Costco and AmEx breakup

[athena53]

Not sure if we will keep the membership; although we do like the store, we have a hard time using the quantities up.

Studies have shown that you're more likely to use lots of something if you have a large supply; with that in mind, I'm careful about buying only things we use in measured quantities such as vitamins and supplements (we use a lot of them) and things that won't go bad before we use them up. This year the membership has already paid for itself with DH's hearing aids; we'll be downsizing this year so I'm sure we'll be buying things for the new place once we get settled in. We'll have to look at the renewal question late this year and see if it still makes sense.

 

[NW-Bound]

I just accompanied my wife to Costco so she could spend the AmEx reward worth near $300. Just recently, looking at my Quicken screen I realized that the Costco membership cost us $119. That's pretty steep, and I did not think that we would spend enough to get that much kickback, particularly in recent years when we shopped for groceries at Costco less and less due to being empty nesters.

My wife takes care of recurrent bills and card rewards, so I just let her choose what she said made sense for us. We still have another year to see what to do about the AmEx/Costco separation.

 

[TrvlBug]

I just accompanied my wife to Costco so she could spend the AmEx reward worth near $300. Just recently, looking at my Quicken screen I realized that the Costco membership cost us $119. That's pretty steep, and I did not think that we would spend enough to get that much kickback, particularly in recent years when we shopped for groceries at Costco less and less due to being empty nesters.

My wife takes care of recurrent bills and card rewards, so I just let her choose what she said made sense for us. We still have another year to see what to do about the AmEx/Costco separation.

I always cash those in, including the Costco rebate. That way I get the rewards on the spending! They always ask if I want to apply the reward against my bill and I graciously decline.

 

[NW-Bound]

A reward on the reward. We could have gotten a couple more bucks or whatever out of that rebate check. That's the right way to do it.

My wife did not spend all of it, and we did end up getting some cash back.

 

[travelover]

I just accompanied my wife to Costco so she could spend the AmEx reward worth near $300. Just recently, looking at my Quicken screen I realized that the Costco membership cost us $119. That's pretty steep, and I did not think that we would spend enough to get that much kickback, particularly in recent years when we shopped for groceries at Costco less and less due to being empty nesters............

$110 would be for the executive membership. If you don't get enough rebate to pay for the added cost of the exec membership from the additional 2% back that this level of membership gives you, Costco will refund the difference between the basic and executive level membership fee.

http://www.costco.com/join-costco.html

 

[audreyh1]

I just accompanied my wife to Costco so she could spend the AmEx reward worth near $300. Just recently, looking at my Quicken screen I realized that the Costco membership cost us $119. That's pretty steep, and I did not think that we would spend enough to get that much kickback, particularly in recent years when we shopped for groceries at Costco less and less due to being empty nesters.

My wife takes care of recurrent bills and card rewards, so I just let her choose what she said made sense for us. We still have another year to see what to do about the AmEx/Costco separation.

You don't have to spend it, you know. You can just get cash back.

 

[audreyh1]

I always cash those in, including the Costco rebate. That way I get the rewards on the spending! They always ask if I want to apply the reward against my bill and I graciously decline.

+1

 

[Brat]

What I want to know is details of the deal they make with the replacement card issuer. Give me the skinny!

 

[Philliefan33]

I read an article a few years ago that compared a Costco shopper to a Sam's Club shopper. (Sorry I don't remember where...). One thing that was pointed out was that a Costco shopper would see a Cashmere sweater for $40 and realize that it was a great deal, but a Sam's Club shopper wouldn't buy a $40 sweater --they are looking for $8 sweaters.

Even though our kids have moved out, DH and I still frequent Costco. We get a lot of things there. I recently switched to "natural" peanut butter and found Kirkland brand to be the best deal. Of course it takes me six months to go through the two large jars...

 

[NW-Bound]

You don't have to spend it, you know. You can just get cash back.

My wife takes care of things like that reward check, and perhaps she did know. However, I think she thinks of that money as "freebie", and wants to splurge on something. I only come along to carry the "stuff". I did mention several times that she did not have to spend it all, but she kept saying she had enough cash on hand, but not enough "stuff". Women!

Still, next year I will mention to her that she can splurge with that check, but to present it after paying for the purchase. She would not pass up the couple of extra bucks, once she reflects on this.

 

[gromit]

Costco announced that the new credit card deal will be with CITI for a co-branded VISA card. The new card will start in April 2016. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costco-strikes-credit-card-deal-133636171.html