Costco membership increased for first time since 2017

The cost to join Costco went up, but the price of the hot dog meal stayed the same.

Beginning Sept. 1, the cost of a regular membership, called Gold Star, as well as the Business and Business add-on went up by $5, increasing to $65. Executive Memberships went up $10 and became $130 a year, the company said in a news release.

The maximum reward from the Executive tier was increased from $1,000 to $1,200.

Costco has about 52 million members, about half of which are Executive members, the company said.

One thing that did not change was the cost of the hot dog and soda combo, The Washington Post reported. That remained at its 1980s price of $1.50, Costco CFO Gary Millerchip told investors in May. At the time, he said he was not ruling out increasing the cost of membership, adding that the company considers charging more about every five years.

CNBC reported that using that timeline, the fee increase should have happened in late 2022 or early 2023 but the company delayed it because of rising inflation at the time.

Instead, Costco last year focused on making sure people used their own cards to shop at the warehouse, not someone else’s, and added extra ID checks at self-checkouts.

Competitor Sam’s Club raised membership fees in 2022, charging $50 for a basic membership and $110 for a Plus membership, the Post reported.

There are 882 Costcos worldwide with 609 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

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