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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2581 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 2026

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Is right now (after a historic crash) a good time to buy in on silver and gold? The underlying logic still seems sound (needed for electronics, inflation/weakening USD, increased international drama)

Periodically when I have the extra cash in the bank and the extra room on my credit card, I buy an ounce of gold at Costco on my way out. I wouldn't want to buy gold futures, as the value of the gold to me as an inflation/TEOTWAWKI hedge is minimized by having intermediaries between me and the gold.

If you have significantly higher value assets than I do, that probably becomes impractical for storage reasons.

Wait, why the hell does Costco wholesale gold??

The costcos in my area run out of stock of gold pretty much instantaneously. People have figured out when the shipments come in and line up out the door for hours before opening on those days

Costco sells about $200mm of gold every month. I think it comes from catering to Asian customers, who love Costco almost as much as they love buying gold.

For the most part, it just matches what Costco likes in a product: it's easy to beat other retailers on service (costco has a minimal markup over spot price compared to a local pawn shop), there's value in reliability and credibility, and it's a simple business as they do it. Costco's philosophy is built around trying to find things they can do better than other retailers, this is a good example.

Now, you can only buy 2 ounces a day, so you can't necessarily launder a drug business through costco. But it's just kind of a simple investment plan that fits into my standard week.

Probably because people want to buy it. Of course, since this is Costco, the bars come in a pack of 2 so they’re a bit more expensive initially.

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