I Just Joined Costco. Here's How the Sign-Up Process Went

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Last weekend, after several months of deliberating, I joined the party that is Costco membership. My husband and I had been talking it over all summer, and we decided to give it a shot. We realized the potential savings that could come our way were significant, even after accounting for the membership fee.

Here's a detailed look at what the sign-up process was like for us, in case you're trying to decide whether you should join.

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To the Costco membership desk

You can sign up for Costco online, but we decided to do it in person. We arrived at our nearest Costco location as soon as the doors opened in hopes of avoiding the worst of the crowds. Since you need a membership card to enter the store, we turned straight to the membership desk and were immediately greeted by an associate.

She gave us a brief rundown of the two membership levels: Gold Star for $65 per year and Executive for $130 per year. One of the big differences between the two options is that the Executive membership earns you 2% cash back on all eligible Costco purchases (some items, such as tobacco, gasoline, and Costco Shop Cards, are excluded) up to $1,250 per year.

The associate also offered up a discount by asking if we were or had ever been military service members, medical professionals, first responders, teachers, government employees, or students. We both went to college, and apparently that was enough to qualify us for a $40 discount in the form of a Digital Costco Shop Card.

She then asked if we were interested in signing up for Costco's cobranded credit card. While it sounds like a good credit card for Costco buys, we have other cards we like that earn similar rewards, so we turned that down.

Signing up

We decided to go with the Executive membership, even though it costs twice as much per year. To make the membership upgrade worthwhile, we'll need to spend $3,250 per year at Costco. With 2% cash back, that would get us the $65 cash back to cover the cost of the upgrade.

We're pretty sure we're not going to spend that much at Costco, so we initially planned to go with the Gold Star membership. But Costco is known for great customer service, and its membership is no exception. If we decide later that the Executive membership isn't worth it for us, we can downgrade to the Gold Star level and receive a prorated refund (excluding any cash back we earn) of the extra $65 fee.

The associate directed us both to download the Costco app while she entered our information (name, address, and email) into the system. Once she had us set up, we were able to log in to the app right away. Next, she took our photos for our membership cards, handed us a few brochures, and sent us off into the great wide open of the warehouse.

Shopping, saving, earning

We came prepared for our first Costco shop. While we took our time, we stuck to our list and didn't stroll up and down every aisle, so I'm hoping to do more browsing on our next visit. I was also a little disappointed that most of the tasty samples weren't set up that early in the day, so I didn't get to snack my way through the store.

We did, however, pick up a $4.99 rotisserie chicken for dinner that night (and the next two days of lunches). And after checking out, we grabbed a bite in the food court -- for $3.66! So that's eight meals for less than $10. This membership was paying off already.

By the next morning, my Costco app had updated to show the previous day's purchase and the amount of cash back we'd earned. And a few days later, I received an email for the $40 Digital Shop Card we'd earned during signup.

All in all, I'm feeling good about our decision to finally join Costco. Even if we decide to downgrade our membership in the future and lose out on earning cash back, the process was incredibly simple, and I know we'll save a considerable amount on our regular purchases.

If you're considering signing up, do a little digging into your own spending first to see if it might be worth joining. And know that if you do join but change your mind, you can either downgrade to the lower-priced membership or even cancel your membership altogether for a full refund. With what's essentially a money-back guarantee, there's little harm in giving it a shot.

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