- Some Gen Z shoppers are trying to save money by shopping at Costco and Sam’s Club.
- They share large amounts of groceries and membership cards with roommates and family.
- This is the latest example of how food prices remain historically high.
One of Gen Z’s most powerful tools for combating rising grocery prices is sharing a large cart full of groceries (and sometimes a membership card) from Costco or Sam’s Club with roommates or family.
Many young shoppers, college students or those buying their own groceries for the first time in the workforce, are saving money by buying big bags of flour, cartons of meat and other groceries in bulk and sharing them with friends, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Since Americans still spend a historically large percentage of their income on food, this is one way to save money.
Gen Z has become a fast-growing source of new memberships for warehouse retailers: The Walmart-owned chain told The Wall Street Journal that the number of Sam’s Club members under the age of 27 has grown 63% over the past two years.
One shopper who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Devak Nanda, a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said he and his roommate walked 20 minutes each way to Costco to shop, and they used a cart to carry their groceries to their apartment.
Other Gen Z and millennials quoted in the Wall Street Journal article said they share large packs of groceries with friends or family who don’t live with them to save money by shopping at wholesale stores instead of storing all their groceries themselves.
But for some, the tactic backfires: Nanda told The Wall Street Journal that after doing the math, she realized shopping at Costco wouldn’t save her or her roommates any money.
Costco and Sam’s Club may be happy to attract new customers, but they may not be so keen on people sharing their membership cards to shop.
For example, Costco employees have begun asking shoppers to show a photo of their membership card at self-checkout stations in an effort to reduce the sharing of memberships.
Wholesalers like Costco and Sam’s Club have long appealed to consumers shopping for large families or parties, but some single people say a Costco membership makes sense because of perks like gas savings.
If you’re a Costco or Sam’s Club shopper or employee with a story idea, contact Business Insider at dreuter@businessinsider.com and abitter@businessinsider.com.
