Costco is a membership-based warehouse store offering groceries, electronics, appliances, and bulk products at discounted prices, along with services such as Costco Travel, tire center, and pharmacy. Its Gold Star membership program charges annual fees of $65 and an Executive tier at $130/year that provides an annual reward of 2% on qualifying purchases.
According to Costco, the policy regarding refunding and canceling the membership is open-ended and does not have a specific time limit — 30 or 90 days as it might be in many companies. Unlike in most cases when the company provides some sort of product guarantee in addition to the membership refunding terms, Costco's policy regarding refunds and cancellation of the membership has no limitations of time whatsoever and works independently from the product return guarantee.
The annual reward of 2% of the spending provided by the Executive membership applies only to Costco and Costco Travel purchases, and it cannot exceed the $1,000 amount (i.e., it stops earning after the $50,000 spending cap). Gas, food court purchases, and alcohol in 24 states where the company sells it do not contribute to the reward calculation.
Upgrading from Gold Star to Executive comes at an additional prorated charge of $65 for each year of membership, depending on the remaining period in your membership year. If the annual reward of 2% is not enough to cover this prorated charge, then Costco covers the difference — so upgrading is practically always a financially safe decision for members who spend a lot in their annual Costco purchases.
Both the membership levels usually provide the new members with a digital Costco Shop Card ($45-$50 on average) as part of the promotional offer for new sign-ups and sent to the new members via email within two weeks of activating the membership, which is valid both in Costco's stores and online except in food court. Some particular groups, including teachers, military members, medical professionals, first responders, college students, and government employees, can receive the Shop Card even outside of the promotional periods.
The rewards on the cashback from the Costco Anywhere Visa card (usually 4% on gas, 3% on restaurant and travel purchases, 2% at Costco and 1% everywhere else) are calculated independently from the annual Executive reward (2%) from Costco, and these amounts do not add up. Although the cashback and reward rates from the card and the membership don't add up to one percentage rate, the use of both rewards programs will allow reaching the combination of rates that exceeds the cost of the membership annually.
Recent benefits for executive members include access to the warehouse beginning at 9 a.m. instead of 10 a.m., monthly Instacart delivery credit of $10, and prescription cost transparency provided by Navitus Health Solutions. These benefits do not replace the 2% reward and are supplementary to it.
For one- or two-car households filling up regularly at the Costco gas stations, fuel savings vs regular prices at gas stations can be around $135-270 a year — this amount comprises a large proportion of even the cost of the Executive membership itself without considering grocery or general merchandise savings.
Executive customers receive the 2% reward on the travel bookings with the cost above $25, but it is paid after completing the trip. The customer should also be an Executive at the moment when the travel starts, and booking the trip as a Gold Star customer and upgrading to the Executive before traveling can make the purchase qualify for a reward.
Tire Center offers major tire brands at the competitive price and also offers free rotations, balancing, and flat repairs for as long as the customer owns these tires.
Costco Business membership offers pricing the same as personal Gold Star and Executive levels ($65/$130) with the ability to buy products for resale and to include other cards in the business membership for an extra $65 per card. However, the spending by these additional cards does not contribute to the reward calculation for the primary card in Executive membership.
Yes, the company has an official policy stating that it refunds the membership fee at any time if the client is not satisfied, and this is not tied to any time limit. The refunding and cancellation process is independent from product return policy.
This depends on the annual spending at Costco: The reward of 2% requires spending of at least $3,250 to cover the $65 of the additional cost, but gas, food court, and alcohol purchases do not count towards it, so the annual spending at Costco itself matters more.
If the 2% reward the customer receives is not enough to cover the cost of the upgrade, then Costco covers the difference between them at the time of renewing the membership — so it removes the risk of financial loss when upgrading.
No, they are calculated and paid independently, i.e., they do not merge into one rate. However, the combined spending on gas, dining, and Costco purchases can generate more rewards annually than the cost of membership.
No, gas, food court, and alcohol purchases do not contribute to the reward, and the total payout for it is capped at $1,000 per year regardless of spending beyond the $50,000 amount that results in that maximum amount.
It is usually offered automatically during promotional sign-ups, or it is provided to particular eligible groups (teachers, military members, college students, medical professionals, first responders, and government employees) even outside of the promotional periods. The card is emailed to the customer within about two weeks after signing up.
Yes, but only after the trip ends, and the customer still needs to be an Executive member at the time of the start of the travel.
Yes, rotations, balancing, and flat repair are offered without an additional cost for as long as the customer owns the tires purchased in the Tire Center.