Apparantly they "hide" their sale prices:
Go to Costco and on your visit I want you to pay special attention to their signs for each item you see.
You will see many end with a 99˘ ending, some with a 79˘ ending, others 97˘ ending and so on. So how do you know which prices are the best deals or determine which are the close-outs that have vast reductions in their original prices? Easy, watch each step as I explain what each one means.
2. You are going to look for items that now have a 97˘ ending. Regular priced items usually end with a 99˘ ending but not always. However the ones with the 97˘ endings are those items that did not sell and must be cleared out. They are marked down, but unlike all other retailers, Costco doesn't want you to know that so the don't put the original prices with a slash and then the new price. You have to know the code to know it is a close-out.
3. Look to see if there is a * on the upper right side of the sign. If you see one, it means this item is not being reordered and what ever stock they have in the store will be sold and not replaced. This is a tip off that it might be a marked down item, but not always, but it does let you know that once these are gone there will be no more. I use this guide to determine if I should stock up on a discounted item, knowing that the store inventory is all they have.
4. Now you will watch for odd pricing like those that end in a 79˘ ending. I have noticed they have others now at 49˘ endings and others. These usually mean that these items have a special price on them because Costco got a special deal from the manufacturer. In other words they were a special purchase and the buyers really killed their vendors for this price.
These will be a good deal compared to other stores, but usually not the deal you will get with the Marked Down 97˘ merchandise.
From
http://hubpages.com/hub/Secret-Codes...oney-At-Costco