LED light bulbs on sale at costco

[frugalnacho]

I was at costco a few days ago and they were selling LED bulbs at a discount.  A $14.99 package of 3 bulbs (60-watt equivalent, uses 9.5 watts) were on sale for $5.99, so $2/bulb.  I already use almost all cfl in my house, and they are already pretty energy efficient so it will take between 3,000-4,000 hours for the energy savings to equal the cost of the bulb, so I don't know if it makes sense to replace a cfl that is still working, but it certainly makes sense to replace an incandescent that is still working.  The bulbs are also supposed to have 25,000 hour life, so it totally makes sense to replace a cfl as they burn out too.

[robartsd]

Assuming I needed spare lamps to have on hand, I'd buy and install a pack of LEDs in my most frequently used locations and hold the replaced CFLs as spares for when the other CFLs go - thus reducing inventory costs for my LED conversion. Currently, I have way too much inventory of spare CFLs to make this worthwhile unless the light quality is sufficient that I'm willing to replace my only incandescent lamp.

[frugalnacho]

Yea it may not make sense to everyone, especially members here, but hopefully someone finds it useful.  I have been wanting to switch to LED for awhile, but it just didn't make financial sense.  But for $2/bulb? I'll grab a few of those.

[PharmaStache]

Wow!  My costco (in Canada) had them on sale for $15/3 awhile back and I thought that was a great price!

[daschtick]

I can beat that - In November, our local Costco had those same 60 Watt 3 packs on sale for $2.99!

They set up an entire aisle just for these, and everyone was walking out with cases, including myself.  I love the light and dimmability of these bulbs, and I have replaced even the most obscure bulbs in my home with them.

[Pylortes]

How about buying seveal packs replacing the small amount of bulbs in your house you can get some benefit out of, and then give the rest to a loved one/friend/co-worker.   The downside is you are out of pocket for the cost but they capture the savings forever if they are currently running inefficient lights.  Oh and there's that whole side benfit of you assist us all in not burning so much coal to produce electricity so we have cleaner air.   It would truly be a wonderful gift to your loved one/friend/co-worker but also to all of us.  If I had a costco within reasonable driving distance I would load up and hand them out to friends who dont yet use LED's.

[Alternatepriorities]

In the remote village where I live electricity is $0.67/kWh (that's not a typo). The payback is a matter of weeks for replacing incandescents that get much use but a lot of people are still using them. I saw 6 packs on sale at Lowes for 12 bucks the last time I was in town I bought extras and resold them locally to cover my own lights.

[crazy jane]

I took advantage of the November sale when it was a dollar a bulb. There was a limit so I went back 3 times. Every bulb in the house got replaced even the cfls. The best thing is that we can see! The difference was very noticeable. If anyone knows what to do with a bag of 25-30 older but still working cfls, I'm open to suggestions.

[robartsd]

I took advantage of the November sale when it was a dollar a bulb. There was a limit so I went back 3 times. Every bulb in the house got replaced even the cfls. The best thing is that we can see! The difference was very noticeable. If anyone knows what to do with a bag of 25-30 older but still working cfls, I'm open to suggestions.

Find a charity that can use them? Post on freecycle?