Membership Is Its Own Reward

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The effort to purchase Donald Trump's aged 727 continues apace. I believe we now have close to $1000 in various currencies toward our goal of $300,000.

Most people have responded well to the idea. Some complained, however, that we gave free publicity to Mr. Trump in his campaign to reap a profit from the sale of his luxury liner. To this cavil I responded that, in my experience, it is generally the rich who get things for free.

As an example, I mentioned the fact that, for some reason, only upscale grocery stores frequented by the wealthy offer free samples of tasty tidbits. I was specifically thinking of a supermarket not far from where I used to live outside of New York City, in an town adjacent to my own called Scarsdale (close by where a famous diet doctor was heartlessly murdered by his elegant lover). This store offered what was in effect a sumptuous feast to anybody rich enough to shop there. You should have seen the Gucci and Louis Vuittons scarfing down that free brie.

At any rate, my thoughts on this important matter generated an interesting comment from John, who lives in Los Angeles. "Bing," he writes, "I get free tastings in Costco(COST) all the time. Of course, they have been getting more and more upscale every day. Heck, they're so upscale now they might refuse to renew my membership. Better go shop while I can."

John lives in the home of people who, as Groucho Marx once said about himself, don't want to belong to any club that would have them as a member. Los Angeles is all about clubs you can and can't get into, and those are only places people really want to go.