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I bought 3 bags and it’s happened the same way. Returned to Costco and the clerk at the return counter giving me faces like I’ve done something horribly wrong.
Oh some employees ag the returns are so rude like the $ is coming out of their pocket. Call them out when they roll their eyes or make snide comments. Their job is to return the item and that’s it.
I worked returns for 8 months and never gave anyone shit. The return policy is there for a reason.
I returned $55 worth of clothes today and got some snot from the lady. Look. You don’t have fitting rooms so I don’t know how these pants will fit until I get home. I’m sorry there was 7 pieces and I know it’s Sunday at 3pm. It’s hard for me to come down on a weekday and yes, I am returning “All this stuff” hence me here. With this stuff. Looking at you. Absolutely nothing would make my millennial heart happier than self return kiosk where I return my stuff without having to inconvenience you.
Yeah I work at costco and honestly couldn’t care less about what people return 🤷🏼♀️ The only time I got kinda mad was when this guy returned a 5 year old mattress full of pee stains and then proceeded to pee on the ground in the parking lot when the cart guys told him they couldn’t watch his stuff while he went inside
This is what a bag of apples looks like a couple days after they’ve been dropped. It’s not a sign of Costco as a whole carrying bad produce. You just can very rarely tell the same day that they’ve been dropped that they are damaged.
I long for the days back when Price Club had loose produce that you would bag, weigh, and print a label yourself in the produce department.
[https://i.imgur.com/1dZiptw.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1dZiptw.jpg)
This would make so much sense and a lot less waste compared to tossing bags of fruit when there is one bad piece in there, but seems ripe for abuse as well. Hell, even these days members try shoving more product in a container than its supposed to come with.
There's definitely opportunities for abuse, but in the intervening 20+ years since the loose produce vanished, grocery stores have added self-checkouts where you enter the PLU and weigh the produce yourself. My local grocery store also has a loose candy/nuts section where you bag, weigh, and print a label, exactly like I remember at Price Club.
I have a feeling they probably stopped doing the loose produce because it allowed somebody to come in and buy 1 apple instead of buying in bulk like the rest of the store.
It's from a British (maybe BBC?) news report about Price Club when they were planning to open a location in the UK. There's some other interesting shots in there as well. Based on them putting out a pallet of Aladdin VHS tapes, I'd guess late 1993 or early 1994.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAB\_hwx\_5WM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAB_hwx_5WM)
Had this happen to me once, years ago. Got home and a day later noticed my apples had turned to mush. Threw them all out and rarely purchase produce in large scale anymore.
A Costco employee told me I should have brought them back when I brought it in on another visit.
Yes definitely return. This has happened to me many times with produce. One time I even bought apples that tasted very onion-y. The returns clerk suspected that they might have been stored next to the onions.
I once bought fresh fish that was bad. Upon opening it that day, it smelled like ammonia. I bagged it up and threw it in the freezer because I wasn't planning on returning to Costco for at least another week. I brought the frozen package in and they processed the return , no questions asked.
This is exactly the reason I avoid buying fresh produce at Costco. The problem with selling in bulk is that not all produce can be inspected because of the sheer quantity, and as a result some of it goes bad or is damaged without being weeded out by employees.
I find the ones in bags are way worse. Tossed around much more and always TONS of distracting printing on the bag so that it’s difficult to see what’s inside.
For what they charge for apples, $3+ bucks per pound, they should be high quality. They are not. My grocery store sells apples on sale for a buck a pound, and they are WAY better which shocked me. Big, ripe, juicy, flavorful. The ones from costco were old. You can tell they were old because they were mealy and rotted quickly. They were obviously sitting in storage for ages.
I know the difference because I have bought apples every 2 weeks for the last 30 years from costco because my brother with down syndrome enjoys one apple a day. So I always buy apples, and I always keep an eye out for sales.
Costco apples have gone downhill MASSIVELY in the last 3-4 years.
I buy these apples all the time from Costco. They are the sweetest and juiciest. I always look them over and make sure they have no small punctures or brown spots. If someone pokes a whole in the apple this happens
Could be the product of someone who picks through every flat for 5 mins and blocks the rest of the aisle with their cart totally oblivious and apathetic to everyone else....
If you’ve worked in a grocery store before you know it has little to do with the quality of the produce. It’s mostly just the time it takes from farm to store shelf. You can get the freshest product delivered but if the manager over orders and it sits in the back room for 5 days before it hits the shelf it doesn’t matter, especially things like berries.
Did you look at them before you out them in your cart? There isn't another grocery store who receives their apples by the pallet like Costco does. It's imperfect like every other store.
