Blows my mind that some people in the current year still don't understand that Costco's ethos isn't about selling things for the cheapest price
@levisan they believe that about walmart as well. People are generally stupid, emotionally driven, and via programming from public schools, allergic to mathematics to the point of mathematical illiteracy and almost complete lack of (literally) rational thinking.
Years ago, I lived in a place that had an existing walmart, and a new walmart opening up in a place that made my home the approximate midpoint between them.
They were the only stores of the type in the area, so I was there after housewares and similar occasionally.
I quickly noticed that the new store had much better prices, and soon learned that walmart sets prices low with many loss-leaders in new stores, and then slowly raises the store over a timeframe that approximates the time it takes to bankrupt existing local stores.
I suspect Target, Costco, and others have a similar MO.
As to mathematical illiteracy, I was at the gas station this morning and notice that they had 15-packs of coca cola, on the end of them "15 cans - 3 more cans than 12 pack."
FFS.
@levisan over a decade ago, one of my friends said in a very grave voice, "we don't call it 'Idiocracy', we call it The Prophecy."
That turned out to be... prophetic.
Once upon a time literacy meant you were familiar with the canon of western literature. Today, it means your lips move when you read a stop sign.
This has a parallel in mathematics where a problem like 15-3 requires a desperate plea to the AI oracle for an ever-growing percentage of the world's population.
Kyrie Eleison.
@jezza Kyrie Eleison indeed
@jezza "Three more cans than a 12 pack" is WILD. What is this world coming to?
Next thing you know, people will wonder how many cans of beer are in what we call here "a two four" (24, if it wasn't obvious)