Costco Casino
Costco never announces it. Two marks give it away, both in plain sight on the shelf sign, neither explained anywhere, so you have to be standing there. We have been, and caught it 26 times across 7 warehouses so far.
A small star in the top corner of the shelf sign means this warehouse is not getting more of them. It is a warehouse decision rather than a company one, so the same item can carry a star in one town and none an hour up the road, and Costco announces neither. We have photographed it 24 times.
A markdown, and usually the end of the road for the item. The regular prices in our own photographs end in .99; a price ending in .97 is the warehouse taking it down itself. A star and a .97 on the same sign is the clearest signal there is that it is not coming back, and we have caught 14 signs at .97 with 9 items carrying both.
No, and our own photographs are the proof. Insta360 X5 8K 360 action camera bundle has turned up in 3 warehouses at 2 different shelf prices, $399.97 and $549.99. Costco prices by warehouse, and nothing on the sign tells you which one you are standing in front of.
Nobody keeps this record, so we do! One entry per item, one sighting per visit, and a sighting only counts if there is a photograph of it right here. We never write sold out unless we drove back and looked.
Asterisk
Both signals on one sign, which is the rarest thing this page looks for: an asterisk says this warehouse is not reordering it, and a price ending in .97 says it is already marked down. So the bet is live. Wait, and either it drops again or it is gone and we paid attention for nothing. This is the game we did not play with the iron, and we are playing it with this.
$399.97
ends in .97
enfieldSep 4
AsteriskAgainAgain + rebate
The one we won, and the reason this page exists. The sign said $59.99 at all five warehouses; what changed was the register. Enfield took $15 off, and Waterbury took $20 off three weeks later, back where the ladder started. $39.99, the lowest yet, and we had already bought one. Could we have risked it and gone another round? Sure, but we needed an iron.
$59.99
waterburyAug 29
$59.99
milfordAug 30
$59.99
norwalkAug 30
$59.99
brookfieldAug 30
$44.99
$59.99 less $15.00
enfieldSep 4
First time the price has moved, in five warehouses.
$39.99
$59.99 less $20.00
waterburySep 19
Back where the ladder started, three weeks later, and the lowest yet. We had already bought one.
AsteriskAgainAgain at .97
Same story, one aisle over, the same afternoon.
No asterisk, just the .97. The price checker settles it: this one is on its way out at Brookfield.
$8.97
ends in .97
brookfieldAug 30
AsteriskAgainAgain at .97
The clearest drop this page has caught. $549.99 at West Springfield with an asterisk already on it, then $399.97 a hundred and fifty miles away the next day, and the same $399.97 the day after that. A hundred and fifty dollars in twenty-four hours, and the asterisk was on the sign before the markdown was.
$549.99
west springfieldSep 18
$399.97
ends in .97
waterburySep 19
$399.97
ends in .97
east lymeSep 20
AsteriskAgainAgain at .97
Two warehouses, two days, the same $149.97 with the same asterisk on it. A price that does not move is still a reading: it says the markdown has not gone another round yet.
Asterisk
$239.97 with an asterisk, and the Galaxy Watch9 on the table directly behind it. Both marks explained in one photograph, which almost never happens.
$239.97
ends in .97
west springfieldSep 18
Asterisk
The black pair was marked down to $169.97. The white smoke pair on the next sign was not marked down at all -- it carried an instant rebate instead, and both were asterisked. Same headphone, two routes to a lower number.
$169.97
ends in .97
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
A $130 instant rebate rather than a markdown, which is why the price does not end in .97. The asterisk is on it all the same.
$199.99
$329.99 less $130.00
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
undefined
$99.97
ends in .97
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
An $80 rebate rather than a markdown, so the price still ends in .99 while the asterisk says the warehouse is done with it.
$399.99
$479.99 less $80.00
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
No markdown on it at all -- $32.99, asterisked. The cheapest thing on this list and the one most likely to simply be gone next time.
$32.99
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
undefined
$199.97
ends in .97
waterburySep 19
Asterisk
Four dollars, UPF 50+, and an asterisk. We did not need one and wrote it down anyway, which is the whole method.
$4.00
west springfieldSep 18
Asterisk
$9.97 and an asterisk on the same sign, which is the rarest thing this page looks for -- on a llama.
$9.97
ends in .97
west springfieldSep 18
A markdown and no asterisk, six weeks before Halloween, which is a strange thing to conclude about a six-foot vampire in early September.
$99.97
ends in .97
west springfieldSep 18
Asterisk
The closest thing to a food court churro we have found, and the sign says this warehouse is not reordering it.
$8.39
east lymeSep 20
The same item keeps turning up, and each time it does it can do something rarer. The rungs are not a sequence. The iron took a rebate without ever hitting .97, so each one is scored on its own. The best we have managed is found again with a rebate.
1The asterisk
A small star in the top corner of the sign. It means this warehouse is not getting more of them.
Cleared
2Found again
The same item, another warehouse. Which tells you it is going everywhere, not just here.
Cleared
3Found again at .97
A price ending in .97 is a markdown, and usually the end of the road. Catching one after you have already seen the item at full price is the first properly good result.
Cleared
4Found again with a rebate
An instant rebate knocked off at the register. Costco is trying to move it.
Cleared
5A .97 and a rebate
Both signals on one sign, which means the item is on its way out and being pushed at the same time.
6A double drop
The same item at two different .97 prices. It was marked down, it did not sell, and it was marked down again.
7A double drop and a rebate
The gold standard, and about as rare as gold: marked down twice and still being pushed.
Photograph the sign with the item number and the asterisk in frame and send it to hello@buckfiftyproject.com. We will add it with your first name on it, or without, whichever you prefer. If you find a double drop before we do, we will say so loudly.
The Signature
One email per Costco. The receipt, what was on the menu board, what it cost, and the strangest thing we found in the aisles. Free, and it stops the moment you say so.