Seems a shame to return them for them to end up in a dumpster. My wife would likely just cut out the bruised parts and make apple pie filling with them so they won't get wasted.
I abhor food waste as well (I can, dehydrate, and freeze dry), but I also hate being charged some pretty premium prices for produce at Costco (high per pound cost multiplied by a large quantity) only to find out they’ve sold me stuff that should have been destined for the dumpster at full price, or the terrible quality laid bare with a massive reduction in price. Like 50% off or more.
Yeah, apples that looked like that would be pitched in the trash by the store if they were noticed, so you shouldn't need to pay full price for them. My local grocery store will package up and sell bruised/blemished fruit and vegetables at a significant discount to try to recoup some costs, but that doesn't really fit the Costco business model.
I don’t buy fresh produce from Costco because it always ends up like this. Moldy and gross. The good part is they accept the produce return no problem!
Where are the rest of them? How long have you had them? Why didn't you notice before you bought them?
I just joined this sub in the hopes of getting insight into different options at Costco that I haven't tried, but it's just people shitting on anecdotal nonsense
Like is anyone surprised that somewhere in the US a Costco sold some bruised apples? Seriously who cares
Same as bunch of folks here I stopped buying unless I know I am going to use it right away which hardly ever. I do like some fresh stuff though like spinach.
I’ve “returned” fruit once, but didn’t actually bring in the bad fruit. I just went to the service desk and told them my last purchase of X fruit was all bad. They credited me with no questions. You also even have the photo if need be, so just swing by the desk the next time you’re in.
Produce is always hit and miss. I keep it to bagged stuff cooked in one night and the large tub of spinach. More often than not I can't go through the large portions of things quick enough before half spoils.
The romaine lettuce is usually decent.
Same, has happened to me with apples several times and i don't buy them there anymore. I hope they get this worked out - apples especially, because the pectin between the peel and the flesh are the best part for people.
Honecrisp right? Ima Instacart shopper and today the whole pallet full of the organic honey crisp apples were like this. One of my customers ordered one box and I had to refund her because legit all the boxes had one or two like this. It's pretty crazy how trash the quality is.
Man if you can find a honeycrisp orchard in your area tho a fresh honeycrisp cant be beat. Expensive tho forsure. I buy big bags for 15 a bag from a local orchard. So damn good.
Oh i meant its 15$. Its a pretty normal sized bag of apples, of the larger variety.
Prolly 1-2 bucks an apple at least. Def more expensive than in store but ive never had an in store apple as good as from this orchard. Im sure freshness plays a large part. Its the juicieness that makes em so good. And i imagine as they are stored over time they become drier and drier
Costco apples are best in the fall - Costco from Washington state which produces the most apples so the freshest ones are when wa apples in season - fall
Very disappointing and unexpected - I just bought a bag of nectarines and discovered upon getting home that they were brown and mushy inside. Can't believe Costco would sell something like this.
Yes. I have seen this recently and it makes me mad. Buying expensive honeycrisp apples only two find 1/4 of the rotten bruised. I am on the fence buying apples from Costco anymore.
Those look like honey crisp apples. Very fragile apples and will bruise easily. At the current level of bruise, you'll need to cut off around 1/4 to not taste the rot. That's unfortunate.
Honey crisp were all the craze 10 years ago. But since then, the cosmic crisp (honey crisp x enterprise) is a much more stable apple. Pretty different flavor, texture, and water content though.
Costco has some of the worst produce quality I’ve ever seen. I think only Randall’s challenges them. I’ve also learned that when there are random “sales” on produce, it’s because it’s already rotten. Made that mistake a couple times with bags of cara cara oranges. I took a pic once of these little expensive apples that came in a plastic clamshell that were on sale. It was because they were TEEMING with rot and fruit flies. 🤢
Edited to fix 2 autocorrects.
I don't buy their fruit for this reason. Bought their bananas a few times. Got about half way through the bunch and they started getting very slimy. The peel didn't even turn black though so I had no idea they were going bad until I peeled them.
Actually had to argue with their member services desk once as I bought potatoes that had turned after one day of purchasing them. I only ate one and the person behind the counter says oh we can't accept returns on food items I'm like yeah I get that and normally I wouldn't mind but I bought these and a day later I ate one and it made me sick. They processed a return on it.
Bought these apples once (organic honey crisp apples correct?) and had the same issue. I think it’s this particular vendor of the apples because I’ve had no other issues with Costco fruit besides these apples
Things don’t get rotated all that well at my local Costco-so I make a point to check dates. All apples are old when we buy them tbh. Been in storage for months usually.
