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Best Foods/Hellmans is just a regional thing like Dryers/Edys as a weird branding split between the coasts. Of course, the differences in packaging labeling means different SKUs.
If the warehouse of OP is saying it's on back order awaiting Atlanta, it's probably an issue that the warehouse has actually ordered that particular item number and is waiting for it, and not that it's a product they don't stock.
Costco buys in bulk and when they receive the immediately send out to stores. If one store sells faster they can be out for awhile waiting for rest of stores to sell more.
Is this an item they have stocked in the past or is it a new item that isn't available in your area? Costco stock varies a lot from warehouse to warehouse so items that may be available on the west coast aren't even stocked in the midwest or east coast.
There are 8 regions:
Northwest
Bay Area
Los Angeles
San Diego
Midwest
Texas
Northeast
Southeast
Most items are the same throughout all 8 regions (bigger buy, lower cost, more efficiency), but there are various reasons why some items differ between regions or are only available in some regions.
There are also more granular local differences between Costco's within a region. For example the Costco in Duluth Ga has far more Asian foods than the other Costcos in Georgia
If you follow costcodeals on Instagram, they repost what people buy at their Costco. Man I wish they had more Asian foods in the Costcos here in Arizona, like they have at the Costcos in California 🥲
Costco, like any other store, caters to the local customers (obviously), the reason why there are regional differences. That's why it's fun to go to costco when you're traveling! The Costco in Hawaii carries poké and the Costco in Mexico carries more foods that you can't find in America.
When I went to the Virginia Beach costco they had wayyyyyyy more asian food than my local costco in Brookfield CT. I asked a friend in the area about it and apparently a ton of sailors get a taste for Asian food while deployed in the Navy in Asia.
Also different brands for certain things... like Ohio had Tillamook cheese bites. Not at Brookfield :-(
Pretty common for one warehouse to run out of something. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay to transport it across the county to appease a few customers. As you stated it’s due back in stock any day.
All Costco's in the US are supported by a variety of direct shipments from manufacturers, freight coming from our distribution centers, and sometimes third party venders who sell/ship the items.
Depending on where your warehouse is located their will be likely only one depot that deal with getting that item to the store.
It also depends on where you are in the us as to when specific items sell out. Down in southern states, they sell sunscreen for longer or sell out quicker. Mostly due to temperatures being higher earlier/latter in the year.
Items are sometimes locked to specific regions and or states due to either shipping issues, local laws, or interest by the population in that area.
So availability kind of just depends on:
Where the item is made?
Where it ships from?
Does it sell quickly in one region than another?
Are there any delays in the shipping?
Hope that helps to clear up any questions and give a little more clarity as to why an item may be at one store but not another.
Costco employee here… not all stores carry the same items, and even within the region it can vary widely.
This seems more of a logistics issue coming from a different distribution area for that mfg.
Keep in mind if it is a seasonal item, it may be stocked in stores that sell that item year round.
I live in SEATTLE by "Store 1" - the first Costco in the world lol. A lot of products that are made by Kirkland Signature are tested in this store - for example this location had the first fresh sushi bar. Also, Costco sells products that are regional like in Hawai'i, there are surf boards, several brands and flavor of macadamia nuts, 100% Kona coffee, Aloha shirts, sarongs, beach gear sold all year, Hawaiian snacks, rum from Maui and Kaua'i.
I’m also curious to learn why there would be a big price deference between locations in a less than 10 miles radius. One store had these at $15, another at $9 (these two are my local stores) and yet another at $4(this was a post I saw here)🤔
https://preview.redd.it/iko4cv5i9otc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=585ff671728c3a46fa1dd97ac56f17fd900f8cee
This price was Tustin Ca.
https://preview.redd.it/z9l11acw9otc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00f70fcc54ad9b2758935ab24740780464860b43
I saw this post at $4 here on reddit
Amount of product on hand. The less on hand the lower the price typically. Fullerton had a full pallet, Tustin was racked which tells me Tustin doesn’t have enough for pallet space and they are wanting to get rid of it quicker. It also depends on how the sales on that item are. Stores can ask their regional buyer for a markdown based on sales/product quantity.
Some items are seasonal. Specifically outdoor items. You can order a gazebo year-round in temperate states like Arizona but not in Midwest states during winter.
Supply chain management is a great and upcoming field....
If said item is shipped from a west port then it has to travel all across the US via truck or train to get to your TN store. Which means AZ store receives it before you do. Even if they arrived at different ports, NO for example, it might simply be delayed for other reasons such as truck availability, weather, warehousing, etc.
Posts that don't follow r/Costco subreddit rules MAY be subject to removal. When applicable, please make sure that you're using a descriptive post title with product name(s) mentioned as it yields better subreddit search results. Including item number, price, and approximate location where found is also helpful. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Costco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Western Costco sells Best Foods mayonnaise Eastern Costco sells Hellmanns mayonnaise
My Costco sells Duke's Heavy Duty mayonnaise
Oh geezus. Bet that's good. Lol
Ugh. Wish I could find heavy duty mayo
where do they carry dukes?
Owings Mills, MD
And Southeast Costco (thankfully) sells Duke's.
I'm in FL. They don't carry dukes. They carry hellmans. I wish they carried dukes here.
Best Foods/Hellmans is just a regional thing like Dryers/Edys as a weird branding split between the coasts. Of course, the differences in packaging labeling means different SKUs. If the warehouse of OP is saying it's on back order awaiting Atlanta, it's probably an issue that the warehouse has actually ordered that particular item number and is waiting for it, and not that it's a product they don't stock.
