Act Fast: Get $20 or $40 Back on a New Costco Membership

An annual Costco membership costs $60, or you can pay $120 to upgrade and earn 2% cash back on an Executive membership. But as most seasoned Costco members know, paying full price for your first Costco membership is a rookie mistake. Costco frequently runs promotions on its annual memberships for new members. Often, these promotions will give you a Costco Shop Card -- basically a gift card you can use at Costco -- when you purchase your first annual membership.

If you've been considering a Costco membership lately, but haven't had the impetus to jump off the fence, the warehouse club's current promotion might just help you make a decision.

Get a Costco Shop Card for your first membership

New members can get a $20 digital Costco Shop Card when they purchase an annual Costco membership ($60), or a $40 Shop Card when they purchase a new Executive membership ($120). You can access this deal through StackSocial, or you can apply the code CJREV on Costco's checkout page (you'll see a $0.01 deduction on your membership cost; this is how you know the promotion was successfully applied).

If you purchase a membership through StackSocial, you have until June 16, 2024 to redeem your offer, though the company encourages you to do it within 30 days of purchase. Once the offer is redeemed, you might have a brief blackout period during which StackSocial won't issue a refund until it's confirmed with Costco that the offer was redeemed. Don't worry: Costo will still honor its 100% Satisfaction Guarantee with a full refund if you're not satisfied with your membership in the first year.

You must provide a valid email address to receive your Shop Card. As long as you do that, you should receive your Shop Card by email within two weeks of signing up. Note that this deal is only for nonmembers seeking their first Costco membership -- current members are not eligible to renew using this promotion.

Will you get more value from the Gold Star or the Executive membership?

The current promotion will give you a $20 Shop Card when you choose a basic Gold Star membership ($60) or a $40 Shop Card when you choose Executive membership ($120). But the membership that provides the best value for your budget depends on how much you expect to spend at Costco.

The Executive membership costs more but pays you 2% in cash back on Costco purchases made in-store and online (up to $1,000 in rewards per 12-month period). You can also earn 2% back on Costco Travel, as well as receive other benefits on Costco services, such as roadside assistance and home lockout assistance when you purchase car and home insurance through Costco.

In terms of earnings, spending $3,000 would net you $60 in rewards, which is the price difference between the two memberships. Factoring in the promotion, spending $2,000 would net you the difference ($40). To earn the full value of your first year for an Executive membership ($80, after factoring in the $40 Shop Card), you would need to spend at least $4,000 at Costco.

Regardless of which membership you choose, you'll earn about 33% of the membership fee in Costco cash back through this promotion. And if you can't commit to a Costco membership this month, don't worry -- there's a good chance Costco will run another promotion on new memberships in the future. Check online before you purchase your first membership and see if an active promo code will help you save money.