Letter: Costco Emergency Foods

I know you all recommend Costco Emergency Food. I don’t know if you’ve been monitoring them, but about Tuesday they had sold out of at least three items. Just 24 hours later, it was 11 sold out. (I counted.) Now it’s almost all sets. All of the expensive sets, including the $4-5K pallets, have sold out. It’s worth noting to your readers. As they sell out, they’re initially putting “sold out” over the product, then removing it totally from the website. – P.K.

Hugh Replies: Costco is a tough cookie to base buying trends on. Their purchasing model seems to be different than most stores. I don’t disagree that people are starting to wake up, but Costco would not be the store that I base that statement on. I do not have behind-the-scenes purchasing information, but over the years I have seen products come and go. They want to carry whatever sells, but they also look for deals in their purchasing. They don’t seem to be concerned that any particular product is available all the time; in fact, I have seen them delay product on the shelves for several months because they can get a better deal from the manufacturer.

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