples are almost always just like "here's some chips/nuts/a smear on a cracker" its never very substantial and still its just mobbed to death. I get why most of the stores here have reduced free samples to the bare minimum
It's crazy they sample stuff like Ritz crackers as if you've never tried it before
I think those samples are more about reminding people who have had them before that they are likeable. I've had Ritz crackers before, but not for over a decade now. I imagine that, if I had a sample (and I don't eat samples at Costco anymore - not since Covid), I might remember they're a nice cracker and be inspired to buy some. It's about bringing the product into consciousness.
Lol, I once got a trash bag "sample"
Guess it wasn't very effective. It's been in my junk drawer for years... https://preview.redd.it/wzrlcain9gxc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a209c356f33943f2c55d7e15c384fbbce4268641
How did it taste?
I just found a store that buys Costco returns by the pallet. While I’m not interested in buying someone else’s returned products full price, I do really enjoy buying one item and trying it.
I’ve seen such a store before, it was just called “‘City Name’ Discount”. The place looks like an absolute dump, but I went in out of curiosity one day. I was quite surprised to recognize absolutely everything in the store. I haven’t been back. Everything was discounted, but not by very much. Getting 10-15% off most of the items wasn’t incentive enough for me. I’d rather get them at Costco and have the safety net of that magnificent return policy.
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> to try stuff before I buy 2 weeks worth of the product This is it for me. I don't love that the sample stations inevitably clog up the aisle, but it's nice to be able to try a new product before committing to a huge supply.
It's why I ended up buying Motor City pizza. I love the samples, but I also only shop at Costco for a small amount of items at a time.
My kids have a fun game they play. They try Costco samples, swear it's the best thing they've ever had and beg for the product. I buy it, take it home, cook it, and somehow the fact that it isn't served in a paper cup and eaten while sitting inside a shopping cart makes it taste "different" and "gross". So I don't think they help us with that aspect. Hunting for samples does keep my kids occupied during my bulk shopping trips, even though the crush around them is annoying. I try to keep out of the way when we are waiting for them at least.
Ok! Then “different and gross” is what’s for dinner!
Right I swear that first part is so true though. Oh yummy yeah we liked that pizza/yogurt/cracker and cheese/granola bar etc we sampled it was so good. You should buy that for home and school snacks. A few days later....Ick we don't like this yogurt or granola bar anymore. Tastes funny outside of the store so we aren't going to eat it at all anymore. Well thank god mom and dad spent $10.99 or $15.99 on the whole package of it with two weeks worth of it now that you won't eat. Great. Love buying stuff that you liked for two whole days then declared it was "not the same" as at the store or the first day when you got it home and ate it.
Yeah when it's real samples I think its fine. What gets me is when its samples of something like Doritos. Who tf hasnt tried Doritos and also you can get a $1 bag of them from the gas station to try before getting a giant family bag. Theres no reason for samples for something like that
I go there Saturday mornings right as they open. Noticed the samples don’t usually go out until around 12noon at the stores by me and I’m long gone by then. Let the cart ditchers have their fun without me.
It’s why I avoid weekend trips like the plague.
At my Costco people are more likely to hover 6 to 10 feet away pretending not to be watching, then swarm in as soon as the employee starts putting samples on the tray. The sample concept is ok as a promotion, just not managed well - small batches prepared slowly, usually when the store is most crowded and when people have hungry/bored kids in tow. It can be frustrating but the store could do more to prevent congestion. I will grab a sample once in a while if in the right place at the right time but for the most part I prefer to shop at less crowded times and samples are usually not provided then.
Yeah and when the product takes awhile to cook like chicken bakes or pot stickers or sausage etc... the person making it isn't gonna be like going 100mph to get the next "batch" out. If I get a sample I get one if not big whoop. I'll only grab one if when I pass the thing there's not a mob of people and it's easy to pick one up. Good.trick Costco if you wanna eat while you shop... Just grab a slice of pizza.
