Check in the Mail

A Costco rebate check of $63.17 arrived last night in our mail box. It’s the annual rebate for being an Executive member and shopping at Costco.

I started in 2004 as a Gold Star member which costs me $50 membership fee because at the beginning, I wasn’t sure how much we would spend at Costco. Paying the extra $50 for the Executive membership didn’t make too much sense if we buy less than $2,500 of goods at Costco every year (an Executive membership is only worth it if more than $2,500 is spent). Actually, we bought quite a lot of stuff at Costco, especially after our daughter was born (those formulas and diapers are not cheap). In any given month, we could make two trips to the store and easily spend more $100 each time.

I upgraded my membership early last year when I was told that we already spent more than $1,200 in less than six months. And this rebate check tells us that we spent more than $3,000 in the past year on everything from milk and bread to clothes and laundry detergent. Considering that we paid an additional $50 to get the 2% cash back, we actually *saved* $13.17 for those things that we have to buy anyway.

Another benefit I got is the 25% quarterly rebate on commissions (Gold Star member gets 10% rebate) for trades made at my Sharebuilder account (I am considering close it though) which was opened through Costco. That brings down the cost of each transaction to $3.00 from $4.00. Nothing to be excited about since I only make one purchase every month at Sharebuilder, but I take it. Also, I switched our auto and home insurance from Liberty Mutual to Ameriprise (again through Costco) last year and also saved quite some on premiums, but there’s no difference whether it’s Gold Star or Executive membership.

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