- Some Gen Z shoppers are trying to save money by shopping at Costco and Sam’s Club.
- They share bulk groceries and membership cards with their roommates and family.
- It is the latest example of how food prices remain historically high.
One of Gen Z’s main tools for combating persistently high food prices: sharing a large shopping cart — and potentially a membership card — to Costco or Sam’s Club with roommates or family.
Young consumers, many of whom are buying their own groceries for the first time as students or starting professionals, are buying huge bags of flour, packages of meat and other groceries in bulk and then sharing them with others in their circle to save money, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
It’s a way to save money since Americans still spend a historically large share of their income on food.
For warehouse retailers, Gen Z represents a growing source of new members. The number of Sam’s Club members ages 27 and under has grown 63% over the past two years, the Walmart-owned chain told the Journal.
One customer who spoke to the Journal, Devak Nanda, a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said he and his roommate walk 20 minutes each way to Costco to shop. They use a rolling cart to carry their groceries back to their apartment.
Other Gen Zers and millennials quoted in the Journal article say they share large packages of food with friends and family — even those they don’t live with — to benefit from the savings of buying from wholesalers without having to store all the food themselves.
For some, however, the tactic backfires. Nanda told the Journal that after doing the math, he realized that shopping at Costco wasn’t saving him or his roommates any money.
Costco and Sam’s Club may be excited to welcome new customers, but they’re probably less enthusiastic about those who share membership cards to make purchases.
For example, Costco employees have started asking customers to see the photo on their membership card when they approach the self-checkout to reduce the number of people sharing their membership.
Wholesalers like Costco and Sam’s Club have long attracted consumers shopping for large families or holidays. But some single people say a Costco membership is a good idea for them because it saves them money on gas.
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