Costco Just Shared an Important Update on Membership Price Increases

Costco memberships are more than worth it for many people, especially those with larger families. With their low prices and the ability to buy in bulk, the $60 per year fee is a justifiable rate. Not to mention, Costco prides itself on being a cost-effective alternative to your average weekly grocery trip. However, the grocer hasn’t raised the value of enrollment since 2017, so some were speculating that Costco memberships are due for a hike — and they may be right.

While the brand typically raises costs every five to six years, members expected an increase last year, but the prices remained the same. During the first Costco earnings call of 2024, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, who will be stepping down from his position next month, stated that with the current state of the economy, they were reluctant to raise prices.

“If you ask the question, what are the variables we would look at, we would want to look at strong renewal rates, strong new signups, strong loyalty, and we have all that,” said Galanti during the call. “So, I think it’s — the question is we — we haven’t needed to do it. We like providing extreme value. Certainly, while we’ve gone a little longer than the average increase, we feel we certainly have driven more value to the membership. So, you know, I’ll use my standby answer, my pat answer, it’s a question of when, not if. But at this juncture, we feel pretty good about what we’re doing.”

With 60% of its members on auto-renewal and a plan in place to continue attracting younger customers, fortunately, Costco hasn’t needed to adjust their pricing just yet. However, the increase will certainly occur eventually so if a more expensive price tag is a dealbreaker, take advantage of your membership while you can.