If it said $180,000 I'd say no...
But $179,999.99 that's a bargin!
this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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It'll still cost you $180,000 though, good luck getting a penny back these days.
They're obviously going to pay by credit card. Imagine the cashback.
But that price is for a 6 pack, who needs 6 grand pianos?
As much as people joke about stuff like this, a University's music program or something could probably take advantage of something like that.
At work, we used to get the discounted NetJets subscriptions (still like $15k) from Costco because it was a crazy good deal and we would charter flights for some emergency issues where it made financial sense to use a private/charter flight to get on-site faster because the issue is costing $20-50k/minute of downtime.
Sure, your average person isn't taking advantage of those deals, but someone does or else Costco wouldn't offer them.
No joke, it looks like that may be the price for both units you can see there. Hard to tell from the sign, but it has two product codes with a + between.
Seems a bit steep for a single grand piano, and just about right for two.
Might just be the piano + bench SKUs
"We have grand piano, yes, but what about second grand piano?“
"I don't think he knows about that, Count Pippin"
"What about harpsichordsies? Noon cello?"
You know, you think that the first time, but if you go for it (and have the storage) you’ll be surprised at how glad you are to have them!
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Honestly I feel that's just a way to introduce horrendously high prices in their stores so when people walk past them, they notice it and then the 2000$ TV isn't looking that expensive anymore in comparison.
This is exactly why they do it. It's a very old sales technique: show them something wildly outside their price range so that they are more open to items that are just a little above what they wanted to spend.
Not everything is a jedi mind trick unless 'providing a fun attraction'' is a trick.
I don't think a large corporation like costco is doing anything if that thing doesn't yield some kind of return. Even the choice of lighting in the store and choice if music is selected to subconsciously affect your purchase behavior.
Employee owned co-ops don’t have much of a marketing R&D or lighting budget, and no Costco warehouse I’ve been to has music (or even a PA system, come to think of it).
Warehouse management’s sales tactics tend to be unsophisticated bordering on obsolete compared to traditional retail.
For example…
OP’s indiscriminate use of the x99.99 formula dilutes its effectiveness throughout the warehouse. This is especially true for big ticket items.
Too many 9s in the sticker also makes customers doubt they are receiving any kind of wholesale bargain, if only because they begin to envision increasingly large arbitrary markup hidden in that portion of the price.
ETA: but you’re right that one of the original sales dynamics relied on in Costco’s warehouse model is placing higher ticket and luxury items by the entrance such that customers must walk past them to get to what they actually came for. That trick is old but still works.
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My problem is that I fall for it every single time.
I can barely afford the storage building payments for all of these pianos.
I don't know what I'm going to do if I end up falling for it again.
Does the rule of nines really apply for amounts this high? Just call it 180k ffs.
The idea of psychological pricing is that the price is perceived lower. But as you imply, the price is in the image is (to me at least) perceived higher, with all the 9s. Especially the 99 cents seem counterproductive to include...
In this case I doubt they are trying to sell the piano. They are trying to make it look as expensive as possible so everything else in the store seems really cheap in comparison.
I like to round to .2 mill for simplicity
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I honestly wonder if their generous return policy extends to something like that.
Unfortunately, pianos come with strings attached.
Yeah better blow your money on a trumpet!
Honestly, don't buy a piano unless the strings are attached.
I have to admit I appreciate the behavioral psychology behind Costco’s layout.
They put the expensive things first and up front so that, on your way into the store, you’ve been mentally anchored to high prices (even if they’re prices for things you’d never buy). If you even considered or said to yourself “well, maybe someday” about their TVs, computers, or pianos, you are spending the rest of your time in Costco seeing prices for everything else and saying to yourself “hm, this might be a little expensive (even if it’s not), but at least it’s not the price of those grand pianos/TVs/computers in the entrance. Sold!”
Iirc they also purposely don’t label what foods or items are down which aisles so you have to go down them and, on the way, perhaps see something you hadn’t thought you needed before.
Pretty sneaky but effective stuff.
I'm so glad my parents bought me a $50 electric keyboard to lose interest in....
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That’s not even a good deal. You can get one in Germany for 150.000$. (Tax included)
But then I'd have to pay for shipping it from Germany, and probably a tariff on top of that
You could take a plane to Germany, buy one and bring it back in your luggage. If it doesn't have the packaging anymore they can't declare it an import!
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You know what, if I was one of the 10 people on earth who are in the market for that Piano, it's a bit of a steal..!
They've really got it all!
I had to deliver one of these coffins one time doing last mile logistics. What a shit show! Dude said he was at home when we called and that under no uncertain circumstances were we allowed to deliver it for the next few hours. Like dude! I can't just drive around with this thing for hours, making other deliveries! I get that you're probably in a rough place, but the world doesn't stop for one person. We decided to never take on this type of contract again.
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Is there a 50-pack?
That's where I got my law degree
Welcome to Costco, I love you
I also got my degree from costco!
$179'999.99 is ridiculous. Is someone really going to look at that and say "Oh hey, it's less than 180'000! What a steal!"?
Well when you buy those hot dogs on Klarna it lets you keep enough liquid to pay for that piano in cash.
I forget which Food Theory video this was, but there was one where MattPat essentially brokedown the covert strategy that most supermarkets employ by purposely displaying their most egregious impulse buys at the very front of the store... so after you pat yourself on the back for not buying a £5 prosciutto-wrapped cheesesticks and olive assortment, you actually buy the other things that they want you to buy by the time you're further back in the store.
It's all about decision fatigue. (Don't buy that on sale mountain bike OP!)
Costco Syndrome: Go in for a pack of gym socks, come out with a 9-ft television and a trampoline.
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Tangentially related; Tori Amos has been touring with a Bösendorfer for ages. If you enjoy the piano, you should give the songs linked on the page a listen.
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180,000 is my absolute limit for a bosendorfer. So it's definitely in play.
Next time, instead of buying, take the idea home. Think about it first.
The 180k one is to make the 20k one to the left look cheap.
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