My wife and I were out treating ourselves to a lavish Costco Lunch (best lunch for less than $5 around) a few days ago, and afterwards we wandered around their showroom, and noticed that in the Costco Jewelry section they were advertising a new pendant that you could get from them. It looked quite nice, but that is not what caught my eye, the price tag of $12,999.99 is what really caught my eye.
This sale item alone caused my wife to have no end of discussions on:
- Who would buy their engagement ring at Costco? I think that was an initial shock thing, since I bought my wife’s rings at People’s jewelers, what is the difference? The nice thing about Costco is you have a warranty and such, so why not buy your ring at Costco was the conclusion we had. Another interesting article is: Tiffany vs. Costco: Which Diamond Ring Is Better?
- That is one hell of a lot of money to spend on an engagement ring in our opinion. When my fiance could be walking around with a down payment on a $750,000 house on her finger, I must scratch my head on that. How much would you have to pay in insurance for something like that? Where would you wear it? This of course has nothing to do with the good folks at Costco, just a cranky old man wondering about the younger generation.
- I asked the young lady at check out (I thought jokingly) if she had sold many of the $79K rings, and she replied, “A few, you’d be surprised”. She then said it was more interesting when someone returns a big-ticket item like that (I believe she said she had a $24,000 refund a few weeks back). I believe I had to pick my jaw up from the floor.
- Do they have these things on site, for you to take home, or is it ordered specially and delivered to your home? Who delivers that kind of stuff (since you can order it on-line as well)? Brinks?
- What’s with the extra 99 cents on the price? Seriously, you needed to go that close to $13K?
It did make our visit to Costco that much more fun, because then looking at the Chocolate Milk, Cheese and a Remote Control Car seem so cheap in comparison.
Am I just being a crotchety old man on this one?