Costco Membership - Over $50 in Savings - New Members Only

Quote from Morning_Breath : I really like Costco, but personally, I would not join if the closest Costco was + 1 hour of driving away unless it was a free membership.

It's 20-30 min one way, so around 1 hour for round trip. The plus side is there is a Japanese grocery store with food court inside and a big shopping mall by the Costco. That is huge motivation for me to join Costco.

Is it true that my Costco Amex credit card stops, if I no longer continue with the Executive Membership?

When the credit card stops, does that affect my credit rating?

One of the important things for whether Costco memberships are worth it is whether you have freezer and storage space. I would still want a membership even if I was single, as long as I had a chest freezer or somewhere to store things so you don't lose half of the bulk sized packages you buy cause you don't go through it fast enough.

It does depend on where you live, as others have said. Some states have much cheaper food/groceries than others, but for here (Utah), Costco is cheaper than grocery stores for just about everything grocery related, even if you start sacrificing quality to try to find cheaper prices.

I have also heard that you can request the remainder of the $55 difference between the executive membership and the basic if you don't make that much back from the cash back at the end of the year, but every year so far I've made over $100 back, so my executive membership basically just keeps paying itself forward and I've only had to really buy it once. The savings on gas alone would be worth it - it is always at least 10 cents cheaper than anywhere else here, usually more.

I'm being tempted by this deal because the few things I got at Costco with a friend were great. I am price conscious but I also appreciate not going to the grocery store every 5 mins. Anyway, our Cosco is rather farm about 8 miles but I am sick of BJ's and just do not like Sam's very much. What do you all suggest if you know how they all compare? I'm a family of 5, two adults and 3 elementary school children. And, 2 dogs!

Oh, and I don't mind coupons but even though BJ's takes coupons, I've noticed that most coupons are for processed garbage and, that $1.00 off usually makes u buy 2 of something. Coupons aren't really what they used to be to me. Oops, one more thing, how strictly do they ask you to prove address? A friend and I have split BJ's for years now and they never asked the secondary for proof of address. Thanks all.

Is this work for Sam's Club as well?

Quote from GokayH : You can shop at Costco without a membership card if you know of someone who is a member. 1. Tell your friend to purchase multiple cash cards for you and load each of them with $10 (which is the minimum for those cards) 2. Each time you shop at Costco, you enter the store with your cash card. After you shop, no matter how much your purchases cost, you use your cash card to pay the first $10 and pay the rest in cash. For example, if your purchase amount is $80, you use up one of your cash cards and pay the remaining $70 in cash. 3. At each visit, you use up one cash card. I do not shop at Costco too often and I ordered (through my friend) 10 cash cards with $10 on each of them. 10 cards lasts me almost a year. And before you run out, you just order more. Or, you can also use your friends membership card, but this is against the terms of the membership agreement.

Quote from MBZ321 : How are you doing this? Using a Costco cash card to turn the pump on then paying with an Amex? Q: How does the pump know the customer is a member? A: When a customer inserts a membership card or a co-branded Costco Amex card, the system reads the membership number on the card and confirms the membership is active. Costco Cash Cards can only be purchased or recharged by members. Anyone can use a Costco Cash Card at the gas station, as it also serves as membership authorization for the pump.

ANY Amex card works at the Costco pumps. No membership needed.
Also, it does take DEBIT VISA cards too from what I've seen.

Quote from Roundabout : Maybe, if he felt embarrased enough. If it happened to me, I'd just walk out and go join Sam's Club. And tell them why. BTW: I mentioned this earlier, but Sam's won't "out" you, if you use someone else's card. They don't like it, but they won't confiscate the card for it. They might tell you that you need to get your own membership, but they will still sell you whatever you have that day. This happened to a friend of mine that I loaned my Sam's card to. 98% of the time, they don't even look at the name or photo on the card.

Opposite experience for us, my friend used her husband's card cause she can't find hers, and the cashier basically yelled at her, but eventually let her pay the stuff in the wagon.

Never had a prob in Costco or BJ's (yes, at one point, I belonged to all 3).
Really do like Costco the best, but BJ's allow you to use Mfgr Coupons.

Quote from jawshoeaw : Depends on where you live. Where I live, (secret base) Costco is more expensive for groceries with a few odd exceptions like maple syrup and organic olive oil. Random stuff like that. Not worth a membership for me - I cancelled several years ago and have saved hundreds of dollars in membership fees. I have relatives who pick me up the occasional odd thing like the maple syrup. The real unslick thing about "CostMo" as we call it, if you watch how almost everyone there shops - is the impulse buys. I "cart watch" and people watch at CostMo sometimes - it's an interesting place to visit. Also, many of their products come in higher quantities than you might normally buy. For the average human brain, this means you eat more of it. At my local grocery store, the smaller boxes of many common groceries are actually cheaper per ounce/pound/whatever than larger ones so you can't even assume the price is better on Costco's giant packs. And you lose out on sales if you buy in bulk. But that maple syrup, man, it's like half price.

The impulse buy stuff is a problem for a lot of people, but in my area costco is far cheaper than grocery stores for many items, but not all. Wine, cheese, pet foods and meat are MUCH cheaper there than the store, at least here in inland NorCal.

Not to mention with the 3% executive bonus, I'm getting back $200-300 every year, which covers the membership cost and I'm being paid another $100-200 just to shop there.

I'm a single guy these days, and it surely was more useful with a family, but I'm saving the executive fee every year 2-3x just in dog food and treats.

