Burley Garcia|Costco membership price increase 'a question of when, not if,' CFO says

Costco shoppers should not expect a membership price hike just yet,Burley Garcia but recent comments from the company's CFO make an increase seem likely.

"It's a question of when, not if," Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during the company's earnings call on Tuesday.

The last time the wholesale giant raised its dues was in June of 2017. Galanti noted that membership hikes typically happen every five to six years, but now still isn't the right time for one.

"You'll see it happen at some point," Galanti said. "We'll let you know when we know. We can’t really tell you if it’s in our plans or not."

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Since 2017, Costco's Gold Star membership costs $60, after a $5 increase from its price in 2011. The Executive Membership costs twice that at $120.

In the last quarter, membership income brought in around $1.5 billion for Costco, Galanti said during the call.

A crackdown on membership-sharing

Galanti's update comes during a time when Costco shoppers have noticed greater enforcement on unauthorized card-sharing.

While there hasn't been an official change to Costco's policies, shoppers noticed that employees were more frequently checking membership ID pictures in self-checkout lanes.

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"We don’t feel it’s right that non-members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members," Costco previously said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Costco is able to keep our prices as low as possible because our membership fees help offset our operational expenses, making our membership fee and structure important to us."

The retailer has over 127 million cardholders at the end of the fourth quarter, Galanti said.

"We feel good, needless to say, about all the attributes of member loyalty and member growth," Galanti went on to say. "And frankly, in terms of looking at the values that we provided our members, we continue to increase those certainly a greater amount than even more if and when an increase occurs."