[Employee] Excuse me, sir. Just gonna squeeze right by you.

[員工] 對不起，先生，我要從你身邊擠過去。

Oh, come on! I haven't even had time to check out.

得了吧！我還沒來得及結帳呢。

What can I say? Inflation is crazy.

我能說什麼呢？通貨膨脹太瘋狂了。

Oh, you look at that.

哦，你看看。

Are you serious!?

你是認真的嗎？

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Food Theory. The only show that stretches your mind and your hard earned dollar.

你好，網路！ 歡迎來到食物理論。 唯一能拓展你的思維和你辛苦賺來的錢的節目。

Man, inflation has been brutal lately.

天啊，最近的通貨膨脹太殘酷了

Higher interest rates, egg shortages, even price hikes on Diet Coke.

利率上升、雞蛋短缺，甚至健怡可樂價格上漲。

And you know what they say, things are likely going to get worse before they get better.

你知道他們說什麼，事情在好轉之前可能會變得更糟。

So today I'm going to inflate your brain with some money saving tips, and expose a couple of food myths along the way.  

用一些省錢小竅門來啟發你的大腦，順便揭露幾個食品神話。

If you're a fan of dough and I know that you are considering this as a food channel, after all, hit that subscribe button so you're always notified of when we post a new video. 

如果你是麵團的粉絲，並且我知道你正在考慮將其視為美食頻道，那麼請點擊訂閱按鈕，以便我們在發布新影片時始終通知您。

For many of us, shopping at Costco is a rite of passage.

對我們許多人來說，在好市多購物是一種儀式。

From purchasing your first years' supply of toilet paper to unlocking the secret that is the 4.99 rotisserie chicken.

從購買第一年的衛生紙到解開 4.99 美元烤雞的秘密。

Costco has become the place where you go for a jumbo pack of toilet paper and you walk out with a camping tent, a food processor, and 12 lb of mozzarella cheese.

Costco 已經成為你去買一大包衛生紙，然後帶著露營帳篷、食物處理機和 12 磅馬蘇里拉起司走出去的地方。

Just leave your manners at the door and hover over that sample table like the pizza vulture that you are.

只要把你的禮儀留在門口，然後像比薩禿鷹一樣懸停在樣品台上即可。

Bulk bulgogi and giant teddy bears aside, the point of Costco is that you get a lot in one stop and you save a lot by buying in bulk.

拋開散裝烤肉和巨型泰迪熊不談，Costco 的要點在於，你可以一站式買到很多東西，而且透過大量購買可以節省很多錢。

In case you're not familiar with this pinnacle of U.S. consumerism. Let me explain. 

如果你不熟悉美國消費主義的頂峰。 讓我解釋。

Costco's model is based on offering a limited stock of bulk only products at lower rates than anywhere else.

Costco 的模式是以比其他地方更低的價格提供有限的散裝產品庫存。

The premise is that for any item you know you'll use, whether it's paper towels, blueberry muffins or TVs, I guess?

前提是，對於你知道你會使用的任何物品，無論是紙巾、藍莓鬆餅還是電視，我猜？

Costco can sell you an enormous amount of that thing for what should be a lower price.

Costco 可以以更低的價格向你出售大量的那種東西。

That said, all of this so-called cost savings is going to come with its own heaping helping of traps, pitfalls and marketing ploys that'll stick it to you faster than a 50 ounce bottle of maple syrup.

也就是說，所有這些所謂的成本節約都將伴隨著陷阱、陷阱和行銷策略的堆積，它們比一瓶 50 盎司的楓糖漿更快地讓你黏在你身上。

But what if I told you that I have the secret to beating every trick in the old Costco handbook?

但如果我告訴你我有破解舊 Costco 手冊中所有技巧的秘訣呢？

In fact, I know the single best technique for saving you the most money on meals, and you can do it whether you're a family of one or 11.

事實上，我知道一個可以為您節省最多餐費的最佳技巧，無論您是 1 口還是 11 口之家，您都可以做到這一點。

Come on, grab a flatbed cart that's big enough to carry a mattress, and let's start talking about the Costco pro-strats. 

來吧，拿一輛足夠大的平板車來攜帶床墊，讓我們開始談論 Costco pro-strats。

To begin, before we even enter Costco, we're going to need to get past that bouncer waiting out front.