Some of the portions are too much for me, but my dogs enjoy leftovers...nice to have a few protein disposal units kicking around...

If you have 2-3+ people and eat out a lot for the convenience, the prepared foods can save you big bucks.

Quote from firstdavis : I am going to costco for the first time tomorrow with a friend who has membership. Anything specific worth buying from costco? eg someone couldnt stress more on maple syrup, anything else worth buying? TIA

It depends what you want... Most of their food items are in bulk and they will go bad if not consumed quickely. If you have large family than it doesn't matter. If you want to buy anything else they sell most of those items didn't survive the market place (Eyewear, Hardrive, Computer, cameras,TVs and list goes on) except few items which are in the marketplace too. Therefore, they are repackaged to sell at costco with add on upcs, add a cable or case for hard drive, add SD for carmeras etc.

Go check it out.. Its not bad but before you buy you need to think twice.

Quote from yangzi : Interesting... So, Costco membership card doesn't have a photo of member like Sam's? I have been interested in getting a membership at Costco but it's 45 min - 1 hour trip from my house.

They do have a photo of card member but it's very tiny and hard to tell if it's you or not. If your Costco has a self check out (SCO) like mine, nobody will ever check your picture. One time, I wanted to cash out the $7 Costso check from Nature Made which was not an option for SCO, I went right to a cashier's line and he looked at me, looked at my friend's picture on the card and put it down, started scanning my items. and I have to say we do not look the same at all: she is white and I'm not.
My friend has a Executive membership, so she is more than happy to let me use her card, so she can get cash back on my purchases too.

Thats a good deal technically if someone gives you a gift card you dont need a membership,I dont shop there enough to make having one worthwhile so I have my Mom get me a gift card.

Quote from lovetodeal : They do have a photo of card member but it's very tiny and hard to tell if it's you or not. If your Costco has a self check out (SCO) like mine, nobody will ever check your picture. One time, I wanted to cash out the $7 Costso check from Nature Made which was not an option for SCO, I went right to a cashier's line and he looked at me, looked at my friend's picture on the card and put it down, started scanning my items. and I have to say we do not look the same at all: she is white and I'm not. My friend has a Executive membership, so she is more than happy to let me use her card, so she can get cash back on my purchases too.

When you first sign up for a membership, you can also tell them you don't want your photo on the card. No issue with that, although they will tell you that you might have some problem at the register and they could ask to see an ID card. The card I used for years belonged to a friend of mine and had no photo on it. I didn't have a problem for a long time, until one day at the self check out, they demanded to see the card after I had already started scanning items. When they saw there was no photo on it, the person demanded to see some form of ID card with my name on it. I refused, of course, but they wouldn't give up. I got into an argument with them and finally paid and walked out. At that point I realized it wasn't going to be possible to continue using the card since they decided to strictly enforce the membership terms.

Sometime later, after I had joined with my own membership, the same thing happened again, only this time I had proof it was my card. I still got into an argument and told them in no uncertain terms I wished to be left alone and not hassled at the check out stand. I wound up in a long conversation with the manager and reported the cashier for rudeness and told them they should just get rid of self checkout if all they're going to do is harass paying customers when they just want to get in and get out. I had already finished my payment when this person hassled me, I didn't appreciate it. The manager apologized and told me they're not supposed to ask for any ID, especially if you have already finished and were ready to leave the area.

When I came back next time, they had a sign posted at the self checkout stands telling you that you may have to have ID ready if you are going to use them. I don't remember the exact words but basically it says they have the right to ask for proof of membership in the form of ID, and to have it ready to show when checking out. They may lax off on it at times, but I have seen them since then ask people randomly for ID and membership card, and they do check it.

So just keep in mind, even though you've gotten away with using your friend's exec membership card thus far, all it takes is one incident such as what happened to me, and you will have their card confiscated and you won't be able to shop there until you get your own membership.

Quote from Thinker : If you want to buy anything else they sell most of those items didn't survive the market place (Eyewear, Hardrive, Computer, cameras,TVs and list goes on) except few items which are in the marketplace too. Therefore, they are repackaged to sell at costco with add on upcs, add a cable or case for hard drive, add SD for carmeras etc. Go check it out.. Its not bad but before you buy you need to think twice.

Actually, this isn't true. Much of Costco's non-food stock is either in-house label (Kirkland) or current nationally-branded items specially packaged for Costco. Apparently it's more to prevent club to regular retailer comparison shopping and maybe purchase/return fraud.

If you go through their electronics aisle, particularly their televisions and computer accessories (portable hard drives, printers, etc.), pretty much everything is current and has an obvious regular retail equivalent, but the product code may have one extra digit appended. It's generally the same device, manufactured at the same place, and carrying the same warranty but specially packaged for Costco. I've seen traditional retailers do similar things with some items. For instance, a nationally branded slow cooker which I had seen at many retail places but which I bought at Target turned out to have a special Target-only product code.

Quote from Roundabout : So just keep in mind, even though you've gotten away with using your friend's exec membership card thus far, all it takes is one incident such as what happened to me, and you will have their card confiscated and you won't be able to shop there until you get your own membership.

I know everything has a risk factor in it. I walk in Costco may be once every quarter at max, so yes, the risk is low here and since my friend lives a block from me, she is the one who helps picking up anything I need from there most of time. I used to be an Executive member too when I first moved here and wanted to buy furniture, but then I canceled it as I can get food way cheaper at my local grocery stores with coupons.