Costco Raising Membership Fees for First Time in 7 Years

July 11th, 5:45 PM EDT

By Nathan Vicar

Costco Wholesale sign in Enfield, Conn., 2014.

MGN via Mike Mozart / CC BY 2.0

(NEWSnet) — Costco Wholesale on Wednesday announced plans to increase annual membership fees by $5 in the U.S. and Canada, starting Sept. 1.

It's the first time the retail giant has raised membership fees in seven years.

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The retailer's memberships offer a range of incentives to customers, including testing of free samples, discounts on food, gas, home insurance, travel and grocery items and an annual 2% reward on qualified purchases at its warehouses.

The annual fee, last raised in June 2017, would increase by $5 to $65 for "gold star" and business members and to $130 from the earlier $120 for executive members, the company said.

Costco said the maximum annual 2% reward associated with executive membership will also increase to $1,250 from $1,000.

The hike will affect around 52 million members, a little over half of them being of the executive category, the membership-only retailer said.

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