My family has one rule when we go to Costco . . . go on an empty stomach.
Everyone knows that Costco is famous for their low-cost, jumbo-sized items, but in my family, it’s the sample stations that are the real bargain . . . free lunch!
We make our way up and down every aisle, tasting all of the yummy delights. Sometimes we split up and when we run into each other, we compare notes: “Did you try the shredded beef near the frozen section?” or “Oh my God…the cake over there is to die for.”
I've only ever gone to Costco when I’m visiting my family in Florida because there weren’t any in New York City . . . until now.
Recently, one opened in Harlem and a good friend has a membership. She invited me to go along with her and I happily accepted. I didn't tell her about the Forbes Family Rule, but I figured she'd pick up on it soon enough.
As we made our way along the first aisle, we hit our first sample station. Asian noodles! My mouth watered.
Ravenous shoppers flocked around the server, who scooped slippery noodles into little plastic cups. I stuck my hand out just in time to grab the last one. What had been hidden behind the sea of grabby hands were little plastic spoons, one in each cup.
I wanted to boycott this sample, but I'd already touched it.
I downed the noodles in one bite and then had to jam my used plastic cup and spoon into the overflowing trash can. What had I done?
The next station was cherries. I love cherries and was dying to have one. An older woman was passing them out, this time in paper, not plastic cups. I hesitated, but before I knew it, she had stuck one in my hand. I looked inside and saw one cherry. One, lonely cherry in one, single cup. Once I removed it, I had a clean paper cup in my hand and once again, found myself jamming it into the overflowing trash.
I thought about the tree that made the paper cup and the tree that bore the luscious cherry. I wondered if they had somehow been reunited. I hoped not.
As we passed other stations and I spotted each stack of paper and plastic cups, I lost my appetite. I was no longer interested in eating any of these samples, let alone making a meal of them. The Forbes Family Rule was being overruled by Meredith's Injunction Against Wasteful Packaging.
I left the store with agave, a pineapple and a sense of frustration.
I thought about the tray of Asian noodles that held nine samples that disappeared in nine seconds and the 15 people waiting to grab the next batch of samples.
I started to do some math in my head.
Let’s say that in a five-minute period, a server hands out five sets of samples (nine in each set). That’s 45 cups in five minutes. Let’s say the server does this for 20 minutes. That’s about 180 cups.
At any given time there are at least three sample stations operating in that 20-minute period. Now you’ve got 540 plastic cups being thrown away into our landfills.
Consider that this is happening all day long. Now we’re taking my basic math to another level.
Everyone knows that Costco is famous for their low-cost, jumbo-sized items, but in my family, it’s the sample stations that are the real bargain . . . free lunch!
We make our way up and down every aisle, tasting all of the yummy delights. Sometimes we split up and when we run into each other, we compare notes: “Did you try the shredded beef near the frozen section?” or “Oh my God…the cake over there is to die for.”
I've only ever gone to Costco when I’m visiting my family in Florida because there weren’t any in New York City . . . until now.
Recently, one opened in Harlem and a good friend has a membership. She invited me to go along with her and I happily accepted. I didn't tell her about the Forbes Family Rule, but I figured she'd pick up on it soon enough.
As we made our way along the first aisle, we hit our first sample station. Asian noodles! My mouth watered.
Ravenous shoppers flocked around the server, who scooped slippery noodles into little plastic cups. I stuck my hand out just in time to grab the last one. What had been hidden behind the sea of grabby hands were little plastic spoons, one in each cup.
I wanted to boycott this sample, but I'd already touched it.
I downed the noodles in one bite and then had to jam my used plastic cup and spoon into the overflowing trash can. What had I done?
The next station was cherries. I love cherries and was dying to have one. An older woman was passing them out, this time in paper, not plastic cups. I hesitated, but before I knew it, she had stuck one in my hand. I looked inside and saw one cherry. One, lonely cherry in one, single cup. Once I removed it, I had a clean paper cup in my hand and once again, found myself jamming it into the overflowing trash.
I thought about the tree that made the paper cup and the tree that bore the luscious cherry. I wondered if they had somehow been reunited. I hoped not.
As we passed other stations and I spotted each stack of paper and plastic cups, I lost my appetite. I was no longer interested in eating any of these samples, let alone making a meal of them. The Forbes Family Rule was being overruled by Meredith's Injunction Against Wasteful Packaging.
I left the store with agave, a pineapple and a sense of frustration.
I thought about the tray of Asian noodles that held nine samples that disappeared in nine seconds and the 15 people waiting to grab the next batch of samples.
I started to do some math in my head.
Let’s say that in a five-minute period, a server hands out five sets of samples (nine in each set). That’s 45 cups in five minutes. Let’s say the server does this for 20 minutes. That’s about 180 cups.
At any given time there are at least three sample stations operating in that 20-minute period. Now you’ve got 540 plastic cups being thrown away into our landfills.
Consider that this is happening all day long. Now we’re taking my basic math to another level.
An average piece of plastic takes 20 years to decompose but a plastic cup can take up to 250 years! All for some free noodles?
So how free are the free samples? What is Costco really costing us? Do we have to choose between convenience and sustainability? Can't we save money AND the planet?
The next time I go to Costco, I will make sure that I’ve had a hearty meal ahead of time because the lunch I get there may be free, but it's one I can no longer afford.
So how free are the free samples? What is Costco really costing us? Do we have to choose between convenience and sustainability? Can't we save money AND the planet?
The next time I go to Costco, I will make sure that I’ve had a hearty meal ahead of time because the lunch I get there may be free, but it's one I can no longer afford.
2 comments:
In looking into it, I was quite surprised to discover a couple of facts that have made me at least a little less uncomfortable with our current situation. Turns out that most paper, and 100% of all plastic, is made from waste!
Plastic, for example, is made from a byproduct (waste) of fuel refining. Apparently we don't apportion part of every barrel of crude oil for plastic and other purposes, as I'd thought. All of it goes to the refinery. The portion that canNOT be turned into fuel is then available for other things, such as plastic.
Paper is similar. For example, we harvest trees to make lumber for construction. Trees are round, and lumber is not. The portion that can't become lumber goes to a nearby plant to become corrugated/cardboard. We do grow some trees specifically for their 'fine' paper quality. But it turns out those trees are grown on farms, where they replant just like any other crop. Apparently even the trees cut for lumber come from managed, essentially 'farmed', forest areas - only they've been consistently planting more trees than they cut down - when I looked into, it turns out that our forest lands have been growing in size, every year, for well over a decade.
Learning these things didn't make me feel any better about waste going to landfill. But at least I feel better about where some of that waste comes from.
I thought about the tray of Asian noodles that held nine samples that disappeared in nine seconds and the 15 people waiting to grab the next batch of samples.
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