Costco members got a nasty surprise recently. On September 1, the warehouse club giant raised the cost of its membership fees. Now, a Gold Star Costco membership costs $65 per year instead of $60, while an Executive membership costs $130 instead of $120.
While higher costs aren’t exactly something to celebrate, they’re also not a good reason to cancel your Costco membership. While these increases may be annoying, they’re relatively small increases on a monthly basis. And if you were getting a great value from your Costco membership before the price increase, chances are good that your membership will still be worth it in the future.
While a membership increase alone should not cause you to cancel your membership, these factors are important. should Have you ever considered whether you should continue to pay for access to Costco?
1. You’ve moved and Costco is no longer easy to visit
The more you shop at Costco, the more likely you are to recoup your membership fee and then some. So if you’ve moved to an area where there’s no Costco nearby, that’s a good reason to consider ditching your membership. You can stick with regular grocery stores or join another warehouse club store that’s closer.
You can tell yourself that you’ll still make the 45-minute round trip every two weeks or every month. But when it’s time to get in the car, you might suddenly realize that you have better things to do on the weekend than drive 90 minutes for groceries and toilet paper, even if you could potentially save money.
2. You have moved to a smaller home and don’t have much space
Buying household supplies in bulk can be cost-effective and convenient. If you stock up on things like paper towels and cleaning supplies, you won’t have to restock as often. But if you’ve moved into a much smaller home that doesn’t offer much storage space, you might find bulk purchases to be a huge inconvenience.
Sure, you might still pay less for tissues per box if you buy them at Costco. But if your new home has a small hallway closet, you might be stuck stacking 12 tissue boxes in the corner of your living room where your dog can bump into them and your guests can see them when they come over. That doesn’t make logistical sense.
3. You constantly make impulse purchases at Costco that add to your credit card debt
The great thing about Costco is that you can buy a lot of products under one roof, from food to kitchenware to clothing. That’s also the bad thing about Costco.
Because the store has such a wide selection at attractive prices, it’s easy enough to fall victim to impulse buying. And if you find yourself consistently giving in to unplanned purchases at Costco, to the point where you’re continuing to rack up existing credit card debt, it might be time to revoke your Costco access.
The savings you enjoy on essential purchases at Costco can be completely negated by the extra spending you make there. So if you really can’t stop making those impulse buys, it might be time to stop going to Costco altogether.
The fact that your Costco membership costs $5 or $10 more per year shouldn’t stop you from taking advantage of the store’s many benefits. But if any of the above situations apply to you, then it makes perfect sense to cancel your membership this month.
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3 Reasons to Cancel Your Costco Membership This September was originally published by The Motley Fool
