Walk into any Costco this week and you'll see the same giant TVs and bulk paper towels as everyone else.
The real savings are hiding in plain sight, and they rarely make it into the monthly coupon book.
Seasoned shoppers call them "unadvertised deals" or, more bluntly, the .97 rule.
Any price ending in .97 is a markdown set by the warehouse manager, not a company-wide sale.
Those items are usually on their way out and often discounted 20 to 50 percent.
If you see one and you actually need it, that's your moment.
The other price code worth memorizing is the asterisk.
A price tag with a star in the upper right corner means the item is discontinued and won't be restocked.
Pair that star with a .97 ending and you've found the deepest discount in the building.
The catch is obvious: once it's gone, it's gone.
Timing matters more than most members realize.
Costco rotates its coupon book roughly every month, and the last week of a cycle is when clearance pressure builds on seasonal goods.
Patio furniture, holiday candy, and summer gear tend to get slashed as the next wave of merchandise rolls in.
The food court and the rotisserie chicken remain the loudest value plays.
The $4.99 chicken has held its price for years even as grocery bills climbed, and the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo is practically a membership perk on its own.
Neither is a secret, but both are still cheaper than almost any fast-casual alternative.
Kirkland Signature is where the quiet margin lives.
The store's private label often comes from the same manufacturers as name brands, and it typically costs 20 percent less.
Coffee, olive oil, batteries, and paper products are the standouts.
If you're not comparing the Kirkland version side by side, you're likely overpaying for a label.
One warning for the newly deal-obsessed: a bargain you don't need is still money spent.
The .97 tags are designed to trigger urgency, and bulk sizing means you're committing to a lot of product.
Buy the deal only if it replaces something already on your list.
Also watch the death star tags on electronics in late summer and early fall, when new models push older inventory out.
That's when laptops, TVs, and tablets take their biggest cuts of the year.
If you want to spot these deals before your next trip, a handful of fan-run sites and Reddit threads track markdowns by warehouse location.
Inventory varies store to store, so a deal in one city may never appear in another. **Our take:** Costco rewards members who slow down and read the price tags instead of the signs.
The biggest savings aren't advertised because they're not meant to be — they're a quiet reward for paying attention.
Final Thoughts
Learn the .97 and the asterisk, and your next run could pay for the membership on its own.