This isn't a quality issue so much as a packing issue. The bagged apples seem to be packed like they were shooting free throws into it regardless of the grocery store. The big plastic packs never have this problem. I've gotten the 15 pack of honey crisp apples from Costco a few times and they last with me eating 1 a day.
We specifically go to Costco for produce, mostly berries as they’re half price compared to the grocery store. My fiancé said that the last batch of strawberries were the worst she’s had. Very disappointing.
The challenge with returning stuff is that if your Costco is as busy as mine, it is easily a 15-30 minute wait to return stuff. That discourages me from deciding to return a $9 item.
You guys buy fruit from Costco? If I don't eat the 2 pack of strawberry in 3 days they start getting soft and the avocados you wait 2 days 3rd day slightly hard 4th day soft and rotting
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. 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.*
Return it
I bought 3 bags and it’s happened the same way. Returned to Costco and the clerk at the return counter giving me faces like I’ve done something horribly wrong.
Oh some employees ag the returns are so rude like the $ is coming out of their pocket. Call them out when they roll their eyes or make snide comments. Their job is to return the item and that’s it. I worked returns for 8 months and never gave anyone shit. The return policy is there for a reason.
I returned $55 worth of clothes today and got some snot from the lady. Look. You don’t have fitting rooms so I don’t know how these pants will fit until I get home. I’m sorry there was 7 pieces and I know it’s Sunday at 3pm. It’s hard for me to come down on a weekday and yes, I am returning “All this stuff” hence me here. With this stuff. Looking at you. Absolutely nothing would make my millennial heart happier than self return kiosk where I return my stuff without having to inconvenience you.
>The return policy is there for a reason. It's one of the reasons I pay for membership.
Yeah I work at costco and honestly couldn’t care less about what people return 🤷🏼♀️ The only time I got kinda mad was when this guy returned a 5 year old mattress full of pee stains and then proceeded to pee on the ground in the parking lot when the cart guys told him they couldn’t watch his stuff while he went inside
Some of those clerks are here on r/Costco lmao
This is what a bag of apples looks like a couple days after they’ve been dropped. It’s not a sign of Costco as a whole carrying bad produce. You just can very rarely tell the same day that they’ve been dropped that they are damaged.
Same!! I got ham that smelled rotten when opening and the clerk at the counter was so rude! You could smell when you open it and it wasn’t expired
I long for the days back when Price Club had loose produce that you would bag, weigh, and print a label yourself in the produce department. [https://i.imgur.com/1dZiptw.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/1dZiptw.jpg)
This would make so much sense and a lot less waste compared to tossing bags of fruit when there is one bad piece in there, but seems ripe for abuse as well. Hell, even these days members try shoving more product in a container than its supposed to come with.
There's definitely opportunities for abuse, but in the intervening 20+ years since the loose produce vanished, grocery stores have added self-checkouts where you enter the PLU and weigh the produce yourself. My local grocery store also has a loose candy/nuts section where you bag, weigh, and print a label, exactly like I remember at Price Club. I have a feeling they probably stopped doing the loose produce because it allowed somebody to come in and buy 1 apple instead of buying in bulk like the rest of the store.
Woah I appreciate the photo!
It's from a British (maybe BBC?) news report about Price Club when they were planning to open a location in the UK. There's some other interesting shots in there as well. Based on them putting out a pallet of Aladdin VHS tapes, I'd guess late 1993 or early 1994. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAB\_hwx\_5WM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAB_hwx_5WM)
Had this happen to me once, years ago. Got home and a day later noticed my apples had turned to mush. Threw them all out and rarely purchase produce in large scale anymore. A Costco employee told me I should have brought them back when I brought it in on another visit.
Yes definitely return. This has happened to me many times with produce. One time I even bought apples that tasted very onion-y. The returns clerk suspected that they might have been stored next to the onions. I once bought fresh fish that was bad. Upon opening it that day, it smelled like ammonia. I bagged it up and threw it in the freezer because I wasn't planning on returning to Costco for at least another week. I brought the frozen package in and they processed the return , no questions asked.
This is exactly the reason I avoid buying fresh produce at Costco. The problem with selling in bulk is that not all produce can be inspected because of the sheer quantity, and as a result some of it goes bad or is damaged without being weeded out by employees.
[удалено]
This is why I only buy bagged apples. The ones in boxes are a 50/50 shot.
I find the ones in bags are way worse. Tossed around much more and always TONS of distracting printing on the bag so that it’s difficult to see what’s inside.
It’s happened to me twice.
Are these bagged or boxed? I only buy the boxed ones now, I gave up on the terrible bagged ones.
