Is Costco's 2-Day Delivery Service a Good Deal?

Many people who belong to Costco enjoy going to the store, browsing the aisles, and sampling the free food that tends to be on offer. But if you find the process of shopping at Costco in person to be aggravating or inconvenient (maybe the store always seems to be crowded when you go, or it's just not that close to where you live), then you may be inclined to take advantage of Costco's two-day delivery service.

Costco offers a host of non-perishable grocery items, as well as household essentials, for two-day delivery. Place your order by noon, and it should arrive at your door two business days later. So if you order a haul at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, at some point on Wednesday, you should have those items in hand.

Costco's two-day delivery service is certainly convenient. But whether it makes sense financially is a different story.

You'll pay more -- even if you get free shipping

Costco's two-day delivery service allows you to place an order of any size. But you can avoid a separate shipping charge by hitting a $75 order minimum.

Remember, this is Costco, where items are available in bulk. So for some people, reaching that threshold may not be such a hard thing to do.

But even if you don't have to pay a separate shipping fee for two-day delivery, it's going to cost you more than shopping in person. Costco says expressly on its website that "item pricing is higher than your local warehouse in order to cover the pick and pack fulfillment cost." So that's something to consider when assessing your choices.

To be clear, whether you order items for two-day delivery or not, you're going to pay more on Costco.com than in a store because Costco builds the cost of shipping and fulfillment into its online prices. And it can be a little tricky to determine just how much more you'll be paying online because each of Costco's warehouse club stores has its own pricing model -- it's not like you'll pay the same price at any Costco location in the country.

But as a general rule, you should assume you're paying a good 10% more for online Costco purchases. If you don't live anywhere near a Costco, what you pay in that regard, you might save on gas. So ordering online -- whether for two-day delivery or in general -- may not be a poor financial decision so much as a practical one.

Plus, the benefit of two-day delivery is that you get your items quickly. However, not every Costco.com item is available for this program. Items will be flagged as two-day delivery-eligible so you can make an informed decision.

Not a bad deal, depending on the circumstances

All told, you may find that Costco's two-day delivery service makes sense for you. Even if it costs you a bit more than what you'd pay at the store, if it saves you money on gas and also saves you precious time, it may be worth it.

However, one final thing to know about two-day delivery is that it's a service that's only available to Costco members. Non-members are allowed to place regular orders on the site (though there's a surcharge involved). But if you want your items roughly 48 hours after you order them, then you'll need to spring for a membership.