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stratman wrote:

Costco in Mayfield Hts., Ohio is well stocked with Kirkland photopaper in three different sizes seen in a quick look.  I saw one 8.5"x11" Made in Mexico and the rest Made in USA.  No markings showing paper as discontinued items.

What was the price for the 8.5x11 US paper ($18 or $20)?

Something smells fishy about the reverting back to USA stock. I wonder if they are clearing out the old stock. I just can't believe that they would shift production down to Mexico and in a short period of time switch back when the currency or tariff situation has not changed. That is highly unusual.

I really wonder if they are now lowering their stock levels at the master warehouse and are hitting old stocks that had been left in the back and not rotated. The situation where some stores are not carrying it any longer indicates to me that stock levels must be lowered.

Does anyone know how to read the datecode on these USA packages?

Called the store today.  There are only two sizes of Kirkland photopaper:  4"x6" and 8.5"x11".  The 14" paper I saw must have been photo album paper (per Costco employee) that someone had left on top of the stack I looked at.  I've not bought Kirkland paper and was concentrating on the location of manufacture to report in the forum.  Funny how the photo album paper was the first box I picked up.

The cost of the 8.5"x11" photopaper is $18.  There are 158 units left and it is INACTIVE, meaning no more of this unit will be purchased (the stacks were not marked as inactive).  The Costco employee I spoke with did not know if this paper will be replaced by anything, such as a different manufacturer/supplier.

Grandad35 wrote:

stratman wrote:

...snip...  I saw one 8.5"x11" Made in Mexico and the rest Made in USA.....

Does this mean that they had a number of "Made in USA" boxes for sale at $18, or were all of the 8.5x11 boxes from Mexico?

They could be in the process of replacing the Mexican paper with US paper by depleting the Mexican stock and then stocking the US paper with a new number (and a higher price).

AFAIK, from what I saw and what the Costco employee told me, all the 8.5"x11" was the same price - $18. 

I only saw one box Made In Mexico in my sampling.  All the rest of the 8.5"x11".

The Costco employee I spoke with made no distinction on country of manufacturer, just that Kirkland photopaper they had was inactive and she did not know what, if anything, would replace it.  If the SKU or internal code was different based on the country of origin I would think she would see each individually on her screen and would have told me of the difference.  She reported specifically of only two entries for Kirkland photo paper - 4"x6" and 8.5"x11".

Maybe my Costco does things differently than your Costco or the employee I spoke with was either not competent or allowed to see more than she reported.  She sounded competent and seemed to pay more attention to details than I did in the store yesterday. 

Maybe your Costco is charging more or my store has yet to markup the paper per corporate pricing.  What I know is my Costco is selling all 8.5"x11" Kirkland photo paper for $18 and the majority of that paper appears to be USA manufactured, unless the Made in Mexico stock is hidden behind every USA box I checked and which goes against typical retail display procedures (sell older merchandise first by placing it in front of newer stock).

One last thing, the Kirkland photo paper was moved from its previous general shelving location to its own display along the main aisle, with cameras displayed on top of the paper display.  I've seen Costco seperate out merchandise before that was inactive as well as on special but not inactive.

Last edited by stratman (04/13/2010 4:20:06 pm)

Interesting - no reorders in the Chicago area - and same in the northern California area.  Conjecture --- maybe their profit center is better for selling prints than printing paper!  Selling 4x6 photo paper below 5 cents per sheet may be counterproductive to encouraging customers to order their prints from the Costco print kiosk (or however they sell finished prints.)  On the other hand, their full isle of inkjet printer ink doesn't seem to have diminished!!!!