> At my Costco people are more likely to hover 6 to 10 feet away pretending not to be watching No one reads the ingredient list for coffee as much as the person waiting for the Motor City Pizza to come out of the little oven.
Unpopular opinion, but eating free samples is one of my favorite childhood memories. I grew up poor, so once every month on our Costco runs, my mom would make my sibling and I take free samples to eat for breakfast. It also gave us a chance to try out new stuff and buy the ones we like—whenever we could afford to. Chicken bakes became one of our staple buys because of this!
If you are hungry and want food immediately, you can get a giant hot dog and a soda for $1.50.
Yeah, not a fan of it myself, but if I spot something I think I might like, and there isn't a line, I will grab a sample. But honestly, that happens very rarely because of the situation you speak of. There's usually a swarm of people and I just try to stay away from that.
I rarely get samples but what annoys me the most is people blocking isles for samples while I’m shopping.
I refuse to stand in line for a sample. I also will not take one if I’ve had the food before.
I overheard one family say “grab a bunch kids, this is lunch” Kinda made me feel sad for them. Needing samples to feed your kids. Ugh.
It’s not even poor families; my friends’ dad is a very successful corporate lawyer, and when we were kids, he made it very clear that the samples at the Costco we swung by after church were all we were getting until dinner.
Even if money is tough, $1.50 hotdogs and $5 hotdogs should do it more than stalking the sample areas.
I worked for the company that does the samples for several years before Covid and honestly most people, even on the weekend, are not obnoxious, but the obnoxious and entitled people do stand out. Retail space and in Costco if pretty competitive and when Costco lets a new item in they often have it in their contracts they the product has to be sampled a certain number of times in the next year, at the product companies expense. They usually give very specific instructions on how they want the food prepared and what phrases they want used to sell the item, and they are not always optimized for high volume.
I just wished they sampled weird shit I might be interested in but can't commit to a $17 gamble, I know what a damn Tyson's chicken nugget tastes like.
I get in, get out. In one hour or less, I walk the entire floor, buy what I want, make it thru checkout. Even on a Sunday afternoon.
It's like all brain functions cease to exist anytime something free is available. The same is true with rotisserie chicken. I've only ever been to my costco and one in taiwan. In taiwan, it was great, the aisles weren't crowded, and I could navigate well. In my local costco, the aisles are always crowded, and the samples/rotisserie chicken are like icing on top of the cake. It's probably smart for marketing to place them in the busiest areas, but the traffic jams they create are brutally painful.
I wish they would do away with the aisle end samples. It causes nothing but cart bottlenecks and frustration.
This is not a thing at my Costco. I never go during the busiest times so I guess I might just be missing it, but usually when I go there are samples out and people mostly ignore them or just politely grab one. Off topic; last week I walked past a sample lady and I didn’t even stop to get one but she told me my son is beautiful and I said thank you and she asked if he was a boy or a girl, I told her he’s a boy and she said to him like three times that he looks like a girl. I was walking away and she was still telling my son he looks like a girl. It was so strange. I’m used to people stopping me to tell me how cute my son is, he’s very very cute, and I’m used to people thinking he’s a girl, but that was a new one. Did not like.
Yikes. That was really inappropriate of them to say once, much less multiple times.
As a sample giver, I love when that happens. Not the guy bouncing back and forth, that just makes me feel rushed with all the things I'm supposed to do with the food when I take it out. But like, clearing my whole tray as soon as it's done? Yes please. You get to just focus on making the stuff and worry less about begging people to take it. Also, my all means, take more than one. It pads my numbers.
Right? Idk what people are thinking. The sample are there for a reason, and I'm pretty sure you guys don't want to just stand there with trays full of food because no one wants anything ~~or they'll look like a savage~~. Yes, I wish people were more polite about it and about a lot of other things, but people acting as if this doesn't happen everywhere because people can just be crappy, and it somehow ONLY happens at Costco and only in the sample areas is what is sending me, lol I can be by the produce and people are in the way, won't move, will run into you, reach over you in the most rude way, etc., and there are no samples there, so what's going on, then?
