Despite how crazy overcrowded it can get at peak times, Costco is my favorite store of all time. There are deals aplenty, and there are always exciting new things to buy. This post will help you get the most out of your Costco Gold or Executive Membership, which I consider a necessity for elevated personal finance if you have a Costco warehouse that is convenient to your location. Let’s dive into 10 great ways to get the most out of your Costco membership!
1. Just buy Kirkland Signature Brand
Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand is probably the best value you can find anywhere when shopping for consumer goods across a broad range of categories. Costco contracts with leading manufacturers to produce under their private label. You can get the same incredible name-brand products at a fraction of the price by buying Kirkland Signature brand goods. Motley Fool published an article that shares many of the name-brand companies behind some Kirkland Signature items which you can read right here. You can shop Kirkland brand items online right here.
2. Quick dinner for the family?
Costco has some serious deals at the food court. You can get a large cheese or pepperoni pizza for the whole family for $9.95. It’s better pizza than from discount pizza joints like Little Caesar. A fun & easy pizza dinner for the family for less than $10 is hard to beat. Or, grab a freshly cooked rotisserie chicken for $4.99. This serves as an excellent starting point for a meal or countless simple and healthy recipes.
The tried and true hotdog combo has been priced at $1.50 since 1985. Costco actually loses money every time someone buys a hot dog, but they recoup the cost because people who come to eat at the food court usually shop around the store afterward. This is a marketing strategy known as a loss-leader product.
“If you raise the [price of the] effing hot dog, I will kill you.” – Jim Sinegal, Costco Founder.
3. Costco Membership
Should I buy Gold or Executive Costco Membership?
Standard Costco Gold membership costs $60 per year. For $60 more, Costco Executive Membership gets you a yearly 2% back on all your Costco purchases up to $1,000. Quick math: $60/.02= $3,000. Hit this in yearly spend at Costco (which is pretty easy to do for a family or even a couple even if you’re just buying necessities) and you’ll break even. Anything extra puts more money in your pocket. You’ll need to average a $250/month average spend at Costco to breakeven on the higher membership tier.
There are a couple extra perks for Executive membership, but unless you plan on leveraging Costco Travel, it likely doesn’t make sense to buy an Executive Membership if you won’t at least break even on your yearly 2% back certificate by hitting the $3,000 spend threshold.
Fortunately, you can start with a Gold Costco Membership and upgrade anytime to Executive at a prorated rate for only the difference between Gold and Executive status. HOWEVER, the big drawback is that purchases you made before upgrading will not count toward the 2% cash-back reward. So the best time to upgrade is usually when you are up for renewal anyway unless you expect to have plenty of time to hit your breakeven threshold. You can read the documentation here.
4. Costco Gas
Costco sells gas at their warehouse stations often at a $0.20-$0.25 discount per gallon. Since most cars hold at least 10 gallons, you can save a few bucks. The downside is that the stations are often very busy and lines can form. If you avoid going at peak hours, it is well worth it. Otherwise, you need to decide how long you want to wait in line to save a few dollars.
If you pair the big discount on their fuel with the Costco Anywhere Visa Card (mentioned below), you’ll also get 4% cash back on all your fuel purchases (up to $7,500 a year in fuel + EV charging purchases).
5. Secret Pricing Codes
*Leans in* Want to know a secret about Costco pricing?
Standard Costco pricing ends in $.99. Look for prices that end in $.97, $.00, or $.88 for a great deal. Products with asterisks indicate that the product will soon be discontinued or no longer carried at Costco and is often on sale because of it.
Pricing that ends in $.x9 with something other than $.99 usually indicates a manufacturer special on pricing. You are likely getting a better deal with these items, but probably not as much of a discount as the $.97, $.00, or $.88 pricing tier.
Regular priced items are still usually a great deal at Costco compared to other retailers, but knowing their pricing tag strategy can help further stretch your dollars.
6. Costco Gift Cards
I wrote an entire personal finance guide on gift cards which I would recommend you read. Costco gift cards can be a very strong perk to a yearly Costco membership. With discounts approaching 30+% in some cases, you’ll get great deals on places you already like to frequent. For example, I know my wife loves to buy a snow cone every once in a while during the hot Texas summer. I was able to pick up $50 worth of Bahama Bucks gift cards for $35, a 30% discount. I’m more than happy picking up the discounted Costco gift cards since I know we probably would have gone to get a snow cone anyway.
Plus, I earned another 2% off by using my premium reward credit card on the purchase, and ANOTHER 2% off for being a Costco executive member. A 34% effective discount is not bad at all. If you’re shopping at the store anyway, why not try to find some discounted Costco gift cards for stores you love while you’re there?
7. Costco Travel
Costco has its own travel agency! This can be a great option for structured vacation packages to countless places and usually comes with pretty big savings. While I have not used Costco Travel services myself, my parents booked a Hawaii vacation package a few years back and saved a lot of money. If you are already a Costco member, it doesn’t hurt to see if you can book a great vacation package for less.
Costco Executive Members get some additional travel perks and discounts through the portal as well.
8. Costco Online
Costco Online has almost all the benefits of the warehouse without needing to go to the store. You can stock up on shelf-stable groceries and lots of other products shipped directly to your door. Usually, this all comes with free shipping if you have enough in your online shopping cart. You can also get same-day delivery on perishable groceries and some other great benefits by shopping online.
I try to use Costco Online to stock up on some bulky staples and things I’d usually buy at the physical Costco Store anyway. This means less trips to and from the car after a Costco trip and less to haul around in my cart at the store.
For some people, they can make their Costco membership worth it without ever stepping foot in a physical store!
9. The Costco Anywhere Visa Credit Card
Costco has a fantastic credit card called the Costco Anywhere Visa. It has no annual fee as long as you maintain your Costco membership and has a lot of great rewards:
- 4% back on fuel or EV charging purchases (up to $7,500 in purchases per year)
- 3% back on travel and dining
- 2% back at Costco
- 1% back on everything else
The downside is that your cashback certificate is only available once per year so you don’t get monthly access to your rewards like you would with a typical card. Still, this is a wonderful credit card and while it isn’t my top-of-wallet rewards credit card anymore, (replaced by the Capital One Venture X) I use the Costco Visa for all my dining + fuel purchases.
10. No questions asked, 100% satisfaction return policy
Costco has one of the most consumer-friendly return policies of all. With a few exceptions, if you’re not happy with your purchase, you can get a full refund. Shop knowing you are covered. While I rarely have had to refund my Costco purchases, there are times when I did. One example was when I purchased some bourbon-infused coffee. As someone who loves coffee and likes bourbon, this sounded like a clear winner. But I simply hated the coffee. After making one cup of it, I returned the opened bag of coffee and got a full refund. No questions asked.
I hope this post was helpful for you in maximizing your Costco benefits! Costco is a wonderful way to cut your expenses on grocery and home good spending and has so many incredible benefits that make the membership fee worth it. Since you are reading a personal finance blog, I can guess that saving money where possible is important to you.
If you are not a Costco member and have a location near you, I highly encourage you to become a member today!
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