首先，在進入好市多之前，我們需要通過在外面等候的保鏢。

You see, Costco is a members only store, meaning that we can't get in without flashing this piece of plastic with our own little face staring back at us.

你看，Costco 是一家會員制商店，這意味著如果不亮起這塊塑料，我們就無法進去，而我們自己的小臉也盯著我們。

As of today, Costco offers four types of memberships: a basic or gold star level starting at 60 bucks and a premium or executive member level that will run you $120.

截至目前，Costco 提供四種類型的會員資格：基本會員或金星會員級別，起價為 60 美元；高級會員或行政會員級別，起價為 120 美元。

These memberships are designed to be an investment in yourself where you're basically betting that you can save $60,

這些會員資格旨在成為對自己的投資，您基本上打賭您可以節省 60 美元的

the cost of membership, over the course of the entire year a few pennies at a time on each gallon tub of Gray Poupon that you're  lugging home.

會員費，全年期間，你拖回家的每加侖一桶 Grey Poupon 一次只需幾美分。

But this isn't always a bet that you know you're going to be able to win unless you've done some serious math to calculate how many rolls of toilet paper, pounds of salmon and bags of frozen broccoli you actually buy in a year.

但這並不總是一個你知道自己能夠贏的賭注，除非你做了一些認真的數學計算，計算出你在一場比賽中實際購買了多少卷衛生紙、幾磅鮭魚和幾袋冷凍西蘭花。

And Costco is well aware of this.

Costco 也很清楚這一點。

They know that some people with a membership are only going to enter the store a couple of times a year, meaning that they just collect a membership fee and walk it straight to the bank.

擁有會員資格的人每年只進幾次店，這意味著他們只是收取會員費，然後直接把錢存進銀行。

In fact, memberships are where Costco's raking in the most cash to the tune of 72% of their entire operating budget.  

事實上，會員這也是好市多賺取現金最多的地方，佔整個營運預算的 72%。

You heard that right. Nearly three quarters of their entire operation is covered by membership costs alone.

你沒聽錯。近四分之三的營運費用來自會員費，僅此一項。

In 2021, they collected $3.9 billion from 61 million members, which means that even when the cost of their products fluctuates or customers are shopping less for a few months because of things like massive inflation, Costco is going to be doing just fine.

2021 年，他們從6,100 萬會員那裡收取了39 億美元的收入，這意味著即使產品成本波動，或者顧客因大規模通貨膨脹等因素而在幾個月內減少購物，Costco 的表現也會很好。

But memberships are doing a lot more than extracting just some upfront cash from you.

但會員制不僅僅是從你身上榨取一些預付現金。

It's also doing something much darker and more sinister.

它還在做一些更陰暗，險惡的事情。

It's manipulating your mind. 

它在操縱你的思想。

You see, one reason companies require memberships is because they're powerful tools that get you to come back more often.

公司要求會員資格的原因之一是因為它們是讓你更頻繁地回來的強大工具。

Since our brains see those membership dues as sunk costs or money that can't be recovered.

因為我們的大腦將這些會員費視為沉沒成本或無法收回的金錢。

When you buy something, you always want it to be worth it, right? Whatever that means to you.

當你買東西的時候，你總是希望它物有所值，對嗎？ 無論這對你意味著什麼。

If you buy a cool jacket, you want to use it enough times to feel like you got your money's worth.

如果你買了一件很酷的夾克，你會想使用它足夠的次數，讓自己覺得你的錢花得值。

If it's food, you want it to taste good and live up to the price that you pay. But how does this work with a Costco membership?

如果是食物，你希望它味道好並且物有所值。 但對 Costco 會員來說，這如何運作呢？

Well, you paid all this money to get the membership upfront on the promise that you'll save money later when you actually shop in the store.

好吧，你支付了所有這些錢來預先獲得會員資格，並承諾以後當你實際在商店購物時會省錢。

So what does this make your brain want to do?

那麼這會讓你的大腦想做什​​麼呢？

Buy a ton of stuff in the store so you can get back the price of that membership and savings.

在商店裡購買大量商品，這樣你就可以收回會員資格和節省的費用。

Seriously, spending money on a Costco membership makes your brain want to make up for it by spending even more money at Costco. It's actually brilliant.