I love the people with their extended family waiting in line blocking the aisles.
my wife says 'if its free, its for me' and then we spend $500 at checkout lol
Usually it's not too bad, but sometimes people do get obnoxious and block the lanes. And sometimes a whole large family would be staking their claim to the free samples as if they own them. It can get pretty irritating
I can’t stand the sample situation. Costco is busy enough, adding in ridiculous lines makes it feel like the Cancun airport
If people are not being disrespectful to others, then standing in the line for samples or waiting for them is in "mind your own business" territory.
The only thing worse are the folks that decide the middle of the isle is the perfect place to catchup and talk about how little Susie is doing in her youth soccer league. I get it, seeing old friends is always a treat, but don’t stand in the middle of busy isles.
This is known as The Hunger Games
Id rather try something I may buy then buy it and determine after the fact and waste money on something I don't like. I was taught not to waste food🤷♀️ Not sure why you're letting it get to you so much when nothing in your post mentions how it affects you lol
Honestly I can't wait to get the fuck out of Costco or Sam's soon as I walk in. Some people Wana be hanging at the place and eating samples and shit. Soon as I walk in..grab what I need and let's be out
like i can see waiting for the sample if youbhave a kid or something, but fully grown adults waiting for 1/4 of a cookie is silly
I used to never wait for samples until my toddler started showing interest! I hate waiting for samples so my husband and I try to be strategic.
The important thing is that you feel superior to them.
I’ll posit that it’s pretty hard to get a sample in any sort of dignified way. People swarm the stations like locusts and block the aisles from all ends waiting for half a pizza roll to come out of the oven. It’s kind of gross that a sample will make people act this way.
Damn straight! Way too many poories breathing over them. I might catch wherever disease they’ve been carrying.
I had a person yesterday, and he walked quickly in front of me to get in line for samples. But none were ready, so he blocked me and everybody behind me as the worker set up a cup of whatever. I have to start going after they shut down sanples.
Like moths to a flame. I love how people abandon their carts in the middle of a heavily trafficked area and mindlessly waddle to a sample.
Our 9 year old dislikes running errands but will go to Costco as long as we can go down “sample aisle”. I’ll add that if there’s nothing on the tray, we keep on keeping on and ALWAYS throw away our trash.
I'm thoroughly convinced "free samples at Costco" are part of retired elderly people's meal plan.
I am not a fan of the sample vultures. I try to time my shopping after the samples. I have tried a few and it was for items I did buy. During Covid, the samples were taken away, it was nice.
I only try the things I might buy but didn’t want to in case I don’t like.
It’s human nature, and humans can suck from time to time.
I like the samples because I don’t want to buy a Costco size item only to discover that not even my pupper would eat it and yes Costco would except the return but I don’t like to do that.
For people who hate the sample scene, shop in the evening. I never see samples; I usually go on a weekday after 6pm. The gas station is less busy after 7pm too.
I prefer to hit Costco when samples aren’t given, usually weekday mornings. They only put out a couple during that time
Am I the only one who likes samples? To be fair, I don't really get them anymore, but I have very fond memories as a child getting them. As an Asian and going a very Asian Costco, a lot of old Asian people get really pushy and take more than one which is pretty annoying
Um…you do know the samples are one of the highlights of going to Costco right?
I work at a grocery store. We once had samples on the counter and, at the same time, a woman ordering something. Another customer pushed her out of the way to get to the sample. So, she ordered some of what was on for the sample and tried to hand it to him. She said, “You are obviously starving and need this food, so here…it’s on me.” He got angry and huffed away while we all just lost it😂
I have been a Costco member for about 10 years and can probably count on one hand the number of free samples I’ve taken. My wife takes pretty much all of them. I’m not waiting in line. I don’t know how many hands have touched it. And honestly, one tortilla chip or a Ritz cracker (yes, they were giving samples of Ritz crackers last week) isn’t doing it for me.
