It's interesting how recent the stock market really is:

https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/history-of-the-stock-market/

"The first modern stock trading market was created in Amsterdam when the Dutch East India Company was the first publicly traded company. To raise capital, the company decided to sell stock and pay dividends of the shares to investors. Then in 1611, the Amsterdam stock exchange was created. For many years, the only trading activity on the exchange was trading shares of the Dutch East India Company.

At this point, other countries began creating similar companies, and buying shares of stock was popular for investors. The excitement blinded most investors and they bought into any company that began available without investigating the organization. This resulted in financial instability, and eventually in 1720, investors became fearful and tried to sell all their shares in a hurry. No one was buying however, so the market crashed.

. . .

Although the first stock market began in Amsterdam in 1611, the U.S. didn’t get into the stock market game until the late 1700s. It was then that a small group of merchants made the Buttonwood Tree Agreement. This group of men met daily to buy and sell stocks and bonds, which became the origin of what we know today as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Although the Buttonwood traders are considered the inventors of the largest stock exchange in America, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange was America’s first stock exchange. Founded in 1790, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange had a profound impact on the city’s place in the global economy, including helping spur the development of the U.S.’s financial sectors and its expansion west."

Try working for a publicly traded company and having stock shares.

I had a decent chunk of stock. One quarter we failed to meet expectations by 0.23%. The stock price went down 30%. Grrr!

Corner the market then lower your prices. It's basic economics!

Microeconomics: "Hey so we should like have a functioning econ-"

Macroecnomics: "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha no"

I call it increasing motivation to start fires.

Costco is great... But not everything works best when bought in bulk, and not everything freezes well. Eggs for instance, most people probably aren't going to go through 72 eggs in a reasonable timeframe. But it's great for shelf stable items and things you use a lot of.

Yes it is cheaper per unit because you're buying a larger quantity, but nearly every item is going to be $20+. This also assumes that you can afford the membership cost and the up front budget to be able to start to build that bulk stock, and that you have room for holding that bulk stock at home,

These are things that many people take for granted with so many more people living paycheck to paycheck now with increases in so many other costs now as well.

After hearing so many people singing their praises, I finally got a membership.

I used it precisely once. Their prices really were not very good on 90% of what I looked at. Plus they really encourage overconsumption.

Aldi ends up being more convenient and generally cheaper for groceries for me.

I'm not trying to yuck your yum, I just wanted to express an unimpressed opinion for other fencesitters.