Kitchenaid 3/5 Speed Blender Costco B&M $49.99

My nearby Costco B&M in Avon, MA has the Kitchenaid KSB540 3 speed blender for $49.99, no coupons or rebates. I put in the title 3/5 speed because the blender is an odd model that seems to be only for Costco that has the 0.9HP motor, steel reinforced coupler, die cast base and 56 ounce jar from the 5 speed model. I have the 5 speed model and it appears to be identical except for fewer buttons and no automatic ice crush mode; you need to push the pulse button yourself to crush ice.

For comparison, the 5 speed is usually around $125 and the 4 speed around $100. There have been several deals where discontinued colors were much cheaper after rebate but I haven't seen those lately and the rebate is long dead. In any case, B&M plus great Costco return policy is worth it to me. I tested this out crushing ice without liquid and in 5 seconds or so I turned half a jar of ice into fluffy snow. I then chased my 7 year old around the yard throwing snowballs.

This is a very good quality blender and a great ice crushing smoothie machine for $50. Here it is online for $70 until 9/30 when it goes to $80.

Edit: Very likely this has BPA in the polycarbonate, in fact, all polycarbonate seems too. Just my opinion, but the problem with BPA is that it is pervasive. A Canadian study found it from the liner in 96% of tested soda cans of all types and it is commonly in the lining of many other food cans. I've gotten rid all the likely sources for my kids (e.g. sippy cups) but how much leaches into your food scales directly to how long the food is in contact with the source. Relative to the months soda or other canned and packaged foods get exposed, 2 minutes in my blender seems pretty trivial. I'm not worried about a blender.

If deciding on purchasing this, you may want to contact KitchenAid first as the pitcher is polycarbonate and may contain the toxin bisphenol A.

Bought one from Costco yesterday (Portland, OR) at the noted price. It's a lot more efficient for smoothies than our previous blender - which literally cracked up. Just a few pulses, and it made a full batch of smoothies in seconds.

The online info on BPA suggests that it's in the KitchenAid blender - but it's primarily a risk for kids - and per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

Bisphenol A has been known to leach from the plastic lining of canned foods[66] and, to a lesser degree,[citation needed] polycarbonate plastics, especially those that are cleaned with harsh detergents or used to contain acidic or high-temperature liquids.

We have no kids, we don't bleach our blender, and don't plan to mix hot liquids in it, so I'm not going to worry about it. Alan, if you have additional information, I'd be interested to read it.

This item has an asterisk by the price, so that means "no more will be ordered". I got mine today, and there were two more in red on the shelf. However, there may be more in storage elsewhere in the club. If you are interested, don't dawdle even if the price is available until Sept. 30, because it could sell out.