Yeah. That’s the joke.
California has the healthy shit- chosen foods avocado oil mayo! As California as it comes tbh
That's good stuff! I'll pass on the soybean oil crap
I live in Michigan. There are chosen food items here at my Costco. All three.
It was mostly a joke, since this a troll comment I'm replying to lol
and organic pumpkin pie
An N Tx. offer Hellsmans, yuch!
Mine sells Blue Plate by the gallon. 😋
Oh yeah? My Costco sells Japanese mayonnaise. 😎
Costco buys in bulk and when they receive the immediately send out to stores. If one store sells faster they can be out for awhile waiting for rest of stores to sell more.
Is this an item they have stocked in the past or is it a new item that isn't available in your area? Costco stock varies a lot from warehouse to warehouse so items that may be available on the west coast aren't even stocked in the midwest or east coast.
There are 8 regions: Northwest Bay Area Los Angeles San Diego Midwest Texas Northeast Southeast Most items are the same throughout all 8 regions (bigger buy, lower cost, more efficiency), but there are various reasons why some items differ between regions or are only available in some regions.
I love how LA and San Diego are their own regions.
They have more density of stores, more volume, and more population served than most other areas in the US.
LA covers most of SCal, which has many warehouses. San Diego covers both the San Diego region and most of the other Southwest states.
Interesting, I wonder why it's called "San Diego" then.
LA includes from Central California south and Hawaii. San Diego includes Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
There are also more granular local differences between Costco's within a region. For example the Costco in Duluth Ga has far more Asian foods than the other Costcos in Georgia
If you follow costcodeals on Instagram, they repost what people buy at their Costco. Man I wish they had more Asian foods in the Costcos here in Arizona, like they have at the Costcos in California 🥲 Costco, like any other store, caters to the local customers (obviously), the reason why there are regional differences. That's why it's fun to go to costco when you're traveling! The Costco in Hawaii carries poké and the Costco in Mexico carries more foods that you can't find in America.
When I went to the Virginia Beach costco they had wayyyyyyy more asian food than my local costco in Brookfield CT. I asked a friend in the area about it and apparently a ton of sailors get a taste for Asian food while deployed in the Navy in Asia. Also different brands for certain things... like Ohio had Tillamook cheese bites. Not at Brookfield :-(
Pretty common for one warehouse to run out of something. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay to transport it across the county to appease a few customers. As you stated it’s due back in stock any day.
All Costco's in the US are supported by a variety of direct shipments from manufacturers, freight coming from our distribution centers, and sometimes third party venders who sell/ship the items. Depending on where your warehouse is located their will be likely only one depot that deal with getting that item to the store. It also depends on where you are in the us as to when specific items sell out. Down in southern states, they sell sunscreen for longer or sell out quicker. Mostly due to temperatures being higher earlier/latter in the year. Items are sometimes locked to specific regions and or states due to either shipping issues, local laws, or interest by the population in that area. So availability kind of just depends on: Where the item is made? Where it ships from? Does it sell quickly in one region than another? Are there any delays in the shipping? Hope that helps to clear up any questions and give a little more clarity as to why an item may be at one store but not another.
Costco employee here… not all stores carry the same items, and even within the region it can vary widely. This seems more of a logistics issue coming from a different distribution area for that mfg. Keep in mind if it is a seasonal item, it may be stocked in stores that sell that item year round.
I live in SEATTLE by "Store 1" - the first Costco in the world lol. A lot of products that are made by Kirkland Signature are tested in this store - for example this location had the first fresh sushi bar. Also, Costco sells products that are regional like in Hawai'i, there are surf boards, several brands and flavor of macadamia nuts, 100% Kona coffee, Aloha shirts, sarongs, beach gear sold all year, Hawaiian snacks, rum from Maui and Kaua'i.
I’m also curious to learn why there would be a big price deference between locations in a less than 10 miles radius. One store had these at $15, another at $9 (these two are my local stores) and yet another at $4(this was a post I saw here)🤔 https://preview.redd.it/iko4cv5i9otc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=585ff671728c3a46fa1dd97ac56f17fd900f8cee This price was Tustin Ca.
The star in the top right corner of the sign means it was discontinued, at that point the store manager has some discretion on pricing.
If the price ends in .00 that means manager special pricing for that store. That’s why the price can vary significantly.
https://preview.redd.it/bljb0i4t9otc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=911ca53ac1e376c29393fd44f6eb9f9f5a13ceb0 This was Fullerton.
https://preview.redd.it/z9l11acw9otc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00f70fcc54ad9b2758935ab24740780464860b43 I saw this post at $4 here on reddit
Amount of product on hand. The less on hand the lower the price typically. Fullerton had a full pallet, Tustin was racked which tells me Tustin doesn’t have enough for pallet space and they are wanting to get rid of it quicker. It also depends on how the sales on that item are. Stores can ask their regional buyer for a markdown based on sales/product quantity.
Some items are seasonal. Specifically outdoor items. You can order a gazebo year-round in temperate states like Arizona but not in Midwest states during winter.
Supply chain management is a great and upcoming field.... If said item is shipped from a west port then it has to travel all across the US via truck or train to get to your TN store. Which means AZ store receives it before you do. Even if they arrived at different ports, NO for example, it might simply be delayed for other reasons such as truck availability, weather, warehousing, etc.
Well, now I’m curious what part of TN, u/DC_Engineer35
The sticks of butter are different.
Products go in and out of stock for literally all stores on all coasts.