--- title: Why Your Costco Membership Is Going to Cost More description: An analysis from UBS indicates that Costco is due to increase its annual membership fees in later 2016 or early 2017. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-04-25T15:29:28.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T10:44:36.000Z' section: Business tags: - Costco - fees - groceries - pubdesk - Shopping word_count: 466 canonical: https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** Money may earn a commission when you click on the products and services below. Opinions are our own, but compensation and in-depth research determine where and how they appear. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/) about how we make money. ![160425_EM_CostCo](https://img.money.com/2016/04/160425_em_costco.jpg) Costco has famously kept its [rotisserie chickens and hot dogs](https://money.com/costco-rotisserie-chickens-hot-dogs/) cheap for years. The latter, featuring an oversized frank and 20-ounce fountain drink, has been stuck on the same $1.50 price point for an astounding [three decades](http://www.chron.com/business/article/Big-change-coming-to-Costco-s-1-50-hot-dog-soda-4241378.php). The same cannot be said for Costco membership fees, which the company has generally increased every five or six years. Costco last [hiked the fees](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203388804576612460858510574) in 2011, from $50 to $55 for basic membership and $100 to $110 for executive membership. Here we are five years later, and signs indicate it's time for another price hike. Citing UBS analysts, [Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/costco-membership-fee-hike-2016-4) reported that Costco is due to jack up its membership fees sometime this year or early 2017 by roughly 10%. If and when the change comes, the cost of a basic membership will increase from $55 to $60 annually, and an executive membership would go from $110 to $120. [Executive memberships](http://www.costco.com/executive-rewards.html) offer 2% cash back on most Costco purchases, but the added expense obviously only pays off if you do a significant amount of shopping at Costco. The UBS analysis indicated that increasing the annual fee wouldn't have much effect on membership growth. "We believe Costco's price transparency, limited \[product\] offering, and attractive membership structure have helped lend it a level of consistency that's rare in the world of hardline and broadline retail," the report explained. In other words, very few Costco members who currently believe the $55 or $110 annual fee is worth the money are going to blink at paying $60 or $120. The vast majority will find that membership is worth the cost, even when it's $5 or $10 more expensive. After all, if you're saving $2 or so per gallon of milk you buy at Costco versus your local supermarket, and you're doing a substantial amount of shopping at Costco, it's easy to see how quickly the membership can pay off. On the other hand, many people have pointed out that Costco's [bulk-size products](http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/06/bulk_shopping_creates_food_waste_shop_more_often_instead.html) don't necessarily work in the customer's favor. Yes, items might cost less on a unit-size basis compared to traditional supermarkets, but members can wind up spending more overall, especially if they wind up throwing away a lot of the Costco food they buy—and nearly everybody who shops at Costco tosses food because it goes bad before they can eat it. ***Read Next:* [Why Costco May Never Raise Prices on $4.99 Chickens, $1.50 Hot Dogs](https://money.com/costco-rotisserie-chickens-hot-dogs/)** For what it's worth, a recent [*Consumer Reports* survey](https://consumerist.com/2016/04/18/costco-vs-sams-club-which-warehouse-club-should-you-choose/) indicated that a Costco membership is slightly more cost effective than a Sam's Club membership, even though Costco costs more (from $55 versus $45). Whether Costco still has the edge after a price hike is up for debate. Granted, if and when Costco raises fees, Sam's Club and other warehouse membership clubs will probably do the same. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Retail", "item": "https://money.com/retail/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why Your Costco Membership Is Going to Cost More" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/", "name": "Why Your Costco Membership Is Going to Cost More", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-04-25T15:29:28.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T10:44:36.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Why Your Costco Membership Is Going to Cost More", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/04/160425_em_costco.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1402, "caption": "160425_EM_CostCo" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-04-25T15:29:28.000Z", "description": "An analysis from UBS indicates that Costco is due to increase its annual membership fees in later 2016 or early 2017.", "abstract": "An analysis from UBS indicates that Costco is due to increase its annual membership fees in later 2016 or early 2017.", "@id": "https://money.com/costco-membership-fees-increase/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T10:44:36.000Z", "wordCount": 466, "keywords": [ "Costco", "fees", "groceries", "pubdesk", "Shopping" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Business", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Retail", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail" ] } ] } ] } ```