Costco members can breathe a sigh of relief: membership fees aren’t expected to go up … for now.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Richard Galanti confirmed in the company’s most recent earnings call that an increase in membership costs is going to happen – there just isn’t a set day or time -- or any information on what that price increase will look like.
“You’ll see it happen at some point, and we can’t really tell you if it’s in our plans or not,” Galanti said during the call. “We’ll let you know when.
“In terms of looking at the values that we provided our members, we continue to increase those in certainly a greater amount than even more than if and when an increase occurs. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted.”
Is Costco past due for a membership fee increase?
Costco members haven’t experienced an increase in their yearly membership fees since 2017. Currently, a Gold Level membership runs $60 per year, while an Executive Level membership runs $120 per year.
Historically, Costco has increased membership fees every five to six years. Last year, members were preparing for a price hike – especially after competitor Sam’s Club raised its membership fees for the first time in nearly a decade.
Galanti has even acknowledged that Costco has gone “a little longer” than usual in between price increases for members.
However, he said one such option for the company in the interim is to encourage more Gold Level members to upgrade to the Executive Level membership. That tier comes with more perks, like annual 2% cash back in rewards on qualified purchases, additional benefits and more savings on Costco Services, and extra benefits on certain Costco Travel.
What would a price increase look like?
When membership fees are set to increase, what should current Costco members be prepared for?
Based on price hikes from previous years, The Krazy Coupon Lady speculated on what the next membership fee increase could look like for Costco members. The two most recent fee increases were in 2011 and 2017, and in both cases, prices went up between 9%-10%.
If Costco follows the same pattern with its next membership fee increase, the Gold Level membership should go up to around $65, and the Executive Level membership will be around $130 – a $5 and $10 increase, respectively.
