OK, here’s a tip I wanted to share with everyone. Costco lets customers take their empty wooden wine boxes (the ones that the wines are shipped in, not the display ones) just like you can take empty boxes, like they ones they typically have piled high by the check outs.

Sometimes you will find them among the empty boxes, but most of the time you will have to look in the aisles for wines that are shipped and stocked in the wooden boxes.

And then hope you get lucky enough to find an empty one (or near empty one of course, I’m guilty of moving a couple bottles to another box. The general rule of thumb is that if there are less than four bottles in a box, it is ok to move them).

To be clear, I am talking about the aisles of stacked wine like you see above, not the diagonal display boxes where they have all the fancy wines.

I’m also not sure if every Costco does this. There’s no way of knowing, but I’ve asked the staff at two Costcos near me, and they said when the boxes are empty they’re up for grabs.

The brand I see the most available is Montes (I have two). And Montes is good stuff, so throw a bottle or two in as well.

– Editor