Member-only story
The Luxury of Eating a Costco Hot Dog
If you’re a Costco member there’s a good reason for it: you want to save money! There’s no doubt wholesale shopping has its perks, and Costco customers know their food court is one of those perks.
Even non-members could enjoy the low prices of the food court, but that privilege was recently taken away. Costco is made their food court an exclusive perk to its members.
Who is impacted by this change? Poor people.
If you think about the Costco’s model, they’re going to make a good amount of money each years from memberships alone. By “good amount” I mean over 3 billion dollars in 2019. That’s a great profit, and that’s before we factor in the revenue from sales. Costco is doing something right, and anyone who’s ever been knows that the food court is part of the experience. It’s also an inexpensive way to get a meal before you leave. For $1.50 you can get a hot dog and soda combo or for $1 you can get a churro.
Costco also has over 53 million paid members plus over 44 million household card holders. That’s a lot of hot dogs and churros, but Costco isn’t making a lot of money from their hot dogs. In fact, they may not be making anything at all. Employees have identified the food court as a “member service,” meaning it’s really there to so members can see the benefits of their memberships. Who doesn’t like to…
