Costco Membership Benefits: Will It Save You Money or Cost You More?

Costco Membership Benefits: A Costco membership is sometimes the best option if you’re seeking to reduce your credit card expenses. Costco is a warehouse organisation that offers exclusive discounts to its members.

But is it worthwhile to spend your hard-earned cash on membership? To make a decision, you should ask yourself three inquiries.

Costco Membership Sharing Restrictions: 4 Ways for Bargain Seekers

What are the Costco Membership Benefits? Is it Worth The Money?

Costco’s basic membership is $60 per year. This grants you and a household member access to warehouse clubs where you can purchase petrol and consumer products at a discount.

To come out ahead, you’ll need to save more than $60 per year to recoup the initial expense.

Now, this is relatively simple. If you fill up your car once or twice per month at Costco, the savings on petrol alone would cover your membership fee. However, if you don’t live near a Costco, don’t frequent it, or don’t discover anything you want to buy when you get there, you may not save $60.

Track your petrol and grocery expenses at Costco and compare them to what you’d pay elsewhere to determine if you’re actually saving money. If, for example, you save $3 per tank of gas or $1 per pound of ground beef, and you routinely purchase both, you can easily determine whether your savings will cover your membership fees. Say, for instance, you purchase five pounds of ground beef per month and save $1 per pound — that’s $5 per month or $60 per year in savings, which is sufficient to cover your membership fees.

Will there be a great deal of waste?

You must also consider whether purchasing at Costco will cause you to have less money in your bank account because you do not use all the products you purchase.

Costco requires volume purchases, and not everyone can consume bulk items before they expire. Consider the 96-ounce carton of Bisquick sold at Costco, which yields 155 pancakes. At $10.99, you pay approximately $0.12 per ounce.

Suppose, however, that you do not consume 155 pancakes before the box expires, but instead consume 75 pancakes (which, let’s face it, is still a decent quantity of pancakes).

In this scenario, you have squandered approximately half of the box, resulting in a cost of $0.24 per ounce while contributing to food waste. You would have been better off purchasing a 40-ounce carton at Target for $4.89 (or approximately $0.122 per ounce).

This can occur with a variety of Costco products, so consider your consumption requirements to determine if buying in bulk is a good idea. You can keep track of how much pancake mix, pasta, cereal, or toothpaste your family uses in a month, see how many months the Costco products would last, and check the expiration date to determine if they will expire before you use them all.

Are you an avid coupon user?

Costco does not take coupons from manufacturers. The store asserts that this is due to Costco’s exclusive sales and consistently low prices.

However, if you are an ardent coupon user, you may be able to obtain items for pennies on the dollar or even obtain many items for free. It may not make much sense for you to stop shopping at Costco, particularly if you enjoy clipping coupons and can reduce your grocery bill by doing so.

By asking yourself these three questions, you can make an informed decision regarding whether a Costco membership is a prudent financial decision or a costly error that will leave you with less money in the long run.

The best credit card to use at Costco (and elsewhere)

We adore credit cards that offer substantial rewards everywhere (including Costco!). Our award for Best No Annual Fee Credit Card of 2023 went to this card due to its excellent unlimited 2% rewards rate (this is the best flat cash rewards rate we’ve seen), a substantial $200 welcome incentive, and 0% intro APR for 15 months.