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We find that the Costco Membership fees cut down on the crowds this writer moans about.

Last Friday, we went to Costco from about 12:30 pm to 1:45.

The big crowds and lines were at the gas station. Most Costco drivers haven’t figured out if your gas cap is on the left side of your vehicle. You don’t have to wait in line to have your vehicle’s left side by the gas pumps. Use any of the pumps that are on the right side of your vehicle which are usually open or maybe one car in that lane. You just pull the gas hose up over your trunk lid, open the gas cap lid, insert the nozzle and fill up. We did that and were in and out of the lines in about 10 minutes.

The parking lot in front of Costco looks like a slow moving movie of hundreds of angry vehicles looking for a parking spot close to the entrance. Vehicles are often driven by people in their expensive exercise outfits and running shoes. They pay to exercise in a gym and will drive around for a long time to get a parking place by the front door.

We park in the Costco parking lot across from the gas station. There are all ways parking spots there. We walk about a quarter of a mile to get to the store with paying to exercise. As usual some nice shopper is finishing unloading their cart and offers it to us or we offer to take the cart.

After the horrendous quarter mile walk to the store, we part ways after we get in. I go to the part of the store with shaving/beauty products and OTC meds and take care of that shopping. I catch up with my wife and put the stuff I just picked up in her cart. This is usually by the clothing area. I leave my wife to shop and go the meat/seafood section for those items. She catches up and we finish our shopping together. We avoid the food sample area where swarms of people are eating and talking.

Checking out often shows again how lazy most customers are. They line up for the 5-6 checkers in the middle of the store. If you are willing to walk 40-50 yards to either end of the checkout line, there is minimal if any waiting.

After the checkout we walk the horrible distance back to our vehicle passing the swirling and growing traffic jam in front of the store. I have used a personal/portable GPS to see how far we Costco walk from the parking lot to the store, inside and back. It ranges from 1.25 miles to 1.5 miles.

So we get our daily walking while shopping at Costco.