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Epic Economist, 10/11/23
"Costco Reports Massive Price Hikes On Essential
Items Are About To Hit Thousands Of Stores"
"It’s official: Price hikes are about to hit thousands of Costco warehouses across the country, according to CFO Richard Galanti. The new increases are likely to cause a stir among shoppers who have been complaining about inflated prices at the retailer’s stores in recent weeks and months. It appears that the chain is no longer offering popular deals, and many grocery staples across all consumer categories aren’t any cheaper at Costco than at other traditional retailers and supermarkets.
Higher prices have actually been a consistent trend at Costco warehouses for the past 18 months. But now that the cost of basic items has gotten much higher than it used to be, more people are noticing the change, and they aren’t happy about it. On Reddit’s r/Costco forum, even the retailer’s most loyal customers are complaining about fewer options on shelves, declining quality, and some disturbing price markups that are happening seemingly overnight.
“The meat prices are bonkers,” one person commented. “They have 80/20 ground beef for $4.99/lb, but boneless lamb is the same price. Meanwhile boneless chicken sways between $2.99 and $4.99 a pound. Local grocery store regularly has boneless chicken for $1.99 a lb. It makes no sense anymore.” A user said he was shocked to see how high the price of whole chickens has gotten at the chain’s warehouses. “Today I noticed that the two packs of organic whole chickens cost $34. The rotisserie chickens were still $5 each though. I used to buy whole chickens and roast them at home as an affordable meal. I about fell over when I saw the $34 price tag.”
Now, a 10lb bag of Kirkland’s Signature Thin Sliced Boneless Chicken Breast is more than 10% higher than a few months ago, according to another post showing a photo of the new price tag. The product has gone from $23.99 in July to $26.99 today. “I guess we’ll never see prices go down to pre-pandemic levels again,” one user complained. Another person revealed something even worse. The cost of raw tights went up from $0.99 to $1.49 a pound, a 50% hike.
The chain prepares to hike membership fee prices this winter for the first time since 2017. Its executive leadership confirmed in this week's earnings call that the chain has decided to charge up to $10 more for Costco members. Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said that Costco believes added value will come with a fee increase, including an updated app that allows users to check gas pump prices by location and warehouse inventory at specific stores.
Conditions are getting so tough that a large share of Americans have started skipping meals again, a trend we last seen during the peak of the pandemic. Bloomberg exposed that millions of low-income Americans are experiencing deep financial distress in the financial months of 2023. Among households using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 42% skipped meals in August and 55% ate less because they couldn’t afford food, more than double last year’s share, a report from Propel Inc. released last Wednesday has shown. Unfortunately, the coming wave of price increases won’t be limited to Costco. When a retailer raises its prices, other chains follow suit, and it is just a matter of time before we start hearing about a spike in food inflation at other stores, too."
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