說真的，花錢買 Costco 會員資格會讓你的大腦想要在 Costco 花更多的錢來彌補。 它實際上很棒。

This is what's known as the Sunk Cost Fallacy, or the idea that we're more likely to invest in an action if we feel it'll make prior investment seem justified. 

這就是所謂的沉沒成本謬誤，或者說，如果我們認為一項行動會讓先前的投資顯得合理，我們就更有可能投資該行動。

This is true even when the action no longer brings us joy.

即使這種行為不再給我們帶來快樂，也是如此。

Despite being the opposite of what economic theory tells us is rational, these sunk costs have been shown to have a massive impact on your behaviors.

儘管與經濟理論告訴我們的理性相反，這些沉沒成本已被證明會對您的行為產生巨大影響。

So geez. We're already dealing with an upfront investment, followed by the psychology of sunk costs and crippling guilt that comes with it.

哎呀。 我們已經在處理前期投資，隨之而來的是沉沒成本和隨之而來的嚴重罪惡感心理。

And we haven't even stepped foot in the store yet.

我們甚至還沒踏進商店一步。

That said, it's only after we're over the threshold pushing our shopping cart the size of a rowboat that the mind games get even more intense.

也就是說，只有當我們推著划艇大小的購物車跨過門檻後，心理遊戲才會變得更加激烈。

If you're familiar with our video on how grocery stores trick your brain into spending more than you think, well, you probably know where this is going, but Costco actually takes things up to a whole other level.  

如果您熟悉我們的影片，了解雜貨店如何欺騙您的大腦，讓您的支出超出您的想像，那麼您可能知道這是怎麼回事，但好市多實際上將事情提升到了一個全新的水平。

You see, a major key to Costco success is impulse purchases.

要知道，好市多成功的關鍵在於衝動購物。

Items that you wouldn't normally buy, but you do it on a whim.

您通常不會購買但一時興起就會購買的物品。

And you can bet over the years that they've come up with some pretty sneaky tactics to get you to do just that.

你可以打賭，這些年來他們已經想出了一些相當狡猾的策略來讓你這麼做。

The first comes with the brand itself, making you think that you're in a quote unquote cheap store. That's right.

第一個是品牌本身，讓你以為你是在一家報價不報價的廉價商店。 這是正確的。

They're not leaving all the floors as concrete and all the heating pipes expose just the pinch pennies.

他們把所有的地板都保留為混凝土，所有的暖氣管道都只暴露在外只是為了省錢。

They're doing it to make you think they're pinching pennies. They're saving money. They're passing those savings on to you.

他們這樣做是為了讓你覺得他們很吝嗇。 他們正在省錢。 他們會把這些省下來的錢轉嫁給你。

We're all on the same team here, right?

我們是一夥的吧？

Wrong. If you feel like you're in a thrift store, you won't be as careful about checking prices.

錯。 如果您覺得自己身處舊貨店，那麼您就不會那麼仔細地檢查價格。

You'll feel like those prices are better even when they're not, and leaving everything barebones makes you feel like you're in a place that's attainable.

你會覺得這些價格更好，即使事實並非如此，而讓一切保持準系統會讓你感覺自己處於一個可以實現的地方。

A place  that's not outside of anyone's league.

一個不超出任何人的範圍的地方。

On top of that, they start, you right off at the front door  with an interesting mix of stuff. Some things that you need and some things that you want.

最重要的是，他們一開始，你就在前門看到了一些有趣的東西。 有些東西是你需要的，有些東西是你想要的。

They want you seeing something that you use every day the second you walk in.

他們希望你一進門就能看到日常使用的東西。

That way, even if you're not running low, you might as well pick it up to save time later or use eventually.  

這樣即使不是不夠用了，也不妨買回來，以節省時間或最終使用。

Vitamins, big volume snacks, toothpaste. Those are the things that are going to meet you right at the front door because who doesn't need to stock up on stuff like that? 

維他命、大容量零食、牙膏。 這些東西將在前門與您見面，因為誰不需要儲備這樣的東西呢？

The other thing that's flashing in front of your face when you walk in are the TVs, the stereos, the expensive electronics, things that represent spirational purchases that most people aren't buying every time they go to the store.

