I don't own a Costco membership. I'm mooching off my cousin who has an extra card and looks like me.
Let's start with the positives. I like that Costco carries some pretty cool items like paper shredders (yes..flashback to Modern Family Season 1). We bought a great shredder here and might I say we have prevented identity theft thus far :) Costco has a great price on their organic spinach boxes, their wine and alcohol selection and pricing is decent and they have some items I use like Boursin cheese, Fage yogurt etc at decent prices. Oh, most of all their environmentally friendly Kirkland detergent is really the bomb, That's really the reason I keep my cousin's Costco card in my wallet.
Now from my gripes:
I get seriously irritated when I see severely obese people buying industrial sized packages of full fat cheese, trays of butter croissants and bulk bags of chocolates. I don't think anyone needs that much food unless they are feeding a very unhealthy school. Costcos are full of such irresponsible behavior. But I guess it's a personal choice on what you consume but hey, I'm paying part of their medical bills with my hefty taxes! Before I digress too much...back to the issue at hand...
This Costco is ridiculously busy at all times of the day and the lines are crazy. So for someone like me who's buying detergent, it's about a 45 minute process to find parking, walk to the detergent aisle and check out.
Generally, I can't get behind the idea of Costco because I would never purchase 4 watermelons at a go or a gallon tub of potato salad. Buying what I need from Trader Joe's/Sunflower is plenty for me and it affords me variety in my daily meals since I don't have to (let's say)use up a giant bag of dumplings.
Yes, I patronize Costco once every 6 months or so but I don't think I'll ever be getting a membership or crying my eyes out if they happen to disappear.