This post may contain affiliate links which may compensate us based on your interaction. Please read the disclosures for more information.
Thinking of joining Costco? Read on to see why you may want to act quickly.
Image source: Getty Images
Many people save money by shopping at Costco regularly. The warehouse club giant is known for its competitive pricing on everything from food to cleaning supplies to apparel.
But if you’ve been on the fence about joining Costco, you may want to act quickly. Right now, there’s a promotion at play that will effectively help you save 50% on the cost of a basic membership. But it expires on June 11, so you’ll need to make a decision pretty quickly.
A sweet deal
Discounts on Costco memberships are pretty hard to come by. In fact, during the company’s most recent earnings call, CFO Richard Galanti said, “We do a few promotional things each year. But the biggest thing that we don’t do is in any big way discount our membership.”
The reason for that is twofold. First, Costco relies on membership fees to generate revenue, and it’s because of those fees that the company is able to offer such competitive prices on the items it sells. If it were to discount memberships, it might result in higher prices on goods.
Also, Costco doesn’t need to discount its memberships because people keep signing up to join. Recently, the company enjoyed a 7% year-over-year increase in new memberships. So there’s no particular motivation to offer discounts.
If you sign up for a Costco membership this week, you won’t get a discount per se. You’ll still have to pay $60 for a basic membership or $120 for an executive membership, which gives you 2% cash back on Costco purchases. But if you enter the code SUMMER23 when you sign up for a new membership online and enroll in auto renewal of your annual membership, you’ll get a $30 Costco Shop Card as a thank you.
So in a nutshell, if you sign up for a basic Costco membership but take advantage of this promotion, it’s like you’re really only paying $30 for your first year. That’s because you’re apt to find a way to spend $30 at Costco easily.
Does getting a Costco membership make sense for you?
If you’ve been thinking about joining Costco, you might as well do so at a time when you can snag some spending cash at the store. But still, even if the cost of your first year of membership effectively gets whittled down to $30, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
To that end, think about your habits and housing situation. If you rarely cook, you may not end up buying many groceries at Costco. And if your home is tiny and lacks storage space in a serious way, it may not be feasible to take advantage of Costco’s bulk discounts. (After all, you don’t want to have to store rolls of toilet paper in your living room.)
Also, think about the access you have to Costco. If the nearest warehouse club store is a 45-minute drive away, you may not get over there that often. And what you save on the products you buy at the store, you might spend on gas.
But if you do decide that it makes sense to give Costco a try, then you might as well sign up for your membership by June 11. Promotions like this one are somewhat rare, so jump on the opportunity while you can.
Alert: highest cash back card we’ve seen now has 0% intro APR until 2024
If you’re using the wrong credit or debit card, it could be costing you serious money. Our experts love this top pick, which features a 0% intro APR until 2024, an insane cash back rate of up to 5%, and all somehow for no annual fee.
In fact, this card is so good that our experts even use it personally. Click here to read our full review for free and apply in just 2 minutes.
We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Maurie Backman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale and Gala. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