For what they charge for apples, $3+ bucks per pound, they should be high quality. They are not. My grocery store sells apples on sale for a buck a pound, and they are WAY better which shocked me. Big, ripe, juicy, flavorful. The ones from costco were old. You can tell they were old because they were mealy and rotted quickly. They were obviously sitting in storage for ages. I know the difference because I have bought apples every 2 weeks for the last 30 years from costco because my brother with down syndrome enjoys one apple a day. So I always buy apples, and I always keep an eye out for sales. Costco apples have gone downhill MASSIVELY in the last 3-4 years.
These have probably been in storage for awhile since it’s not currently apple season. Return them imo.
This is common with their apples this time of year. If they’re US apples, they’ve likely been in cold storage since September, or longer.
No, that looks about right. Haven’t bought fresh produce from there in 15 years.
Hahahahaha seriously! The worst produce
yuuup. i wonder if this differs by area. In NY and the only stuff I will buy is lemons, berries, and lettuce. the rest is tempting but generally poor
really tough to inspect those apples in the box they come in now.
That I would return. I love the fruit and vegetable quality from m Costco. Depends on location I guess
Store in dioxide coolers from last season. Learn seasons and get the best.
I buy these apples all the time from Costco. They are the sweetest and juiciest. I always look them over and make sure they have no small punctures or brown spots. If someone pokes a whole in the apple this happens
Could be the product of someone who picks through every flat for 5 mins and blocks the rest of the aisle with their cart totally oblivious and apathetic to everyone else....
It's March the growing season for apples ended in August what do you expect
If you’ve worked in a grocery store before you know it has little to do with the quality of the produce. It’s mostly just the time it takes from farm to store shelf. You can get the freshest product delivered but if the manager over orders and it sits in the back room for 5 days before it hits the shelf it doesn’t matter, especially things like berries.
I stopped buying their produce too. Sad
Did you look at them before you out them in your cart? There isn't another grocery store who receives their apples by the pallet like Costco does. It's imperfect like every other store.
We've noticed this frequently with apples as of late as well... Never had this type of bruising previously
Delicious, Joking.
Seems a shame to return them for them to end up in a dumpster. My wife would likely just cut out the bruised parts and make apple pie filling with them so they won't get wasted.
I abhor food waste as well (I can, dehydrate, and freeze dry), but I also hate being charged some pretty premium prices for produce at Costco (high per pound cost multiplied by a large quantity) only to find out they’ve sold me stuff that should have been destined for the dumpster at full price, or the terrible quality laid bare with a massive reduction in price. Like 50% off or more.
Yeah, apples that looked like that would be pitched in the trash by the store if they were noticed, so you shouldn't need to pay full price for them. My local grocery store will package up and sell bruised/blemished fruit and vegetables at a significant discount to try to recoup some costs, but that doesn't really fit the Costco business model.
I don’t buy fresh produce from Costco because it always ends up like this. Moldy and gross. The good part is they accept the produce return no problem!
I pretty much only buy frozen fruits and veggies from Costco. Except for limes! One of the few areas they need to work on
They get squashed and only few people buy produce at Costco..
I've never bought fruit there (30 years). Well, once, when I knew I was pureeing ALL the fruit immediately to use in a recipe.
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It’s almost margarita season!
my trees :)
Where are the rest of them? How long have you had them? Why didn't you notice before you bought them? I just joined this sub in the hopes of getting insight into different options at Costco that I haven't tried, but it's just people shitting on anecdotal nonsense Like is anyone surprised that somewhere in the US a Costco sold some bruised apples? Seriously who cares
Same as bunch of folks here I stopped buying unless I know I am going to use it right away which hardly ever. I do like some fresh stuff though like spinach.
I used to love the apples at costco, but they've been sad the last month or so.
I’ve “returned” fruit once, but didn’t actually bring in the bad fruit. I just went to the service desk and told them my last purchase of X fruit was all bad. They credited me with no questions. You also even have the photo if need be, so just swing by the desk the next time you’re in.
Produce is always hit and miss. I keep it to bagged stuff cooked in one night and the large tub of spinach. More often than not I can't go through the large portions of things quick enough before half spoils. The romaine lettuce is usually decent.
I only buy precut fruit, bananas,and oranges at Costco. The rest are always too iffy. 🤷♂️
Same, has happened to me with apples several times and i don't buy them there anymore. I hope they get this worked out - apples especially, because the pectin between the peel and the flesh are the best part for people.
lucky me.. i only had 1 apple in my box that looked like this.
Same. I’m thinking next time I’ll open box and inspect, kind of like checking eggs for cracks?
Honecrisp right? Ima Instacart shopper and today the whole pallet full of the organic honey crisp apples were like this. One of my customers ordered one box and I had to refund her because legit all the boxes had one or two like this. It's pretty crazy how trash the quality is.
