No Prime Brisket At Costco


 

Jim Lampe

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I am currently at my local Costco ....
Looking for prime brisket
Can't find any, so I asked the butcher

"we don't carry prime brisket in the summertime"
"we might sell it again during the winter months..."

What the hell.... :confused:
 
That's Costco for you Jim. At least you got a butcher that knew what brisket was. Ours has been out for a while also and hasn't had any pork belly in months.
 
I was thinking of trying a prime brisket for the 4th but our Costco doesn't have any either, but they have all kinds of prime steaks and roasts. Got tons of PBs though.
 
I often wonder who makes product decisions at Costco. They'll carry common BBQ cuts in the winter when no one is firing up their smokers and then not carry them in the summer. For the last two years my local Costco has had the same two types of salad dressing, one boring and the other okay. The irony is in the past they've had custom blended salad dressings that were truly outstanding. Meanwhile, they've had at least SEVEN different kinds of olives the whole time. At one point it was nine different kinds of olives. I don't like olives so maybe I'm missing something, but why would a warehouse place like Costco carry seven different olives but only two different salad dressings? In the bakery they've had some fantastic cinnamon coffee cakes that always get employees commenting on how good they are, but now they only make them at holiday time. They sell out in no time whenever they make them, but they won't make them.

Does anyone know how to send comments about this type of thing to Costco? I'd really like to give someone a few pieces of my mind about this stuff.
 
Try a local butcher shop, might cost a bit more. If they don't have it, they will get it for you.
 
I emailed Costco once about this very thing when I stopped seeing them at my local. While I can't recall the exact reply but they did stated they would review the demand for them and speak with the buyer. Well, about a month later I started to see them again - picked up 2! :)

It's worth a shot, and maybe they will keep them on deck.
https://customerservice.costco.com/app/ask


Johnny O
 
Just got back from Costco and they had one prime brisket packer in the case. Now they have zero. I really don't understand their pricing on this stuff. Prime whole brisket for $3.69/lb. Choice brisket flat for $8.99/lb. I get that they've removed the point and trimmed up the flat a bit, but that price differential just doesn't make sense to me. Anyway, my Fruita Wood order will hopefully arrive just in time for me to do brisket.

Thanks for the Costco link, Mac. I've already given them a small piece of my mind on the salad dressing and olive situation. Once I see how they respond to that I may write about a few other pet peeves.
 
I often wonder who makes product decisions at Costco. They'll carry common BBQ cuts in the winter when no one is firing up their smokers and then not carry them in the summer.

Isn't that what the purpose of a discount retailer is? They are not in the game to buy products at a higher price when they are in demand. Then turn around and have to sit on excess products that they paid a higher price for when demand falls. They buy low and sell low.
 
I just bought Prime at my local costco this weekend Jim. $2.49

Funny thing is they no longer carry Tri-Tip, asked the guys why? He said it sells out to fast! It takes to long to order, so we stopped carrying it! I said let me get this straight, You have a product that sells out right away, so you stopped carrying it cause it takes to long to get?!! R I G H T...
 
Funny thing is they no longer carry Tri-Tip, asked the guys why? He said it sells out to fast! It takes to long to order, so we stopped carrying it! I said let me get this straight, You have a product that sells out right away, so you stopped carrying it cause it takes to long to get?!! R I G H T...
In Jim Bouton's Ball Four there was an anecdote about many of the players liking orange soda but there never being any in the soda machine. When they asked the locker room manager about it he said if he put orange soda in machine the players just drank it all. It's amazing how often that story seems apropos.

JBooker said:
Isn't that what the purpose of a discount retailer is? They are not in the game to buy products at a higher price when they are in demand. Then turn around and have to sit on excess products that they paid a higher price for when demand falls. They buy low and sell low.
So you're suggesting it's a better strategy to stock up on seasonal, perishable products when demand is low and then not stock them at all when demand is high?

I suspect one of the factors here is that Costco allegedly makes the vast majority of its profit on membership fees. Prices on merchandise are set to cover costs and make a very small profit. With this profit model, the motivation is to stock just enough product to keep people renewing their memberships. Virtually all the products are there simply to keep people interested in coming back. Any product that becomes too much of a hassle can be eliminated regardless of how popular it is since nothing is really making all that much money for the company.
 
So you're suggesting it's a better strategy to stock up on seasonal, perishable products when demand is low and then not stock them at all when demand is high?

Yes because they are known for selling good products at cheap prices. If they cant sell at cheap prices they would be like every other super center store. Then why would you pay for a membership if its just like any other store? I would imagine they keep the product in stock until it hits a certain price threshold then once its gone its gone until the price comes back down.
 
Yes because they are known for selling good products at cheap prices. If they cant sell at cheap prices they would be like every other super center store. Then why would you pay for a membership if its just like any other store? I would imagine they keep the product in stock until it hits a certain price threshold then once its gone its gone until the price comes back down.
"Cheap" is always relative. If the wholesale price of beef goes up in the summer and Costco continues to sell at a lower markup than the competition, then they'd still have a "cheap" price in relation to the price everywhere else. They didn't stop selling ground beef when it was going for $4/lb rather than the $3.19 it was at the other day.

I suspect it has far more to do with profit margin per square foot of retail space. I know that's the excuse in the bakery for not selling the cinnamon coffee cakes. Personally, I think they could make vastly better use of the floor space they have in the meat department and bakery if they went vertical instead of mostly horizontal.
 
why join then?? the only reason we signed with Costco was for brisket and belly.
if brisket does not return, my membership will expire.

In another thread someone here posted this link to Costco customer service. I used it to submit a request on a different matter and I have received an initial reply asking for more information, so there is somebody reading them. I suggest you use it to let them know your feelings about brisket.
 
In another thread someone here posted this link to Costco customer service. I used it to submit a request on a different matter and I have received an initial reply asking for more information, so there is somebody reading them. I suggest you use it to let them know your feelings about brisket.
a great suggestion... and one I thought of on my very own ;)
I stuffed their suggestion box on my way out last week.
 

 

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