The membership increase, set for September 1, 2024, will impact around 52 million memberships, a little over half of which are on the “Executive” plan.
The annual US and Canada “Gold Star” memberships, Business and Business add-on members will see fees increase by $5. The annual fee for a “Gold Star” member currently sits at $60 plus sales tax, Costco said in an announcement this week.
Higher-tier “Executive” members in the US and Canada will see annual fees increase from $120 to $130. The maximum annual 2 percent reward, associated with the Executive tier, will increase from $1,000 to $1,250.
This is the first membership price hike Costco has announced in seven years.
“To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” Costco’s new chief financial officer, Gary Millerchip, said in May.
"I came to [Sinegal] once, and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends.’ And he said, ‘If you raise the ef**** hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out,” Jelinek recalled in a 2018 presentation, 425 Business reported.
Old price, you need to spend 3000 annually to meet the break even of executive membership.
After increase, the break even is 3250. Considering the inflation, I think it still worth to keep the executive membership if you visit Costco regularly.
Not sure if Sams will follow this. Maybe Sams would take this chance to attract more members?
Don't forget, you can also request a refund for the price difference between the regular and executive if you don't meet the breakeven point
Can you confirm that's still a thing. I seem to remember they stopped that policy years ago.
It's still an option.
https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1008254/~/executive-2%25-reward-faqs
Quoting the site: "To receive a refund for the current Executive upgrade fee, the membership must be canceled or downgraded to a Gold Star or Business Membership. Any 2% Reward issued or accrued will be subtracted from the refund and forfeited to the extent it exceeds the amount of any refund. "