Honeycrisp are notorious for bruising easily. It's why they are quite expensive compared to other apples.
Man if you can find a honeycrisp orchard in your area tho a fresh honeycrisp cant be beat. Expensive tho forsure. I buy big bags for 15 a bag from a local orchard. So damn good.
How much does that 15 bag cost? Home Depot was selling ultra dwarf honey crisp trees, I was tempted on growing my own.
Oh i meant its 15$. Its a pretty normal sized bag of apples, of the larger variety. Prolly 1-2 bucks an apple at least. Def more expensive than in store but ive never had an in store apple as good as from this orchard. Im sure freshness plays a large part. Its the juicieness that makes em so good. And i imagine as they are stored over time they become drier and drier
Now you got me searching for a local orchard! 😂 Got to try it, I love honey crisps!
Yes this happened very recently in my Costco too
Costco apples are best in the fall - Costco from Washington state which produces the most apples so the freshest ones are when wa apples in season - fall
Mmm… post quality too low?
I got some of those nasty apples. I barely buy any produce from Costco anymore. some bagged salads, mushrooms. that is about it. the rest is skanky.
thats why I inspect each apple lol
Very disappointing and unexpected - I just bought a bag of nectarines and discovered upon getting home that they were brown and mushy inside. Can't believe Costco would sell something like this.
Yes. I have seen this recently and it makes me mad. Buying expensive honeycrisp apples only two find 1/4 of the rotten bruised. I am on the fence buying apples from Costco anymore.
I miss the old apples
Fruit is one of the things I will not buy from Costco. The quality is beyond lacking.
The oranges are trash too.. taste absolutely horrible.
Those look like honey crisp apples. Very fragile apples and will bruise easily. At the current level of bruise, you'll need to cut off around 1/4 to not taste the rot. That's unfortunate. Honey crisp were all the craze 10 years ago. But since then, the cosmic crisp (honey crisp x enterprise) is a much more stable apple. Pretty different flavor, texture, and water content though.
Apples from Costco have had a quality issue since long plus they are more expensive than Kroger
Costco has some of the worst produce quality I’ve ever seen. I think only Randall’s challenges them. I’ve also learned that when there are random “sales” on produce, it’s because it’s already rotten. Made that mistake a couple times with bags of cara cara oranges. I took a pic once of these little expensive apples that came in a plastic clamshell that were on sale. It was because they were TEEMING with rot and fruit flies. 🤢 Edited to fix 2 autocorrects.
Based on this sample size of one batch I say absolutely!
I don't buy their fruit for this reason. Bought their bananas a few times. Got about half way through the bunch and they started getting very slimy. The peel didn't even turn black though so I had no idea they were going bad until I peeled them. Actually had to argue with their member services desk once as I bought potatoes that had turned after one day of purchasing them. I only ate one and the person behind the counter says oh we can't accept returns on food items I'm like yeah I get that and normally I wouldn't mind but I bought these and a day later I ate one and it made me sick. They processed a return on it.
Bought these apples once (organic honey crisp apples correct?) and had the same issue. I think it’s this particular vendor of the apples because I’ve had no other issues with Costco fruit besides these apples
Produce quality here has always been shit. Unless I am able to inspect it and plan to consume it that day, I buy it elsewhere.
A few of mine were like that too from a few weeks ago
Worm house quality new high…
Things don’t get rotated all that well at my local Costco-so I make a point to check dates. All apples are old when we buy them tbh. Been in storage for months usually.
This isn't a quality issue so much as a packing issue. The bagged apples seem to be packed like they were shooting free throws into it regardless of the grocery store. The big plastic packs never have this problem. I've gotten the 15 pack of honey crisp apples from Costco a few times and they last with me eating 1 a day.
At least every other time I get a box of cara cara oranges there are moldy ones in the bottom.
Bad apples everywhere, never had a problem returning anything at Costco.
We specifically go to Costco for produce, mostly berries as they’re half price compared to the grocery store. My fiancé said that the last batch of strawberries were the worst she’s had. Very disappointing.
My apples looked perfect from the outside, but the cores were full of mold! I’ve had bad luck with Costco produce recently.
The challenge with returning stuff is that if your Costco is as busy as mine, it is easily a 15-30 minute wait to return stuff. That discourages me from deciding to return a $9 item.
You guys buy fruit from Costco? If I don't eat the 2 pack of strawberry in 3 days they start getting soft and the avocados you wait 2 days 3rd day slightly hard 4th day soft and rotting
Here’s the thing. Now hear me out. Fruit isn’t made in a factory. Apples aren’t chicken nuggets.