Is the executive membership at Costco worth it?

We just finished year 2 of the executive membership. This year we are getting $139. Last year we got $164.

I also have the Costco Visa and this year my return will be 189. Last year was about 160ish.

Family of 4. I spend on average $250-350 a month at costco.

We easily spend over $250/mo to offset the extra $60 cost for the executive membership. If you don’t think you’ll spend that, then it’s not worth the upgrade.

It wasn’t worth it for us. The store nearest to us is a madhouse so we only go there when we need meat and use it for car rental discounts. After 2 years, we went in and had our membership downgraded to a regular one and used the guaranteed cash back to pay the renewal fee.

When I signed up, I was told that if I spend $300 a month there, I could qualify for getting my money back. Both of our Costcos are located in uber packed areas and no matter when I go there, the lines are long. I hate shopping there, but we do go maybe once every few months. For us it wasn't worth it to get the upgrade. Sam's is 7 minutes from my house, rarely busy and the membership is $40 for us. I know you weren't asking about Sam's, but it is the reason I can avoid Costco. I personally think they offer the $120 membership to suck people into having to go to get their money back.

Yesterday it was $.33 cheaper per gallon than locally

"But with the Executive Membershipyou get 2% cash-back on most purchases made at Costco. ... Note: Purchases that do NOT pay you 2% cash back include: tobacco products, stamps, gasoline (but AMEX does pay you for gas, see below), cash cards, and food court items."

I earn cash back using my Costco Visa.

And here it is usually 20 to 40 cents cheaper than other gas stations.

Our typical costco haul is:

Toilet paper
Paper toweling
Sponges (every other month)
Dawn dish soap (every other month)
Water (that is weekly)
Meat
Snacks
Protein drinks (2x a month)
Drinks (coffee, apple juice, izze)
Maple syrup
Allergy meds (zyrtec, flonase, clariton)
Nexium
Shampoo/conditioner (every 2-3 months)
Razor/extra heads
Cerave lotion
Body lotion

I did price comparisons and it was cheaper to get the larger quantities of most of those items.

Water is also WAY cheaper there and with a kid on medical formula and another who has POTS we go through a lot of spring water

In Central Valley, ca it is cheaper.  I think gas is 2% back.

We have gymnastics weekly in town where Costco is (45 min from boondocks where I live) so we fill up weekly and shop weekly to restock as needed on stuff.  DH takes the younger one to class earlier than our older one so he fills up and shops then heads home while I take the older one with me from work to class and I fill up when I head home.

eta: I think you can get your college kid a card on your membership so they can shop at one near them too.

We easily spend $400/month at Costco with the every day items they have making the cost of the executive membership pay for itself. 

The extra deals really are going to depend on what items you buy seasonally anyway. For me, Costco is the go-to place for the best quality/priced beach towels, rash guards, swimsuits, wetsuits and beach toys. I don't buy it all every year, but know everyone needs new rash guards and will grab them as soon as they show up in our store. I'll also pick up gardening items (soil, planters, clippers, plants, etc.) if needed.

It is worth checking more than one Costco in your area as they do carry some different seasonal items. 

Costco is also my first stop for car rentals.

ETA Not sure how I forgot about Costco gas. 

It is for us. I want to say our executive 2% rebate for last year was around $350 and the rebate for our Costco Visa will be almost $800. Just about anything we can buy there, we do buy there. I’m a pretty careful shopper so I know what things typically cost at other stores so I know when something is a deal or not. There are a few things I don’t like to buy in bulk but for the most part I haven’t found that to be a problem for our family of three.

There are a lot of things that used to only be offered in huge quantities that now aren’t, like ingredients for baking and that kind of thing. We buy most of our groceries there. If we want something that might go bad before we can eat it all, we either freeze half of it or share it with the neighbors. Some of the spices and stuff we split between our house and our lake cabin. I try to buy all of my gas there to make the most of the 4% gas rebate on the credit card.

We’ve arranged vacations and rental cars through their travel agency. I get clothes for myself and for DD from there when I see things we like, and like that they have more sizes online usually with free shipping. We try to get anything electronic there because of the free extended warranty and concierge service. We get whatever OTC meds that they have (and wait for promos to stock up) such as DD’s allergy meds, generic ibuprofen, probiotics, cough and cold stuff, etc. Books and cookbooks are always a deal. They have good prices on eyeglasses too so now that’s our first stop when we have a new prescription.

Even at Costco I watch for things to be on promo pricing before I buy it if it’s stuff we typically keep on hand, and stock up when it does. I also watch for stuff to get marked down on clearance, but that’s trickier because you have to go there pretty regularly to catch those deals. Last summer I got a bunch of two packs of hook rails for our cabin that were originally about $25 each for under $12 each on clearance, and four two packs of outdoor pillows for our patio chairs that were on closeout for $8.49 a pack. I can’t even buy a yard of Sunbrella fabric with a coupon for that.

There are two stores within a 20 minute radius of our house, and both are near other places we often go to, so it isn’t out of the way for us.

ETA: We also really like their store brand microfiber bed sheets that we got super cheap last summer, and we love the beach and bath towels we got from there.

I had the regular membership and one time years ago they asked me at the till if I wanted to upgrade to executive. They said if it wasn't worth the cost they would refund the difference, this was in Canada.

My cheque has varied over the years, last year I only made about $2 after paying for my membership. But the way I figure it, even if I have to pay a few dollars it's still cheaper than a regular $60 membership.

It was for us when our daughter was in diapers and drinking formula. But after that season of life it wasn’t worth it anymore.

How close do you live? It’s a pain to get to mine so I rarely go and the executive members go isn’t worthwhile. We buy their dog food though so that saves us enough to justify a basic membership.

It's just DH and me, but we average about a $120 rebate, so it's definitely worth it to us.