當你走進商店時，在你面前閃現的另一件東西是電視、音響、昂貴的電子產品，這些代表著渴望購買的東西，但大多數人並不是每次去商店都會購買。

But you could potentially buy them one day if you managed to save enough money by shopping at Costco.

但如果你在 Costco 購物省了足夠的錢，有一天你可能會買到它們。

They give you a goal to shoot for. 

他們給了你一個目標。

And hey, if you said no to that 70 inch OLED for a couple thousand dollars at the door, look how much you just saved.

如果你在門口拒絕了幾千美元的 70 吋 OLED，看看你剛剛節省了多少錢。

Might as well reward yourself with an extra tray of 24 fresh cinnamon buns from the bakery: Only 11.99

你剛剛省下的錢還不如多吃一盤 24 個新鮮肉桂麵包，作為對自己的獎勵，只需 11.99 美元。

Bating you with expensive items that you want makes it a lot more likely that you'll impulse buy something much smaller later to feel like you weren't completely depriving yourself.

用你想要的昂貴物品來打擊你，會讓你更有可能衝動地買一些小得多的東西，讓你感覺自己並沒有完全剝奪自己。

When in reality, you wouldn't have wanted anything extra in the first place if you didn't see beautiful displays of MacBooks.

事實上，如果您沒有看到 MacBook 的精美螢幕，您一開始就不會想要任何額外的東西。

All you came in for was just several cows worth of milk. 

你來這裡只是為了幾頭奶牛的牛奶。

Next, have you noticed how things kind of seem randomly sprinkled throughout Costco?

接下來，你有沒有注意到好市多的商品似乎都是隨意擺放的？

Like some cheese over there, some blenders over here, some random barrels of pretzels somewhere in the middle.

比如那邊有一些起司，這裡有一些攪拌機，中間有一些隨機的椒鹽捲餅桶。

It's no accident. In fact Costco's distribution of the staples you actually need: produce, milk, condiments and snacks.

這絕非偶然。事實上，好市多配送的都是你真正需要的主食：農產品、牛奶、調味品和零食。

They're all designed to be a treasure hunt through the store that forces you to stumble across a huge array of products that you didn't actually need or didn't realize that you needed,

它們的設計都是為了讓人們在尋寶的過程中，通過迫使你偶然發現大量實際上並不需要的產品，或沒有意識到你需要的東西，

but, well, while you're here you might as well pick them up, right?

不過，既然你來了，不妨把它們買起來，對吧？

And all of that wandering and hunting around helps you to feel just a little bit more peckish, right in time to pass by their most devious tactic of all, the free samples.  

所有這些徘徊和狩獵都會讓你感到有點餓，正好趕上他們最狡猾的策略——免費試吃。

Yep. All those tiny little crackers with goat cheese that money bloggers want to convince you constitute as a free meal.

是的。 理財部落客想讓你相信所有那些帶有山羊奶酪的小餅乾都是一頓免費的飯菜。

All of those nice little freebies are actually just putting their hands down in your wallet.

所有這些精美的小免費試吃實際上只是將它們放入您的錢包中。

A study from the University of New York showed that when a grocery store offers free samples, impulse purchases in that category go up over 50%.  

紐約大學的一項研究表明雜貨店提供免費試吃，該類商品的衝動性購買就會增加 50%以上。

But just think about what that means for Costco. If you like a free sample, you're not just buying one small wedge of cheese or one little packet of cocktail weenies.

但想想這對好市多意味著什麼。 如果你喜歡免費試吃，你購買的就不僅僅是一小塊起司或一小包雞尾酒臘腸。

You're buying the farm.  

你買的是農場。

Free samples are especially valuable at Costco because every time they convert a single sale, what they're really doing is converting 2 to 4 sales worth of a regular store.

在好市多，免費試吃尤其珍貴，因為每次免費試吃都能帶來一次銷售，他們真正在做的，是轉換一個普通商店 2 到 4 次的銷售額。

Congratulations. You are now the proud owner of 20 pepperoni pizza because you like that one little two by two inch square.

恭喜。 現在，您自豪地擁有 20 個意大利辣香腸披薩，因為您喜歡那個 2 x 2 英寸見方的小披薩。

That is some serious marketing psychology, no matter how you slice it. 

