Parking at Costco Melbourne is a massive ripoff
I’ve been to Costco a few times now and for the most part parking hasn’t bothered me. On opening day they were swamped and parking was free, which was great.
The second time I went there I was slugged with the $5 Harbourtown carpark which was marginally annoying but acceptable.
After having finished my larger shopping trips today I head out on the Long Haul Trucker to see how bicycle shopping at Costco would work.
Thank god I didn’t bring the car, the Costco parking charges are now on display and they must be delusional if they think their rates are even remotely fair.
The one hour free period is a joke. I was there on my bicycle today, browsed a bit to check the prices of some bigger ticket items I am keen on, bought 2 packs of beef, milk and Nutella (I was going to buy Cocopops but the big box wouldn’t fit in my pannier!) and had a hotdog + drink afterwards.
I came in at just over 40 minutes.
I fail to see how anyone doing a larger shop is going to come in at less then an hour unless they ram people out of the way, don’t eat at the cafe, somehow manage to get a queueless register, FLY back to their car and just throw everything into the boot however it fits.
At 6 for 2 hours parking, even if you went once a month you’ve already raised your savings threshold from $60 (the membership cost) to $132. Two visits a month and all of a sudden you’re trying to saving threshold becomes $204. That’s on top of extra petrol to get there.
For a company that is providing a carpark for it’s loyal membership customers and presumably not relying on carpark fees, charging inflated hourly rates is a joke. Especially when there’s a much larger (but more inconvenient to take a trolley back to) Harbourtown carpark next door charging $5 all day.
In comparison Ikea down at Victoria Gardens have a brilliant parking system. It’s free for the first hour and if you spend more the $5 at Ikea it’s free for four hours. They validate your carpark ticket at the checkouts and if you forget they even have a person out the front who’ll validate it for you.
Now that’s good value.
Sorry Costco but you’re carpark charges are rubbish. Fix them.
The cafe today was a bit of a schmozzle too. The prices are still great but the coke machines were utterly broken. Two had no ice left and the other one had ice but was completely empty of drink. The Pepsi max I got from one of the no ice left machines was also ridiculously flat. Like cordial flat.
The sauces didn’t look to grubby today so I tried them out with my hotdog, mm nice. The onions though were a different story, I’m not sure who designed that machine but instead of getting onions out of them all you got was onion juice.
Probably won’t be going anywhere near that thing again.
On a plus note while snooping around the carpark I did spot an underground bicycle parking facility I hadn’t seen before.
Interestingly they’ve gone for the vertical peg style system which is kinda annoying but better then nothing. I’ve enhanced the brightness of the photo otherwise it was very dark and dinghy in there. As you can see there is lighting but for whatever reason it was switched off.
The undercover bicycle parking area is sandwiched between the tyre fitting area and the stairs leading up to the main entrance.
Personally I still prefer the convenience of the red beam parking out the front but if it’s raining I’ll probably leave my bike down here. I’ll most likely just wind up securing it to a sign in the carpark though rather then hoist it up in the bike parking area.
Long Haul Trucker’s aren’t exactly light.
Lastly I took it upon myself to use the Costco feedback forms (located to the left of the ‘merchandise pickup’ area behind the registers to give Costco my feedback.
Dear Costco,
What’s up with the carpark prices, you guys need to rethink those prices pretty quickly.
Also PLEASE stock some freaking milo already!
Love,
OzSoapbox
September 5th, 2009 at 6:46 pm Chris(Quote)
Maybe if you go to Costco you should take a designated driver/parker … someone who can drive the car out of the carpark and straight back in every 59 minutes..
September 7th, 2009 at 10:34 pm motiv8dan(Quote)
I agree, you would think the $60 fee you pay a year would somehow give you free parking of somesort, ikea is way in front on this issue. Maybe we can all fill in a customer feedback form when we go to let them know..
September 9th, 2009 at 8:07 pm not impressed(Quote)
I agree I think its ridiculous! I will be looking for these feedback forms. $60 membership is already a farce. I think they will have to change. The novelty is bound to wear off eventually and people will not renew their membership next year.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:14 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I’ve been told (haven’t confirmed it myself) that parking is now 2 hrs free and then $5 per hour thereafter so that’s good news.
As for the membership fee I’m totally in support of it (although a loyalty discount might be nice). The membership fee keeps the rifraff out.
How nice is it shopping without tyre kickers running around wasting everyone’s time – I love it!
September 10th, 2009 at 2:08 pm VancouverStudioBoy(Quote)
Hi there,
In Canada & the U.S., we have the $100 Executive card, which basically amounts to the concept of a ‘loyalty discount’. The 2% accumulator has a $5000 threshold, at which point the membership fee is paid off and the member starts earning some money back.
September 10th, 2009 at 2:10 pm VancouverStudioBoy(Quote)
Oops, forgot to add that I am sure this program will be offered in Australia at some point in the future too, probably once the company has a chance to develop past the newness.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm CostcoRules(Quote)
I visited Costco yesterday, and I can confirm that the parking is free for the first 2 hours and $5 per hour thereafter.
October 1st, 2009 at 3:20 pm BB(Quote)
As above, it is free for the first 2 hours now. I parked for 2 hours and 14 minutes and it came up free, so there’s a bit of leeway, too. And they did have Milo on Tuesday.
October 1st, 2009 at 3:24 pm BB(Quote)
Also, if you are borderline you should pay at the pay station BEFORE unloading your trolley. I think you get another 20 minutes to exit after paying, loads of time! But I still find it hard to come in at under 2 hours when I have the kids with me … toilet breaks, food court before (lunch) and after (ice cream), and general dawdling slows one down.
October 1st, 2009 at 5:11 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
2 hours is great but it doesn’t help if the machines are always eating your parking tickets! Here’s what to do if it happens to you!
October 26th, 2009 at 9:51 am Shelby(Quote)
My advice is to NEVER visit Costco on a weekend if you can help it!! The carpark gets ridiculously choked and there are HEAPS of arguments between people trying to park, people trying to leave the carpark etc – extremely unpleasant! Costco don’t do anything to control the flow of traffic.. or somehow regulate their parking. In fact, they make matters worse by closing one of the entry gates forcing cars to cross over on each other and starting things off on a bad note.
August 14th, 2010 at 2:36 pm Alex(Quote)
Jeeze you’re pretty delusional. If their rates weren’t near that the carpark would be full from people just visiting the city.
The rates are very reasonable for city based parking so pull your head in princess.
August 15th, 2010 at 7:39 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Surely enforcing a ‘free’ time limit would be a better idea then charging people?
Why inconvenience your paying customers just to spite those wanting to freeload park and travel into the city. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?