A friend and I went in on half a steer earlier this year. It was from a company owned by a family friend that primarily does some really high-end machining but had a bunch of land, their family had a history of raising cattle in the area, and just wanted some high quality beef. They do strictly grass-fed and pasture-raised. Comparing that meat to some Kirkland ribeyes my parents bought for a get together a month or two ago and the tenderness difference was extremely noticeable - the Kirkland steaks were downright soft. I enjoy both, but it might explain part of why that was.
I have found similar. I'll buy beef from the local grocery, which is all locally raised, and everyone around here pastures their cows. Much of it is quite good, but it still depends on what they eat. Last year, the kid who grazes my neighbor's land, which is dryland and pretty close to "rangeland grazing", had a couple of cows get on my side where the grass was greener. While I wasn't upset about it, he insisted on giving me a big box of beef. While the beef was good, it definitely was missing the marbling that beef get being finished in the feedlot.
The Costco ribeyes and filets I buy, are like you said, just plain soft. I buy top sirloin from Costco once in a while, and while recognizing that it will be a bit "tougher" than a ribeye anyway, they are noticeably more chewy. The next time I get some of those I'll have to see if I can see any needle marks. The story I posted wasn't clear, but it seemed to allude to Costco just doing the mechanical stuff to the higher end cuts.