Costco is a beloved brand, famous for its bulk deals and $1.50 hot dogs. But can shopping there really save you money?

On this special episode of Booming brought to us by our friends at Control F: How much money are you really saving when you shop at Costco? The surprising ways that wholesale can—and can’t—save you money.

Sources in this episode:

• Consumer Price Index data, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Most and Least Expensive Supermarkets, Consumer Reports
• Cost of Living Index (COLI) data, The Council for Community Economic research
• Interview with David and Susan Schwartz, authors of The Joy of Costco
• Interview with Jordan Page
• Interview with Tan Vinh and Chris Solomon

Control F wants to answer your questions about how our world works! Click here to submit a question using their online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org

Do you have a tip for the Booming team? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at booming@kuow.org.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington is one of 17 states trying to break up with gasoline. It wants every new car sold here to be electric by 2035.

But so far, drivers have been slow to adopt electric vehicles. Nationally, only one in ten new cars sold each year is electric. That’s because EVs are expensive, and finding a place to charge them can be inconvenient.

So one Seattle inventor came up with a workaround. He’s developing a simple way to convert gas cars to plug-in hybrids.

On today's episode, could transforming gas cars into hybrids jump start our all-electric future? Or will this idea stall out before it even gets rolling?

GUESTS:
Tom Gurksi, founder and CEO of Blue Dot Motorworks
Don Mackenzie, leader of the Sustainable Transportation Lab at the University of Washington

Coming up: Are you a (non-software) small business owner or entrepreneur who is using AI agents to help with your work? What are the creative ways you're using them? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at booming@kuow.org.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Tech is bankrolling massive clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to power the data centers of the future.

These carbon-free energy gambles are being built here for a reason: Washington and Oregon have some of the most aggressive mandates to ditch fossil fuels on the books. But before those laws take effect, Big Tech is driving demand for fossil fuels in the region—and elsewhere in the country, the industry is causing a gas boom.

On today's episode, is the tech industry pushing us toward a clean energy revolution, or reversing progress on global warming?

Clarification: Helion's nuclear fusion plant is being built in Chelan County, near Microsoft's Grant County data center cluster.

Coming up: Sometimes it can feel like taking care of the planet will break the bank. What are your budget friendly hacks for being a good environmental steward? Give us a call at (206) 221-7158 and leave a voicemail. You can also email us at booming@kuow.org.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/boomingnotes.

Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

Support the show: https://kuow.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.