5 reasons why you should avoid having gasoline at Costco

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• The gasoline at Costco is almost always cheaper than the one found in other gas stations in the United States.

• But Costco is not necessarily the best place for all Americans to get gasoline.

• Here are five reasons why it does not make sense to do gas at Costco.

• Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.

Costco has hundreds of gas stations across the United States and enjoys the fierce loyalty of millions of customers who swear by the Costco gas offers surely cheap.

And indeed, the gas on sale at a Costco is almost always cheaper than that available at nearby resorts.

But Costco is not necessarily the best place for all Americans to get gas.

In fact, if you do not drive enough to require at least 35 full of gas each year, you may lose money by buying petrol from Costco. And unless you like the idea of ​​potentially waiting up to half an hour to fill up your tank of gasoline, you might want to pay a few extra pennies for a gasoline purchase round trip to one of the local resorts.

Here are five reasons why you should avoid buying gas from Costco, despite its low prices.

You could queue up for a very long time

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The long lines of Costco petrol stations are notorious. People have reported waiting more than an hour to be able to fill their vehicles, an expense of time that barely justifies the few dollars that would be saved by skipping a standard gas station, where it is not necessary. There is often no waiting.

Membership is required

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You can not get Costco Gasoline if you are not a Costco memberwhich means paying $ 60 for one year of membership. Assuming you have a car with a 16-gallon tank and you save 10 cents on every gallon of gas you buy, you would not cover the cost of membership up to 37.5 refills.

Costco petrol stations do not take money – and only accept Visa credit cards

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You can not use cash to buy gas at Costco – that means if you do not go through the extra heavy step of going to a Costco warehouse and using that money to buy a Costco payment card. You also can not use a credit card, with the exception of a Visa network card.

The story continues

It may not be worth the travel time

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Some people do not have enough Costco to justify the time they would need to get to a Costco petrol station.

These trainings are also counter-productive in that they consume fuel: a journey of more than 20 km would eliminate the savings that most people would save on Costco gasoline if it was considered that The essence that they would consume would get there.

Grocery Reward Programs Can Save You Gas

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If you are shopping at some grocery stores, such as Kroger or Stop & Shop, you can participate in a loyalty program that allows you to make money on every gallon of gasoline you buy from. a chain of service stations in partnership. In many cases, these rewards programs provide gas at a lower price than Costco.