sweet score at costco...

While browsing around today I noticed that Costco had a bunch of 06 Leoville Poyferre for $59. Yeah… so what right? … but then, buried under the top 3 bottles I noticed one of them looked a little different…

Turned out to be an 03, somehow mixed in with the 06s with the same upc price sticker and even rang up on the register as an 06…

Schaaaawing!

That happened to me once at Costco, but it was Dom Perignon instead. The release vintage was 1998, but on the pallet were a small handful of 1985, 92, and 96 with the mountains of 98. Rang up at the ~$100 1998 price.

Ah the joys of mass marketing…

Stop thief!

Interesting standard to raise ones children by. In a way it’s dishonest, no?
Seems a bit deja-vu-ish from a board of yesteryear.
I’m just saying.

Nice. Mine was a 1997 Phelps insignia found among a bin of 1998s in Costco. Which would you rather have given the same price?

How the f are these two ‘examples’ even close? Not talking ‘teachable’ moments, just right from wrong.

What exactly should he have done? I don’t think the costco staff would blink at the difference in vintage or would charge him a different price.

I found a signed first edition of the Ground Beneath her Feet by Salman Rushdie at half price books once that was marked for $7. I asked the clerk if it was priced right, he sighed, looked at me and said are you buying it or not?

I bought it.

I think Anthony is right here. Costco usually doesn’t show any concern for the vintage. They often mix vintages in the same dispaly bin with all of it priced the same. If there are a few bottles from a better vintage in the bin, it is quite likely that Costco just wants them gone.

Mike’s concern is appropriate when you are dealing with a clerk that rings it up wrong or a store that clearly made an error when they put the price on the wine. But I don’t think that it was really an error in Costco’s case. And even if it was, I think Costco’s policy would be to sell it for the marked price being that it was their error.

We have a chain of grocery stores here, Publix, that has a policy where if an item rings up for a higher price than marked on the shelf or in their ad, they give it to you free. Sometimes I will buy something because of the price shown on the shelf and it rings up higher because it turns out that the price shown was a sale price that someone forgot to take down after the sale ended. I don’t feel that I am taking undue advantage when I get something free that way, because that price promis is the way they do business. I feel the same about the Costco pricing in the original post.

How is it dishonest to buy a bottle of wine at the price indicated by the code on the bottle, and the price rung up through the system on the cash register?

It would be different if they had two different bins–one for the 2003, and one for the 2006, with different prices & stickers, and someone had mistakenly put the 2006 sticker on a bottle of 2003. Or if the cashier mistakenly rang up the 2003 as a 2006. But here, clearly Costco was selling this wine REGARDLESS of vintage with the same sticker.

Have to disagree with you on this one.

Bruce

Hey Serge, you sure you weren’t meant to be a Rabbi?

Gotta agree with Bruce here. In fact, my guess is they had an extra bottle or two at Costco of the 03 lying around and intentionally stuck it in with the 06’s figuring no one would care or notice.

BTW, are you at all concerned where this bottle has been for three years?

my thoughts exactly

Different scenario altogether. If you ask and was told it was the correct price, empty them out. I have been there as well.

I had the same thought. But because it is Costco, I wouldn’t be worried about the purchase. They are so good about taking things back that if I bought it and it was bad, I could return it for what I paid.

This makes we want to go to Costco. It’s like an Easter egg hunt for adults.

Yes, although I haven’t found enough eggs over the years to justify the trip. If I’m going to a Costco anyway (such as when I go with my family), I’ll swing by the wine section to see if there are any goodies. Usually, though, there aren’t. Unfortunately, you can’t check their
inventory online, and if you call to ask if they have X in stock it’s a coin toss whether you’ll talk to someone on the phone who has any clue…

Bruce

Me, too! I wonder if I can squeeze this in today. I always dig under to see if there are different vintages. ALWAYS. No guilt trips here.

Interesting phrase, “flexible morals”. One of my favorite lines from a NIN song: “My moral standing was lying down”. LOL!

That '03 probably was standing up in a hot warehouse for the past 5 years, or worse. At my Costco the bottles all seem a little warm to the touch. Provenance would seem to be important in this case.