不管怎麼說，這都是一種認真的行銷心理學。

But okay, let's say that you've come in incredibly prepared.

但是好吧，假設你是有備而來。

You have your budget, you have a list, you've arrived on a full stomach, ready to resist even the most inviting little old lady proffering you a free Tuscan meatball.

你有預算，有清單，你已經吃飽了，準備好抵抗最誘人的小老太太向你提供免費的托斯卡納肉丸。

What if I genuinely only buy the staples? Will I save a lot of money?

如果我真的只買主食呢？我會省下一大筆錢嗎？

Well, I did an analysis of what it would cost to buy common groceries at Costco compared to Walmart.

我對在好市多和沃爾瑪購買普通雜貨的成本進行了比較。

I looked at common food items like eggs and milk, produce like potatoes and broccoli, even meats like chicken and beef.

我研究了雞蛋和牛奶等常見食品，馬鈴薯和西蘭花等農產品，甚至雞肉和牛肉等肉類。

I even threw in a pair of AirPods just to see if tech was where I'd save. It was not.

我甚至還買了一對 AirPods，只是為了看看我是否可以在購買科技產品省錢。

What I found was, drum roll, please.

我的發現是：請擊鼓，謝謝。

On average, you're saving $1.14 per product shopping at Costco. Yay?! Is that a win?

在好市多購物，平均每件商品可節省 1.14 美元。耶？這算贏嗎？

Fun fact. The biggest savings actually came from coffee and only $0.42 per serving.

有趣的事實：最省錢的其實是咖啡，每份只需 0.42 美元。

So, hey, you can rest easy knowing that you do in fact save by shopping at Costco, provided you buy at least 53 items there in any given calendar year.

所以您可以高枕無憂，因為您知道在 Costco 購物實際上可以節省開支，前提是您在一年中至少在那裡購買 53 件商品。

Instead of buying those items at another retailer and that you use everything that you buy.

而不是在另一家零售商處購買這些物品，並使用您購買的所有物品。

That right there is the biggest sticking point, isn't it? 

這就是最大的癥結所在，不是嗎？

You only save money if you use the stuff that you bought.

只有使用你買的東西，你才能省錢。

You see, the average price of an item at Costco is a lot more than a smaller item at another store, meaning that you're going to have to be ready to make an investment in that food and you're going to be eating it like every day until it runs out. 

好市多的商品平均價格要比其他商店的小商品貴很多，也就是說，你必須準備好對食物進行投資，你必須每天都要吃，直到吃完為止。

In my analysis of Staples that I would need to buy at Costco instead of buying at a regular grocery store or Walmart, I would need to spend over $400 to buy the bulk versions of all of those things.

根據我對 Staples 的分析，在 Costco 購買，而不是在普通雜貨店或沃爾瑪購買，我需要花費 400 多美元購買所有這些東西的散裝版本。

And in the end, on an average basis, when you normalize for the amount of products you bought, you only save yourself $20. 

最後，平均而言如果按購買產品數量計算，你只節省了 20 美元。

And what happens if I don't use everything I just bought? Well, then it goes to waste, of course.

如果我不用剛買的東西會怎麼樣？那就浪費了，當然。

Meaning that I just have to go back and buy more.

這意味著我必須回去再買一些。

And chances are, unless my meal planning is prodigious and I know exactly how much my family is eating each day, I'm not going to get it right.

很可能，除非我的飲食計劃非常周全，並且我確切地知道我的家人每天吃了多少，否則我不會做對。

What the heck am I going to do with 5 lb of lemons, four dozen eggs? 

我到底要拿 5 磅檸檬、四打雞蛋做什麼？

I better be a baker or Gaston or my entire family better be eating omelets every day, which will also help me use up the pounds and pounds of cheddar cheese that are now weighing down my refrigerator shelves.

我最好是一名麵包師或加斯頓，或者我的全家最好每天都吃煎蛋捲，這也將幫助我消耗掉冰箱架上堆積如山的切達乾酪。

And you see, this is where most people fall into the Costco trap.

你看，這就是大多數人陷入 Costco 陷阱的地方。

Food goes to waste and you just end up buying it all again, or you end up eating the same thing every day out of obligation.

