Should You Upgrade Your Costco Membership to an Executive Membership?
The most obvious benefit of an Executive membership is that you receive 2% back on your purchases. This comes in the form of a Costco gift card, not cash. So simple math shows that you need to spend more than $200/month to break even on the extra $50 cost of an Executive membership.
If you don't spend that amount, don't rule it out just yet. There are a few other benefits of Executive membership.
If you have a small business and live in either California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon or Washington, your business can obtain health, dental, and life insurance for your employees through Costco. You must be an Executive member in order to use The Small Business Health and Dental Insurance Program. Since I have a small business, and live in one of those states, I did an application to find out what the rates would be. The health insurance cost more than the individual plan I currently have, and the dental insurance was comparable to other quotes (which I do not have). So this program would not be a benefit to me. If I needed it, it wouldn't take much for it to be worth a $50 upgrade to Executive Membership, however.
The last thing to check is additional savings for other member services. Costco offers several good deals to members, which are listed on their website under "services". For example, I buy the pre-paid DHL overnight shipping envelopes. Regular members pay $12.08 for what costs an Executive Member $11.47. This would save me about 50 cents per month. I use Quickbooks Payroll services, which also has a savings for Executive Members. This time, the savings are about $2/month. There are many such offers. For current details, and to see all of them, check the Costco website.
These small savings could add up, but the big rebates are in the big ticket items: auto-purchase, mortgage, and real estate service links. However, unless you are refinancing every year (in which case you have more important financial concerns than a $50 upgrade) they will not tip the scales on the decision to upgrade to an Executive Membership.
Costco hints at other potential savings for Executive members. For example, in the travel section, they state "Executive members may receive value-added extras on select vacations and cruises. Extras include resort and shipboard credits, spa services, tours, and more." However, I think it would be prudent to consider such extras just that - extras, and not something to be weighed in making your decision.
If you have decided for or against an Executive Membership, or you know of deciding factors I have not included, leave me a comment and let me know about it. You may also be interested in my earlier article on "How to Get the Most from Your Costco Membership"
Published by Lynn Glessner
Recently left the IT field to become a SAHM with two kids, multiple pets, and one man-child running a music production business. View profile
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3 Comments
Post a CommentI have been being soliciting big time to upgrade to execute membership lately in Kirkland and Issaquah. If you find it bothering, please call up 1-800-774-2678 and told them to put a note to don't bother you to do the upgrade. Tell them this is America, you have the choice to decide you want to upgrade or not and they should never bother you like the poor kids in the 3rd world countries asking you for spare change.
Um.... to comment on what was said in the very beginning, It is a CASH REBATE!!! That means while yes, you can buy items in the store with it.... it is a CASH REBATE..... you simply take your check to the merchandise pickup counter and they will give you what the check says...... IN CASH!!!!!
We have had the Executive Membership for a few years now. We've not achieved a complete break even on the $100 yet, but our membership alone, without extras factored in, has only cost us about $12 a year for the past couple of years.
Now that the dental insurance is available in Washington, I intend to look into a policy.
But, it's nice to have for when you have unexpected big ticket items as well, to know that you're helping your annual cash back amount just a tad bit more.... though I have to admit that it doesn't sway me over if I've found a better deal elsewhere. It probably should, but I shop at Costco a lot anyhow, so I usually find the good deals and leave the not-so-good ones on their shelf.
So, even if you don't completely break even, at least you can cut the cost of your membership a little bit. I know it came in handy when we were still buying diapers, etc. If you were buying other regular "big ticket" items like formula, it could add up fast. Thankfully, I never h