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Comment by Enginerrrd | Hacker News Reader

I think the ugly truth of it is, just like there's a noticeable difference between shopping at costco and shopping at walmart (because of the annual fee at costco), there's just some people that are going to have an undesirable influence on your community.

The temptation to try and rope in those extra users is often irresistible but to get them you have to tank your content to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Very few growth minded companies or content creators have escaped that trap. It requires prioritizing your principles and long-term outlook over short-term growth which is so antithetical to the typical silicon valley situation trying to tap into and keep the spigot of VC money flowing.

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> difference between shopping at costco and shopping at walmart

Could someone please explain to me what is implied here? I've been to the USA only once, and I didn't visit neither a Costco nor a Walmart. The only difference I could point to between them, is that no "Costco people" phenomenon exists on YouTube.

Sincere thanks in advance!

Costco requires a yearly membership, so I think they are implying that the incentive is different. Costco has a strong incentive for you to leave with a decent time there, and feeling like you got a good deal (mostly through buying items in bulk) so you'll continue to renew your membership year after year.

At Walmart they might organize the store to get you to buy candy at the checkout line, or have a lot of less-than-healty options to tempt you near the essentials, to maximize the profit in that way. Because you're not shopping at Walmart because you want to be.

Disclaimer: I haven't been to Costco at a long time. And they still try to get you in their own way with free samples you can find all over the store.

They are implying that Costco's yearly membership fee filters out poor people, who shop at Walmart instead. They consider these people to be undesirable customers because people with money do not like to associate with them.

It's not the fee so much as the focus on bulk that selects for big fridges/pantries/houses/cars/families.

Costco shopper here who likes shopping at Dollar General and Aldi. Hell, even Dollar Tree and such.

It's not just that they're poor. There's something about wal mart.

I blame it's cold, sterile lighting. I don't know why, but something about Walmart's lights make it feel clinical. More like a laboratory simulating a grocery store and running experiments on the masses. Thus the walmart people (they're plants, obviously)

Costco rich, Walmart poor.

If there's a stereotype of costco customers, it's probably "middle-aged dads stoked about the fact that they can get a deal on good bulk food and quality products like socks".

(https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-men's-merino-wool-... btw)

Guilty as charged.

One of your replies got some of it but I think it misses some other factors so I'll take a swing:

Costco requires a yearly membership to shop there, which along with the shopping (if you go for the more expensive membership anyway) also gives you yearly cash back on all your purchases, which if you go there for the essentials you can, really does add up quite a bit. My wife and I get basically everything we can from there and usually end up with about $250 of essentially free money per year, and despite being Costco cash, if you go there and don't spend it all, you just get cash in return. Clearly they want you to use it there, but it is required.

Additionally there's an element of curation, though this is more subjective. Walmart will sell anything they can get their hands on, and Costco by comparison has a reputation for selling not exactly the top end bespoke stuff, but at least good stuff. I can recall maybe 2 times in the entire time I've shopped there for the last 6 years or so that I've gotten something I was disappointed in the quality of.

In addition you have the other things like the free samples everywhere, there's much less impulse buying on offer, it just feels... I don't know, you just feel like they actually give a shit? Maybe not a huge shit but a shit and finding businesses that give even a microscopic shit is pretty hard these days. And along with that, they pay their employees extremely well (in the context of retail anyway).

And also like, it's a bit classist for sure, but I do enjoy that there are no "people of Walmart" there, for the same reason I go to Target instead of Walmart for whatever I can't get at Costco. It seems at times Target's entire business model is knowing people who can will pay about 11% more for everything so they can not go to Walmart, I certainly do and will continue to.

Walmarts are full of broke, burnt out people clinging to survival, so it's like bumper cars with buggies due to already stretched attention spans. If you can afford Costco and have a place to put the bulk savings, you're probably a little better off and less harried.

"less harried" is not how I'd describe Costco. Just getting into and out of the one in Seattle is like visiting a theme park. Once you manage to find parking, you give up your personhood. You're now just part of the slowly moving mob with carts.

>> "slowly moving mob with carts"

I was not exaggerating or embellishing about the bumper cart bit. People either come flying out of aisles without looking or they stand there blocking an aisle while ignoring you trying to get through. A slow-moving mob would be an improvement in every way.

This very much depends on the stores location. When I lived close to a Costco in one of the fastest growing towns in the US it was like you described. Now that I live in a slightly faster growing city it's not so much of a menagerie and just more of an event.

Walmart shoppers are uniquely incapable of existing in an area without being in the way. I've not experienced anything like it in any other store. It's like they're constantly trying to take up as much space as possible.

Between that and Walmart having narrower aisles than most stores, the place feels busy even when there aren't many people in it.

Also, the workers and shoppers alike all seem depressed, which is another thing I've not experienced in any other store. Walmart's weird, sickly lighting and color scheme probably don't help.

It's a miserable place to be in. Mood instantly plummets on entering. Combo of the seemingly intended-to-make-you-feel-bad design, and the people.

It's not even just a poor-people thing. Aldi is fine. Dollar General isn't as depressing. Plus, wal mart didn't used to be so bad, but that was like 20 years ago.

Dollar General, universally understaffed, often with random shit stacked up in aisles, quite often just a single soul running the shop, is usually pretty depressing for me.

This is all true, yet doesn't bother me like Wal Mart does.

> Between that and Walmart having narrower aisles than most stores, the place feels busy even when there aren't many people in it.

It's not just the stores, the parking lots are like that too. I won't refuse to go to wal-mart, but unless I'm lazy or it's an emergency, I will absolutely drive by one to shop at Target, Best Buy, etc.

I think most of the other posters are missing it.

Walmart is known for having ... characters in its stores. Think severely obese woman wearing a bikini. Walmart will let anyone in and anyone includes some wild people because wild people exist.

Costco requires a yearly membership and a contract. If you come sauntering in wearing assless chaps you're likely to get kicked out, your contract revoked, and being unable to ever shop there again.

The comparison being made was trying for a specific audience and excluding those outside of that audience (Costco) vs trying to appeal to as large an audience as possible, which means accepting things that most people wouldn't otherwise accept (Walmart).

Walmart tends to be the lower class. Lots of weird people there.

Costco is typically middle class. It is a members-only.

They also have a famous hot dog and food court

25 principles often given up by content creators in order to pursue an audienece.

You won't believe number 7!

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