Costco - boon for homeless people?

[NetWareHead]

I think you're doing it wrong.

lmao

:thumbsup: Bravo sir

 

[alkemyst]

Not sure how many hotels you could visit on $55 a year

you do realize they usually have no idea who is a guest or not? I travel a lot and have never been required to validate my room number at any of these meals.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

you do realize they usually have no idea who is a guest or not? I travel a lot and have never been required to validate my room number at any of these meals.

Hiltons and their respective properties usually want your HHonors pass thingy they give you on check in for breakfast. That's all I ever stay at though.

 

[alkemyst]

Hiltons and their respective properties usually want your HHonors pass thingy they give you on check in for breakfast. That's all I ever stay at though.

Only some hiltons require HHonors level for free breakfast. I usually stay at Hiltons or their other hotels.

Almost all Embassy Suites have 2 hour receptions nightly and free breakfast (sometimes cooked to order as well) and I have never been asked anything.

The only Hilton that didn't have free breakfast was the Savannah one (I think it was Savannah anyway...if I were Gold level I'd qualify, I was only silver at the time).

 

[Exterous]

you do realize they usually have no idea who is a guest or not? I travel a lot and have never been required to validate my room number at any of these meals.

I've had to give my room number but now that I think about it that was for those offering more traditional sit down breakfasts not the free for all continental. And those were all overseas....

:hmm: Come to think of it I haven't stayed at an American hotel in a while...

 

[EagleKeeper]

you do realize they usually have no idea who is a guest or not? I travel a lot and have never been required to validate my room number at any of these meals.

Hiltons and their respective properties usually want your HHonors pass thingy they give you on check in for breakfast. That's all I ever stay at though.

Hit up the ones that have walk in buffets.

You may not get a sit down steak and eggs; but you can get scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, cereal, pastry and liquids.

Others have an evening get together with a hot buffet every night.

Two free filling meals, 4-5 days a week can stretch a professinal budget.:whiste:

 

[Corporate Thug]

the samples are one of the few things I disdain about costco. it clogs the isles w/ carts as shoppers try to make a meal out samples...ridiculous.

 

[McWatt]

Google in Mountain View has unlimited decent food for free with no ID check in its cafeterias.

 

[SKORPI0]

Costco is f'n awesome. All the poor people magically stay out

This. Costo greeters always ask for your membership card to be shown to them as you enter the store. Homeless people always flock in droves to the local Walmart which I avoid like the plague. ^_^

 

[Capt Caveman]

Hiltons and their respective properties usually want your HHonors pass thingy they give you on check in for breakfast. That's all I ever stay at though.

Yep, I was given a breakfast voucher card that I had to hand to them to get into the dining area.

 

[Imported]

Homeless people near me are not interested in food donations. They want cash donations instead.

There are always a few panhandlers just a block away from the Costco here.

 

[Phoenix86]

Not sure how many hotels you could visit on $55 a year

Because hotels check at the free breakfast..ohwait.

edit: not all

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Costco accepts EBT cards now, so technically, a homeless person on Foodstamps can go shop there if they ponied up the membership fee.

 

[alkemyst]

Costco accepts EBT cards now, so technically, a homeless person on Foodstamps can go shop there if they ponied up the membership fee.

you need a mailing address for a Costco membership. Sure you could lie about it though.

However, if one was out to 'cheat' a free food system IMHO hotels are the easiest way to do it plus you are getting real meals rather than a bunch of pieces of stuff.

Personally I don't advocate any of this nor the asshats that crowd Costco's on the weekend to just stuff their and their families faces. It's pathetic when some fatass come up to say the pizza station and scoops up 5+ samples and each of their family members repeat that so they get a 'full lunch'.

I never take the samples, but my wife loves them and often that leads us to buying that product.

The kicker is so many times Costco only offers these selections for a limited time like the Udon noodles we liked.

 

[JM Aggie08]

The bums lose , Mr. Lebowski.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

This thread would make more sense if you were proposing cheap ass college students get their parents to buy a Costco membership and they eat for free all semester.

Between the massive bags of chips, slightly discounted electronics, pre-cooked 18" pizzas for $10, and Costco Liquor... a Costco membership is quite possibly the greatest gift a parent could give their college aged child.

To say nothing of the discount pharmacy, vaccinations and optometrist right there in the store.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Anyway, the key to all of this is to not look or smell homeless. That'll get you chased out, whether you have a card or not.

It's also worth pointing out that still-looking-for-a-job, sleeping-in-the-car, 12v-powered-Hot-Plate, showering-at-the-gym homeless folks can at least easily travel between the urban center (where the shelters are) to the suburb/exurbs (where the Costco/Sam's Clubs are). That's where the $55 investment can actually be really useful.

The less well-groomed homeless folks (think: Bumfight) are a bit worse off, as it'll cost them round-trip bus fare and 3-4 hours of daytime (prime panhandling time) to get to a Costco and back. When you can dumpster-dive behind the convenience store for raw calories and panhandle your way to a bottle or two of Thunderbird in the same amount of time, the effort/reward ratio just isn't there.

 

[boomerang]

and its not a bad hotdog either.

Bah, all beef hotdogs just aren't tasty to me. I like the ones made from all the leftover trimmings, snouts and tails. :biggrin: I do like the price though!

 

[RaistlinZ]

I'm a Costco member simply for the gas savings. My car gets horrible mileage so the membership easily pays for itself.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

I always see Asian people horde the food samples

 

[AreaCode707]

I always see Asian people horde the food samples

We waited about five minutes once for a sample on a product we were interested in buying, chatting with the older Asian lady manning the sample booth. When the food came out of the toaster oven, she set it carefully on the table and a middle aged Asian lady came swooping in and seriously cut directly in front of us and snapped it up and walked away. I shrugged and took the next sample set out, but the food sampler lady got seriously pissed and started chasing the rude gal down the aisle yelling at her.

 

[alkemyst]

We waited about five minutes once for a sample on a product we were interested in buying, chatting with the older Asian lady manning the sample booth. When the food came out of the toaster oven, she set it carefully on the table and a middle aged Asian lady came swooping in and seriously cut directly in front of us and snapped it up and walked away. I shrugged and took the next sample set out, but the food sampler lady got seriously pissed and started chasing the rude gal down the aisle yelling at her.

If this is a true story management should have fired that chick. The samples are not about 'lining up' for and 'everyone' likes to claim they are interested in buying.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I always see Asian people horde the food samples

yes. I will horde the ling ling pot stickers... as fake as it is for chinese food.... lol

 

[Brovane]

the samples are one of the few things I disdain about costco. it clogs the isles w/ carts as shoppers try to make a meal out samples...ridiculous.

I hate it to. Especially on a busy Saturday. You are trying to get up and down aisles at the end of the aisle it is blocked because everybody has stopped to sample food and their shopping carts are sitting their. That is why if possible I try to go right after they open on a Saturday. It can take a good hour after they open before the samplers are setup and running. You can then whiz in and out no problem.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Can't beat the $1.50 HotDog+Drink!

This