In recent weeks and months, prices have been soaring across the retail industry. However, don’t expect Costco to jump on the bandwagon. At least not in terms of their membership fees and not right away.
In the past, Costco’s membership saw a price hike every five-and-a-half years on average. The next time the company is scheduled to reach that mark is late 2022. Bob Nelson, senior vice president of finance and investor relations, told investors on Thursday that he expects discussions about membership fees to intensify in the coming months but reiterated that there are no immediate plans to change them.
“We have nothing more specific to report in terms of timing,” Nelson said.
According to Nelson, the company feels the timing is not quite right for that kind of move.
“Given the current macro environment, the historically high inflation and the burden it’s having on our members and all consumers in general, we think increasing our membership fee today, ahead of our typical timing, is not the right time,” he added.
Costco’s most recent membership fee hike took place in 2017. At the time, Business and Gold Star memberships were upped from $55 to $60. In addition, executive membership saw an increase to $120 from the previous price of $110.
