This might be Costco’s strangest membership promotion so far and it went as expected
The business makes a big part of its revenue from its membership plans, and it hopes to bolster them
Oct. 30 2025, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Costco has become one of the leading retailers in the country, and the popularity enables it to charge people for memberships. A massive chunk of its revenue comes from membership schemes, and recently, the supermarket chain has been doing a lot to make sure that more people sign up.
At the moment, the business has a couple of membership plans. One of them is called the Gold Star membership, which is the basic one. The other, more expensive membership, upgrades customers to an Executive tier. The Gold Star membership costs $65 per year, while the Executive plan costs $130. That is a decent amount of money, but the supermarket chain is trying to encourage its members to upgrade.
The only problem is that the customers have not been impressed with the recent promotions, and the employees feel the same. Costco has revealed that Executive members will receive a 2% cash back on most purchases, which has been in place for this tier for quite a while now. Apart from that, they have also said that Executive members will get access to the stores in the earlier hours of the day and will receive 10% off on same-day-delivery grocery orders worth $150 or more.
Getting people to sign up or upgrade to the Executive tier isn’t Costco’s only game plan. The store also has to ensure that members renew their membership each year to maintain that revenue stream. The store, therefore, is running a limited-time promotional offer in which customers opting for automatic renewal will get 3-pound bags of Gala apples at select warehouse club locations, as per a report in TheStreet.
Shoppers, however, are not excited about this offer as it doesn’t really do much for anybody. “Giving away apples is like giving away white bread. It’s fine, I guess, but not very interesting. It’s certainly not going to get me to do anything different,” one shopper said, according to the report.
Executive shoppers will receive the early hours benefits and certain discounts. However, Costco’s employees are not thrilled about coming to work while it is still dark outside, to accommodate the people who can afford to be upgraded to their highest membership tier. A discussion about the same recently unfolded on Reddit in r/Costco.
“We already struggle getting open at 9:50 am with 2-4 depots and maybe 3-5 extra direct trucks. I’m in at 4 am. This will suck for us stockers and forklift drivers, having to be in at 3 am. Means I’ll have to be up at 1-1:30 to be at work on time,” one user wrote. “Right? Ok, so we’ll have to open at 8:45 now and start at 3 am and wake up at 1 am?!” quipped another.
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