Not anti-trust, but you can apparently bribe the FCC to get a merger through. This just came out today.

https://www.propublica.org/article/paramount-mergers-fcc-ken...

> unlike at a conventional grocery store, nothing is sold by weight

Costco and TJs both sell items like meat by weight, they're just pre-labeled so they can be scanned rather than weighed at the register. Things like produce that might be weighed elsewhere are sold by each or container though.

And regular grocery stores like Kroger do much the same thing. Aside from picking out individual produce items, and even then a lot of times it is per-item pricing. Nearly all of the by-weight stuff is pre-labeled

I've had some reject my e-mail address because it contains their company name. REI was one (ie it wouldn't allow [email protected] but would accept [email protected])

I had my account marked as suspicious and closed in a financial institution for this a few years ago. They were concerned I was a bad actor attempting to impersonate an employee. It was very annoying, because no one from customer support could talk to me directly, it had to flow through legal. Very stupid.

I have since stopped doing this out of fear that it will actually cause me more headaches with people/systems that don't understand how email works.

I was just able to create an account using `rei@<mydomain>` on rei.com w/o any issues. Now, figuring out how to delete the account is another matter entirely...

Cool, they probably changed it, this was years ago. I've had similar issues with other companies, REI is just the only one I can I really recall right now.

I haven't had an outright rejection, but definitely a few odd moments with call center agents. "[email protected]" is definitely not the default expectation :)

Should have registered as rei-are-incompetent-idiots@ instead…

You can proxy responses with a ton of e-mail clients, even Gmail supports it once you verify you can get a message sent to that address.

Not really, this only works for other emails hosted by Gmail (including Workspaces) or if you supply SMPT that will send those emails. If you use simple email forwarding from your DNS provider, you don't have SMPT server to give to gmail:/

Google will happily send from smtp.gmail.com, after verifying that you own that email. You won’t get DKIM, but Google’s reputation is enough to make the mail land in people’s inboxes.

That fact here was if Musk should have known about the potential breach of charitable trust before 2021 given it started in 2019, if not before, with Microsoft investment and he didn't sue until 2024. There is a 3 year statute of limitations.

Much of those billions of dollars are contractually limited in how they can use both the principal and gains so it's really not that simple.

I hate going there and mostly use Instacart to avoid having to, but even with a Instacart mark-up and tip it's cheaper and higher quality than most other options, happy to pay someone else to do my shopping.

Is it really higher quality? I had a membership for a year and didn't find much I was interested in purchasing food wise, at least.

> Is it really higher quality?

Yes, genuinely. At most stores, "store brand" equates to "cheap, lower quality". Kirkland Signature is sometimes higher quality than other brands, and there are items for which they're my preferred brand.

I’ve learned from FarmTok that Costco is a big reason farms maintain proper standards even going beyond what’s required from them to keep Costco’s business.

Products get made to the standards of the pickiest customer. The condiments and sauce industry has the (((same situation)))[1] going on. If Costco went poof tomorrow the change would only be a marginal one down to the standards of the next pickiest customer worth optimizing for which is probably only a hair's breadth away. If Costco was trying to drag the standards way up then farms would raise separate stuff for them.

[1] Many condiments are Kosher not because the recipe inherently is, but because it's easy to do without much downside so doing so pencils out handily. I couldn't resist the parenthesis joke.

If you use sameday.Costco.com I’ve heard it’s cheaper than actual instacart even though it is instacart, less some fees etc.

I’m in the same boat. The quality to terrible. No I don’t want a bunch of pumpkin seeds that you’re using as filler for products. The produce isn’t great either. A huge portion of the food is either premade factory food that’s chilled or frozen.

I don’t want a bunch of cellulose in my cheese either.

I seriously question if you’ve ever actually been to Costco. The produce is generally fine but everything else is good to great quality. I always load up with a huge wedge of parmigiano reggiano, Spanish olive oil, Barolo wine (all Kirkland branded and DOP labeled) for literally half the price of anywhere else. Everything else is generally solid too. Just looking around at the other Kirkland food I’ve got right now, their tofu, sparkling water, eggs, salted butter, huge loaf of sourdough that I freeze, are all solid. I’m struggling to think of a Kirkland signature food product I’ve been dissatisfied with.

Your local grocery store must be terrible if you think Costco has good food and produce. No, I’m not talking about wine, oil, or water. I buy those 3 things plus paper towels and toilet paper (not Kirkland toilet paper post Covid).

Everything you mentioned is a prepackaged, premade item. It’s not fresh. The Kirkland Parmesan is cut and sealed in a factory. Not cut by my local grocery or Whole Foods from a giant wheel that has the Italian markings.

The last bag of chicken breasts I got were almost the size of turkey breast and it was woody and stringy. Google if you don’t believe me.

> a giant wheel that has the Italian markings

Ah, therein lies the difference. You don't make any mention of taste or texture, just the marketing.

I think so.

Stuff like USDA Prime meats are substantially cheaper and same quality as anywhere else. I smoke a lot of meats though.

Organic produce is super cheap. Especially stuff like pre-cut broccoli, lettuce mixes, etc.

Protein powders, crackers, chips, organic yogurt, organic milk, organic eggs, cheese, prosciutto, etc.

Also liquor including decent beer and wine selection.

I get all this stuff, mid to high quality compared to Whole Foods or whatever grocery store. Sure, I could buy higher quality organic meats directly from the farmer over USDA Prime at Costco or more sustainable seafood and what not, but it would easily cost 3-5x.

I don't buy it alot, but people love the bakery - croissants, pies, cakes, etc. and they're high quality, comparable to most local bakeries.

That only happens when you have your own data center. That's a whole different issue and most people with their own hardware don't have their own data centers as it's not particularly cost efficient except at incredibly large scale.

I have 3 different banks (well 2 banks and a credit union.) I can use Zelle in my browser from all 3. I don't even have the app installed for 2 of them.

Hmm...I wonder if it matters which browser is being used.

They at least partly figured out fluoride for brushing teeth and in drinking water was a net positive based on teeth health and natural fluoride levels in wells around the world. CDC estimates it reduces cavities by 25%.