A Man, His Truck and Costco

NY Times:

It almost sounds too good to be true: Getting the savings of shopping at Costco, without the hassle of getting to the store. Yet Michael Eberstadt says he’s for real, and that’s just what he offers to Manhattanites on his Web site, MonsterSavings.com.

Two weeks ago in his Your Money column, Ron Lieber compared Costco with Amazon.com’s “subscribe and save” discount service, which gives customers lower prices for regular deliveries of nonperishables like toilet paper and paper towels.

The upshot? He couldn’t argue with Costco’s prices, but questioned its value for New Yorkers, given the time and hazards (errant grocery carts and hapless drivers in the parking lot) of getting to and from the store.

After the column was published, we learned about Mr. Eberstadt’s “schlepless Costco” option. If you order from his Web site by 10 a.m., Mr. Eberstadt pledges that he or a colleague will get your order from Costco and deliver it that day.

Why couldn’t you do this in your community?

Here’s how it works:

Each product on our website has been carefully researched to create an “Average New York City” price against which we compare the same product from Costco. For instance, Charmin costs $18.99 at Costco for 30 rolls. If you were to purchase 30 rolls in New York City, on average, the price would be $31.33. We split the savings with you. You pay $25.16 and save $11.85. For Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy, Meats, Chicken and Fish, we offer an even better deal. We price these items at a 70% discount. And, you will be amazed at the quality and freshness of these products!

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