Costco

Yesterday my wife went to Costco to pick up some holiday supplies. As she was checking out and her bill reached the stratosphere the customer service staff suddenly come running over to her checkout. Our total purchases in the past 12 months had exceeded $2,500 or some other magical number in that neighborhood. What this meant was that if we were in the EXECUTIVE membership level we could make more in a 2% rebate then it cost to raise our memebership level. WE were missing a golden opportunity.

Isn't technology an amazing thing. Their customer information system was able to tell them in real time that my wife was at checkout # X and that her spending had hit THE threshhold.

Well, my wife was a bit mystified by all this sudden attention. She understood what they were saying but she just wanted to buy her holiday stuff and get out of there. The service folks really wanted her to sign up and spend the extra $55 to upgrade our membership (prorated for the time left on the current membership). The customers in line behind my wife were none to happy either, they all just wanted out of there.

My wife passed on this generous opportunity by saying she had to speak with me. Being the analytical sort that I am I started considering the benefit. It turns out that we just barely spent the magical amount in the last 12 months. Our membership was JUST renewed. Our spending has been higher then ever before due to our woderful daughter and all those expensive diapers and formula cans. Will we spend enough to justify the extra cost?

If I knew that I was planning on purchasing something large there I would jump on it but my greatest fear is really that of future inertia. Many of you have probably joined a gym in the past. Most if not all of you have gone for a while and then slowly drifted away. Meanwhile your credit card/bank account keeps getting dinged for the monthly memebership fee. Eventually you cancel the membership but in the meantime you have paid a lot of money for nothing simply because inertia kept you from calling and cancelling the charge. I fear the same thing with Costco. I know that once I sign up for the Executive level they will keep sending me annual renewals for Executive. I bet they will even try to get me to set up some automatic renewal plan like everyone else who counts on inertia. Once my spending drops I am sure the customer service folks won't come running over to suggest I reduce my membership and save myself $55.

And that gym example - although I have been guilty of this to slight extent (a few months only) my wife has been a member of 24 Hour Fitness since before it was 24 Hour Fitness. I have known my wife for around 4 years and she has NEVER gone to the gym - EVER. She keeps saying the membership fee is ONLY $8/month or something considered dirt cheap these days so if she gives it up she will never get it back. Meanwhile we are out $400 for nothing and 24 Hour Fitness has never called to ask about her lack of attendance. Actually, just the opposite, they have no clue she is a member and keep trying to get her to sign up like a new member.

I did keep a dial up internet service once for a long time without ever using it. I kept saying it was backup for my cable connection and for when I was travelling for work. It didn't matter, it was unused for around 2 years before I finally bit the bullet and cancelled it. The customer service rep tried to get me to keep it even though she had to have known I NEVER dialed in. If she didn't know then I would have to wonder why Costco has such a superior customer information system then a tech company?