October 1st, 2022 | ryan tyler

Costco And The End Of Western Civilization

Costco exemplifies and epitomizes Western gluttony, while fooling people into thinking they are saving money.

There is one place we can all go to witness what a rotting society looks like. The decadence and gluttony of a culture that can never get enough, the stupidity of herds and easily fooled masses, the unsanctioned consumption and waste produced by their need to have more—all of it is on display at your local Costco. The shopping carts crashing into each other, the hoards swarming around tubs and containers of condiments and big screen televisions, the greeters who check their membership cards at the door to make them feel important, and the endless line-ups that stretch for aisles are all hallmarks of an institution that symbolizes the absolute and gluttonous decay of western civilization.

If you disagree, you must be one of the people who fell for the Costco ruse and paid money to shop in a gross, over-packed warehouse that promises savings but actually delivers none.

Few people who shop at Costco ever do the math. If they did, they'd know they weren't really saving anything. Unless you have nine children and seventeen uncles living under one roof, you are not saving money at Coscto. Even so, you're only saving on shit you don't really need in the first place—like gallons of mayonaise, tubs of salad dressing, massive potato sacks of pancake mix and so on. Nobody needs any of that stuff. Furthermore, most people walk out of Costco with a bunch of overpriced garbage that negates their savings.

On top of that, they pay an annual membership fee between $60 and $120.

Through and through, all around, Costco is ripping people off. The truth is, Costco wouldn't be profitable if it didn't find ways to fuck people. The fact that Costco makes more than $3 billion in revenues from membership fees, on top of the gouging that happens there, is alarming. They make you carry your groceries out in used boxes like a peasant, they add a surcharge if you don't spend enough and they don't accept credit cards. Most of the items in the store are overpriced and marked up, but the masses are too stupid to notice because they're enticed by cheap 152 billion litre bottles of ketchup for $12.99. So, they put the ketchup in their carts, get further mesmerized by the person offering free tasters, then buy what they tasted in bulk for cheap—only to throw most of it out weeks later when it goes bad.

The cycle repeats, but people keep coming back, thinking they are saving money when they walk out the doors with their carts full of shit they never intended to buy.

I've been through this all before. I write from experience and recently had a blowout with my wife over buying a membership. I went into Costco with an open mind and left pissed off. Overall, as an avid Superstore shopper, I found nothing worth my time or membership fee there. I saw a bunch of garbage my family doesn't need and a bunch of stuff that only offered savings in bulk, but would probably go bad in the refrigerator, be thrown out, or get found in a cupboard ten years later.

Therein lies the scam and the rapidly progressing rot of our civilization.

People piling on top of each other, like animals, to buy shit they think they need. Costco's meats are no cheaper than anywhere else, their Kirkland products are sub-par and often more expensive than other in-house brands, and their electronics aren't any more affordable than Best Buy—yet, people keep coming back and Costco keeps ripping them off by drawing them in with discounted garbage they don't need.

I can't figure out if it's a cult, or some kind of mass delirium.

I had an open mind because so many people have been doing it. There is a thing called “wisdom of the crowd”, so I thought there must be something going on at Costco that I was missing out on—otherwise, why would so many people shop there.

We all saw what has happened in the past few years. The unmentionable world crisis and the economic destruction that has ensued should have clued me in. People are dumb. They've never been smart and they've always been brainwashed by the latest fads, trends and viral campaigns. They bought their memberships for the same reason I did, but they allowed their brainwashed relatives and friends to convince them that it was worth it. It's the same kind of energy and pressure that turns people into drug addicts.

The fealty of the masses has never been more evident and clear than now, but Coscto has been around a long time, which means this fealty was always there. Before Costco, it was something else. It's not new and it's definitely not a unique consequence of our current times. However, for a moment before the latest global crisis, it looked like people were waking up.

What's more frustrating is the number of people who think they are “awake” but are still dumb enough and asleep enough to think they are saving money at Costco. These people don't belong to one specific religion or ideology.

The gluttonous and mindless consumerism that drives the common Coscto shopper is a byproduct of a civilization in its death throes. It's a society made up of members that cannot think independently and that have allowed themselves to be enslaved by corporate agendas and is doomed to fail. A culture that teaches us to skip the math and to just follow the herd is one that oozes with the stench of decay. Sadly, it's a very common story that has played out several times throughout human history.

People have a lust and desire for more things, but they have no idea why. Their ability and wherewithal to notice their own faults has been erased by generations of privilege, peace and prosperity. Costco feeds off their stupidity and gullibility like a vulture. It draws them in like sheep and sends them out on their inevitable trek to the slaughterhouse happy and doped up.

Costco embodies all seven of the deadly sins.

The greed of the corporation and the consumer. The gluttony and lust of the people who need more things. The envy of the neighbours who see each other's new and fancy things. The sloth of the lazy, mindless consumers who have forfeited the effort required to think critically about basic things. The pride of the people who walk out with full carts and “savings” and the wrath of those who angrily push and grab their way through the crowds.

To make it all worse, when most Coscto customers finally have an epiphany about how they haven't been saving and how Costco has been ripping them off for years, they lie to themselves. To avoid feeling defeated and foolish, they try to talk themselves into thinking it was somehow worth it. To protect their egos, they tell themselves how that cheap hotdog they had that one time, the bucket of peanut butter they saved on once and how Costco has some real cool stuff, makes their annual membership fees worth it. “Nah, I'm not an idiot. Costco has some good deals, sometimes—once in a while—and they have stuff you can't find anywhere else.”

The human ego is a powerful thing. One noticeable staple of modern, western culture is the lack of accountability and competence we have been seeing across a wide spectrum of society. Nobody apologizes anymore and, when they do, they don't really mean it. No one takes responsibility for their mistakes because their egos are too fragile. We see this behaviour in our leaders and we see it in the customer service clerks, mechanics, teachers and healthcare professionals who serve us. We see it everywhere and in everyone. Nothing is ever their fault.

Rather than sincerely acknowledge and apologize for their errors, when most people realize their mistakes, they scoff, sneer, deflect and dismiss anyone who points them out. Reasonable debates and discussions have suffered as a consequence. Look no further than Canada's prime minister for an example, or down south at the last few presidents.

If this all sounds overly dramatic, that's because it is. Most people live their lives in a stupor, asleep behind the wheel and docile. Sometimes it takes a little bit of drama to get their attention. In fact, sometimes it's the only way to get their attention.

With that, I'll leave you with some math on some things you might actually need.

Diapers

Costco: $0.32 each

Walmart: $0.31 each

Lean ground beef

Costco: $9.90 per kg

Superstore: $8.80 per kg

Toilet paper

Kirkland: $0.83 per roll

President's Choice: $0.67 per roll

Pasta (average)

Costco: $0.32 per 100 grams

Superstore: $0.25 per 100 grams

Now, divide the $60 annual fee across all those items and add it to the bill. Then add the gasoline to drive there (don't tell me you really buy that poor quality Costco gasoline that strains your engine and burns away without giving you much mileage). Unless you're one of those moronic apocalypse preppers, you aren't saving anything on the things you actually need in your current day-to-day life at Costco. If you think you'll be in a bomb shelter in a few years living off a ten-year supply of pancake mix, maybe you saved a few cents, but you should probably have guns, too—because there will be people coming to take your shit when the apocalypse actually happens and they won't be asking nicely. Stock up, morons! They may or may not thank you.