Costco raises membership fees

By Roland Jones

Costco, America's largest wholesaler, said Wednesday it plans to raise its annual membership fees by 10 percent -- a move that will affect some 22 million members.

The news came as the warehouse club operator reported a fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts? forecasts. The fee increase will take effect Nov. 1 for most U.S. and Canadian members. Costco hasn?t raised its main fees since 2006.

?I think Costco was very reluctant to take a membership fee increase, which is essentially inflation of the membership fee, when their core customer was already dealing with a lot of inflation,? Sanford Bernstein analyst Colin McGranahan told Reuters.

Costco will increase annual membership fees by $5 for U.S. Goldstar (individual), Business, Business add-on and Canada Business members. The increase means all U.S. and Canada Goldstar, Business and Business add-on members will pay an annual fee of $55.

Fees for U.S. and Canada Executive Members will increase from $100 to $110.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/05/8170010-costco-to-raise-membership-fees

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