Inflation aside, shopping at Costco now officially costs more.
The bulk packaging wholesaler has increased its membership fees for the first time in almost a decade.
Since last Sunday, September 1, Costco has increased prices for its membership tiers, the company’s website says. The last time the company did this was about seven years ago.
The same Yahoo! Finance article states that Costco’s Gold Star membership has increased in price by $5, now costing $65 per year, while its Executive membership has increased by $10, to $130 per year.
Costco points out on its website that these base prices are also subject to sales tax. The price increases also apply to Costco stores in Canada.
A July company press release further stated that “the maximum annual 2% premium associated with Executive Membership will increase from $1,000 to $1,250” and that these new costs “will affect approximately 52 million memberships, just over half of which are Executive Memberships.”
“It has been more than seven years since Costco last increased its general membership fee,” Costco told USA Today in a statement. “Membership fees help offset costs so we can keep our prices low.”
“A moderate increase in fees will enable us to offer our members even greater added value.”
The same USA Today article reports that Costco reported net sales of $210.55 billion for the first 44 weeks of 2024, up nearly seven percent year over year.
