This Costco Favorite Just Underwent a Big Change, and Fans Aren't Happy

Certain Costco buys have long been cult favorites. Take the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo at the food court, for example. Costco fans commonly scoop up that item not for its nutritional value, but rather, because it's remarkably cheap.

Similarly, Costco's rotisserie chicken has long been hailed as one of the best grocery deals you can find. For just $4.99, you can pick up a cooked bird and have dinner on the table without having to dirty your hands or spend the time whipping up a from-scratch meal if that's not your jam.

But Costco recently made a change to its famed rotisserie chicken. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be a good one.

A packing change that has customers in an uproar

Humans are creatures of habit who can sometimes be resistant to change. And that explains why so many Costco customers aren't happy about the fact that the store's rotisserie chicken now comes in a plastic bag instead of a case. 

On the one hand, you'd think the plastic bag packaging would make those chickens more compact and easier to haul home -- the bag uses 75% less plastic. But Costco customers have complained that the new packaging is prone to leakage. And while one could argue that there are worse things in life than having your trunk smell like cooked chicken, it's also easy to see why that's far from ideal.

Customers have also complained that the old chicken packaging doubled as a plate. It's much harder to eat chicken out of a bag.

Plus, there's something unappealing about chicken in a bag. My husband, who's a huge carnivore, took one look and immediately got turned off.

Is Costco's rotisserie chicken really a great deal?

If you don't cook, then you'll be hard-pressed to find a cheaper dinner than a whole rotisserie chicken for $4.99. So if you're a fan, or you have family members who like the chicken and eat it consistently, then it's a helpful buy for folks on a budget.

But if you're not a fan of Costco's rotisserie chicken to begin with -- packaging aside -- then you'll need to ask yourself whether it's really worth forcing yourself to eat food you don't enjoy just to save a little money. You can always buy uncooked chicken in bulk at Costco at a reasonable price and season it how you want.

On my end, we buy Costco chicken on occasion, but the meat eaters in my household don't care for it. My husband says it's too salty, while my son just doesn't like it but has trouble pinpointing why. 

If you're wondering why we buy it, it's for our spoiled dog so we can shred small amounts into his food to get him to eat. (If he's not bribed, he just sort of stares at his food stubbornly). Since we only use a small amount each week, we'll typically divide the whole chicken into portions and freeze them so that food isn't wasted. 

If it weren't for our dog, though, we'd pass on the chicken completely despite the appealing price. And that's a good spending philosophy to adopt in general.

Many people buy things for the sake of getting a deal. But you're not getting a great deal if you buy Costco chicken and dread having to eat it. So think carefully before picking up a bag.