I used to work at Costco – Here’s why you should always buy items with prices that end in 97 cents
[The Sun]
A FORMER Costco employee reveals a shopping strategy that can help you cut costs on your next trip to the store.
There are various prices you’ll find at Costco, but a TikTok influencer shared the secrets behind the pricing.
Mai Zimmy, a former Costco employee, shared on her TikTok channel, maizimmy, Costco’s pricing strategy.
Mai said: “A price ending in $0.99 is still at regular retail price.”
This is something to be cautious of, especially when you are purchasing a big-ticket item like a Samsung television.
For instance, if the television is priced at $599.99, then you might want to wait to buy the item to see if the price goes down.
Mai also pointed out that if prices end in $0.00, it is a manager markdown.Advertisement
This price doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best, but it is on sale.
However, she noted you really want to hunt for prices that end in $0.97 because this means the product is on clearance and it is the lowest price you will see it reach.
The purpose for this pricing strategy
A Costco spokesperson told The Sun that pricing is designed to help manage inventory. Also, since the processes tend to change from time to time, the superstore said it would prefer not to comment on its meaning.
However, there has been research on pricing strategies.
According to ReadySetLifeCoach, human brains read from left to right, which means people automatically judge pricing by the whole number digits on the left and sort of ignore the numbers on the right.
Therefore, if everything is based off that left number, a person will choose a product based on whatever number is lower on the left side.
In other words, when a person sees something priced at $5.99, their brain will say “that it is pretty much $5.”
When in reality, it is actually just one cent away from $6.
This pricing strategy especially works in situations where the decision is minimal.
Other ways to save at Costco
Besides looking at Costco price tags, there are quite a few other ways to save at Costco, and one of them is by purchasing a Costco membership.
Costco gives members various kinds of discounts and perks, including discounted gas prices, extended warranties and savings on prescriptions.
At the moment, there are currently two types of memberships – the Gold Star membership and Executive membership.
The Gold Star membership costs $60 per year, and it includes two cards per household and gives you access to all clubs worldwide and Costco online.
The Executive membership costs $120, and the main difference is you can earn 2% back on all qualifying purchases and save on vacations booked through Costco Travel.