Wow, incredibly informative. Someone buy this person a hot dog and soda!

Wait, you own stock in Costco? Obviously you are biased here.... /s

Yeah, was gonna say, this doesn't make sense given their business model.

That said, it does feel like they have changed their offerings to more expensive options lately. That, plus supplier price increases, could explain the sentiment.

They are still the most cost effective on the vast majority of their products when compared to other stores.

Costco uses cost-plus pricing and caps its markup at 14% for outside brands and 15% for in-house brands (Kirkland). Other stores that use "value based pricing" are seeing some stuff marked up 600%. I only shop Costco a few times a year, but they are not where we need to focus on price gouging.

Seems to me like the greedflation would be further up the chain, like suppliers.

profit on merchandise sales was $0.95 bn, or 1.6%

Now compare that to Microsoft's net profit margin of over 36% and ask that question about greedflation again.

Your comment only serves to lessen the burden on the shitty corporations by trying to normalize / "who cases" this. Maybe you think you're helping?

Even with some or most prices increased, Costco is still one of the best places to shop for a ton of reasons that any member can fill you in on.

It's clear that plenty of people don't understand how this shit works in real life. Did no one here see Costcos official response to a couple of stores voting to unionize?

I am not one to praise any retail whatsoever but I preach the holy site that is Costco to anyone that will listen. Even the single people out there can benefit, if you wear prescription glasses and/or have any meds you need on a regular basis, those alone could save you at least the first years membership.

The hot dog being $1.50 is still good considering that they could probably double the price, which would triple or quadruple their profit on it and people would still happily buy.

Of course, it's not because of altruism that they do it. They do it because people use the hot dog as a symbol of the good value for money that Costco supposedly provides.

OK but find lunch for 2 people for 3.70 somewhere else

Hypothetically say the price of membership goes up 20% and they put all of that back into keeping prices on goods lower.

It would benefit big families and people who shop there more than people who dont. Keeping the whales happy is more important than the guy who just likes cheap rotisserie chickens and hot dogs.

I noticed that too, but when I tried to buy elsewhere they were even more expensive (not wholesale)

I've been avoiding kroger as much as I can since they increased prices the most, at least for the stuff I buy

But doesn’t it cost Costco more to acquire that stuff in the first place? You can’t just say that the price is higher so Costco is making higher profits unless you compare the cost of goods to what they were before too. According to the data I could find, Costco’s profit margin’s are lower than they were before. Their total profits from last year, for example, were only higher because they sold more memberships. They actually made less in profit from the products despite the fact that the products cost more this year.