食物被浪費掉，最後只能再買一次，或者你最終出於義務每天吃同樣的東西。

Not because it was the best choice for you based on your nutrition, but because you felt guilty because wasted food equals wasted money.

不是因為根據您的營養，這是最好的選擇，而是因為您感到內疚，因為浪費食物等於浪費金錢。

So sure, in some scenarios, shopping at Costco makes sense.

當然，在某些情況下，在好市多購物是有意義的。

Say you're an affluent, college educated homeowner with both a family and enough disposable income to make buying in bulk a good option to stock your enormous refrigerator and freezer.

假設您是一位富裕的、受過大學教育的房主，擁有家庭和足夠的可支配收入，因此批量購買是存放巨大冰箱和冰櫃的不錯選擇。

Because theorists, that right there, that is Costco's target customer.

因為理論上，那就是 Costco 的目標客戶。

You might be led to believe that the average Costco shopper is lower income or a blue collar worker on a shoestring.

您可能會認為 Costco 購物者的平均收入較低，或者是經濟拮据的藍領工人。

But you couldn't be more wrong.

但你大錯特錯。

According to their own accounts, who they're actually targeting are professional women between the ages of 35 and 45 who make on average over $125,000 per year and are spending well over $100 per shopping trip.

根據他們自己的說法，他們的目標群眾其實是平均年收入超過 125,000 美元的 35 歲至 45 歲之間的職業女性的人，其每次購物的支出遠遠超過 100 美元。

When I found this out, I was seriously shocked. Like, This is Costco's biggest secret.

當我發現這一點時，我非常震驚。這就是好市多的最大的祕密。

A story that markets itself as discount is actually a store for rich people.  

一個以打折為賣點的故事，實際上是一個富人商店。

Just, you know, rich people who want to feel like they're saving money.

只是，你知道，有錢人想讓自己覺得在省錢。

It's also why you see Costco stores focused around suburban areas. It's just not that practical for an 18-year-old living in a cramped college dorm to buy in bulk.

這也是為什麼 Costco 商店集中在郊區的原因。 對於一個住在狹窄的大學宿舍裡的 18 歲年輕人來說，大量購買不太現實。

You're going to need a home with a garage and a freezer and another freezer and probably a shed.

您將需要一個帶有車庫、冰箱和另一個冰箱的房屋，可能還需要一個棚屋。

Oh, and when it comes to non-food items like their electronics, these are just price matched with other stores or Best Buy.

哦，當涉及到電子產品等非食品商品時，這些商品的價格只是與其他商店或百思買相符。

But Costco doesn't have any kind of student discount options because students, again, are not on the budget or the demographic that they're looking for.

但好市多沒有任何類型的學生折扣選項，因為學生不符合他們所尋找的預算或人群。

Does that mean that all is lost for your Costco membership? Not exactly.  

這是否意味著您的好市多會員資格就此終結？也不盡然。

You see, with today's unbridled inflation, I do actually believe that there's a place for that Costco membership.

你看，在當今肆無忌憚的通貨膨脹下，我確實相信 Costco 會員資格有一席之地。

And it's not where you think.

而且不是你想的那樣。

What if I told you that a Costco membership could save you money even without you stepping foot into the store?

如果我告訴你，即使你不踏入商店，成為 Costco 會員也能幫你省錢，你會怎麼想？

Enter the $1.50 hotdog deal.

$1.50 熱狗優惠登場。

Introduced back in 1985, the legendary hot dog deal is one of the main attractions at Costco's food court, which is what they call the snack stand that sits immediately inside or outside the door at most stores.

傳奇般的熱狗優惠活動於 1985 年推出，是 Costco 美食廣場的主要吸引力之一，大多數商店都在門內或門外設有小吃攤。

And this thing completely slays everything.  

而這東西，徹底殺死了一切。

The average yearly sales for Costco hotdogs outperform all of the major League Baseball stadiums combined by a factor of four.

Costco 熱狗的平均年銷售額是所有主要棒球聯盟體育場的總銷售額的四倍。

Stand aside there, Dodger Dog, the true king has arrived.

站一邊去，道奇狗，真正的國王已經到來。

What's even more impressive, though, is that this hot dog deal should be running you about $4.16 in today's money.