It took my husband and I years of being members at Costco before we opted to try out their Executive Membership, which is an additional $50.00, but rewards shoppers with 2% cash back at the time of renewal.
Last year we earned more than the $50.00 fee to upgrade to the cash back option due to a few key purchases. This year however, we missed it completely!
We renewed our membership and I took our $36 cash rewards check to the membership desk to get cash back (they don't take these checks at the registers), and asked if I could change my membership back to the regular one as we had just renewed at the register over the weekend.
The lady helping me then told me that as we had not received over $50.00 on our cash back check that we would be getting the difference between our check and the membership fee back anyway, so she gave me $50.00 and we kept our membership at the Executive level after I verified that there really is no penalty.
So, today I learned that if you shop at Costco, you might as well upgrade to the Executive membership on the off-chance that you might get more than $50.00 back because they basically have a money-back guarantee!
Examples:
Regular membership: $50.00
Executive membership: $50.00 additional, provides 2% cash back
Scenario A: You only earn $20 over the course of your membership year, when you go to the counter to get your cash back, they give you a total of $50.00, so you really only paid for your normal $50.00 membership.
Scenario B: You earn $75 over the course of your membership year, you go to the membership desk to get your cash back, and they give you the $75.00. You made more than the cost of the upgraded membership, plus you earned an extra $25, making your actual membership only $25.00 if you use it to renew your membership.
:) Its a win-win and really doesn't cost you anything extra, and might just lower the cost of your membership.