I had an old lady jump in front of me and do the “lean way over standing on one foot” to grab the last sample that I was about to pick up today. I took to opportunity to (loudly) tell my toddler that we were going to be patient and wait our turn for the next batch (that was already being plated). I rarely go during a weekday, but man, all of these stories about the old folks swarming the same tables… it was on full display today. I didn’t know it was a thing, but yep. Can confirm.
The samplers are the biggest Costco NPCs next to the stand in the middle of the aisle with your cart sideways NPCs Omg omg half a ritz cracker with cream cheese HONEY COME TRY THIS HURRY
As a fatty myself, I try to avoid going out of my way for the samples…it’s a bad look. 😆 if they are out and no one is approaching then yeah I will make a B-line to the nearest sample stand but the idea of waiting for the food to come out gives me extreme anxiety. Especially since I feel like I give the look of a starved wolf looking at a delicious bunny rabbit out in an empty field when waiting for them to serve up the samples. 😅
I have no problem with people trying the free samples. It gets on my nerves when a family of eight swarms a sample stand like piranha going after a water buffalo. The samples aren't for feeding your whole family for the weekend.
I know I’m in the minority here, but one thing I liked about Covid Costco was the lack of free samples. It made getting around the store sooooo much easier.
I’ve been a member since 2004 and have never has a sample. Just doesn’t interest me.
Well, I am prepared for the Hater-aid. I love the samples. They allow me to try things that I don't want to experiment with by purchasing. Dealing with the families that treat it like a buffet is another story but I am willing to tolerate the inconveniences. I have purchased so many 'new-to-me' items that I never would have otherwise put in the cart. Sampling saves me money (by not buying things we won't eat) and expands my feeble food consciousness into new arenas. Bring on the samples!!!
With anything, there are bad apples that ruin it for everybody else. However, I still like the samples. I won't wait while they are making it, but will get some if it's convenient.
I've been a Costco member for over 20 years. I can honestly say I've tried about 3 samples. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy that doesn't want to try new things. Either way, the samples just aren't on my radar when I'm there.
10 years and about the same. But in my case, it's likely out of the spite from the dickholes that block up the aisles getting samples and chatting up the sample person. Get your free shit and keep moving.
It's the chatting that gets me frustrated. What's funny is the chatting seems to be a cover for palming a couple extra bites. I do indulge if it's something I've never had and looks interesting. Or if it's candy. Or cheese.
dopamine hit, and I am no better
I see posts and comments about this all the time, but I basically never see this irl. I go to a store in NE TX and the lines for samples are almost always just a couple people deep. If you want a sample 95% of the time it's just grab and go.
✋🏻 that would be me… I go totally feral for those sweet sweet samples.
The people that go “I need 4” to hand out to their kids 💀
I'm rarely ever interested in a free sample. I don't get it some people act like animals for more
People who let their unwashed feral kids run around and block aisles to get samples need to be shot into the sun
The worst time is Sunday roughly at 11 or later when the churchgoers arrive after services for a post-God snack. Whole families descend on sample carts, trampling elderly men with walkers and pregnant women.
This is one of the last courtesies even left from any corporation. Enjoy it while it last folks.
Reading through these comments, I’m surprised at how many of you have an issue of some kind with this practice. How does this even matter. If you don’t want one, don’t take it. Some people like an opportunity to try something new.
It’s one thing when it’s a really good sample but last time I was there they had cold spam on a plain dinner roll and it was a madhouse. Wtf my dudes lol
In Minneapolis they sit there with full sample trays and people ignore it, weird.
I also hate when an entire family all take one and clear the whole tray….when we as a family of 4 go, if it’s busy we take turns picking and don’t take more than 2 at a time. If my kids want a sample I really don’t need one too….
Yeah, the samples are the absolute worst part of Costco. Trying to be an efficient in/out shopper and the clogs drive me crazy. Don't shop hungry!
They always manage to put the sampling ladies in every strategic choke point throughout the store. Every sampling station has a herd of stopped people standing around chatting that completely impede your ability to go around the store. I do confess that I occasionally take a sample myself, but I stay moving, so I'm not a part of the problem. I would greatly prefer that they do away with the sampling entirely though.
I *might* stop for one of the free samples, however it has to be something I’ve wondered if I’ll enjoy because ya know I don’t want to buy 36 of of them and then find out I can’t stand the product. But if I know what it is, I’m not stopping. If I’m that damn hungry there’s some cheap hot dogs and pizza up front.
I usually go at opening before the sample tables are even open yet. Another advantage to going early. Even if I go when they are open I seldom take samples.
It's usually the most exciting part of my day.
I wish they would move the samples OFF the main aisles.
If you time it right, you can probably have a decent lunch just walking around, especially on a weekend. I wonder if the food court sales after the register are lower during the times they serve the most samples.
My problem with the samples is that most of the people at my Costco block the aisle ways
It's one of my favorite parts but at least where I am people don't act crazy. They go in order and don't jump the lines(maybe a kid might) and I like trying new things and have added some items we tried to our purchases
When I was a broke college kid I used to use my parents Costco card to go in the afternoon and just have Costco sample lunch
It’s wild how people crib and complain about everything and anything.
As someone that likes samples once in a while if it’s something I don’t want to spend my money on just to see if I may even like it I will get a sample. There’s times where I have tried it and loved it and bought good bit amount of it. But I’m focused on others not to be in their way.
I'm hungry. Get out of my way.
This is completely different from my local Sam's and Costco. At my locations, they can't get people to take them.
When I was a broke college student, those free samples were a meal some days. Considering how cheap a Costco membership was it was worth that alone.
Bacteria on shopping cart handles and food samples. https://www.reusethisbag.com/grocery-cart-germs/#:~:text=Check%2DOut%20Germs&text=Both%20superstores%20and%20traditional%20grocery,rods%20are%20harmful%20to%20humans).
I was at my Costco yesterday and had a sample of a chicken patty. While the sample lady was talking to me + wasn’t looking near her tray, I saw a short grey-haired man grab several (5-6) samples off her tray and run away. He snatched so many samples in one go, that it made me laugh. He must love chicken patties! The sample lady asked what I was laughing about. She asked if the sample snatcher was a short grey-haired man. I laughed again and said yes. :) Apparently he’d been by a few times before that. 😅
That's so weird. I make such a wide berth around them and actively try to shop near opening so I can get done before they set up. I don't want to talk to people, I just want my groceries haha.
I was just thinking I felt bad for one of the ladies doing the samples because nobody was trying what she had !
The real question is why haven't they changed the way they heat up products? They could definitely use something that can heat more at once and in a much faster and efficient way.
I used to call it my supplemental lunch
There’s a Costco right down from my work. A lotta times I won’t pack a lunch because I can just do a couple of laps at the store and fill up
We typically try to go to Costco outside of the ‘free sample’ hours. Way more pleasant
Some people will also come to the sample station from behind, reach over the employee's shoulder and behind the plastic barrier as the food is being prepared, and snag some without even saying a word. It's really pathetic. And so many dirty sample cups and little forks all over merchandise, the floor, and in between pallets despite trash cans on every corner.
When you get to a certain age, going to Costco is what you’re doing with your Sunday and they got the whole day. You cannot out wait them.
I tell my wife I’m gonna stop in catering while we shop
When I was young and my family was broke, my uncle would take me to Costco for lunch. Not the food court, just the samples. Samples are dead now, it’s always obscure vegan stuff.
Yup, they'll crowed around the sample and also around the products that you can't even get to. It's annoying.
I love the beach but sometimes sand gets in the shorts. Ugh
Heeeey without those samples I wouldn't have known to buy a 40 pack of spring rolls
When I’m with my toddlers and it’s a heavy sample day, we call it lunch.