GasBuddy is great, no doubt! I was well familiar with them before working on the site. The issue is that their data is user reported and not directly reported from Costco's warehouse numbers - so there were a few times that the price was vastly different from what was at the pump.

The user-reported vs source-reported thing is bigger than people think. I work with car listing prices and the gap between what people say something costs and what the source actually shows is basically the whole reason my product works. Pulling from the warehouse numbers is the right call even if the coverage is smaller.

I’m betting stores are given a floor price/cost and are given the flexibility to raise above that up to 10 cents cheaper than the nearest competitors in the specific area. All stores do not have the same ability/flexibility

They are selling 10000 gallons a day at some locations, so I find it hard to believe.

More like they don’t have a need to make a profit and they run the station in a barebones manner on real estate that they get as part of the larger site. So it would be a loss leader for anyone else.

When you have a bunch of stores you do sign distribution deals with a nationwide distributor. If you buy enough fuel you might even be able to sign with an oil company that has refining capacity or their own distribution arm.

So Costco is definitely not paying the same price as your local convenience store. But they aren't getting a 35% discount either.

As many others have noted: Costco does not do loss-leaders. They're likely selling at cost or a very small profit above cost.

When we bought a house in 2021 I had 9.6kW of solar installed (and 20kWh of battery) and bought our first electric car. Since replaced it and have two electric cars now. At times like this I'm thankful for that. I make my own driving energy on my roof, covering over 80% of all driving and home electric usage.

During what I seem to recall was an earnings call about ten years ago, it was stated that Costco doesn't do loss-leaders. What they more likely do is sell the gas close to cost.

The Acquired episode about Costco (https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/costco) claims they don't do loss leaders at all.

It's not true where I live. Costco is on average 5-10c more expensive than the cheaper places near me.

Selling below the price of surrounding stations doesn’t mean they are losing money on the fuel.

Costco has a single store in my country and it’s butter that they sell cheaply to get people in the door. But I doubt they are losing money on it.

It makes sense. The ~$10 someone saves pumping at Costco is easily made up in the >$100 shopping trip they are making, or compared to lifetime spend.

Taxes.

It is not crazy if you know that gas prices include taxes that can greatly vary by jurisdiction. The price at the pump may have little to do with cost of procuring it.

I'm not sure what you want. There is a global fuel crisis. Wikipedia calls it a "worldwide fuel crisis". Is this in dispute?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war_fuel_crisis

Hi! Absolutely zero political agenda here, just someone wanting to track the price of fuel.

While Wikipedia isn't always to be trusted (everyone knows that), the situation has been widely described as a crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis.

Just want to clear that up that the jargon is selected specifically from a general understanding and not one from a political skew!

I also wasn't tracking fuel prices back in 2022, otherwise I probably would have included similar dialog given the nature of what caused the prices to rise.

Tbf, the U.S isn't the globe.

Watching prices makes sense.

People spend money on gas, and sometimes one Costco has cheaper gas than another does.

The two Costcos that are nearest to me are listed at $3.65 and $3.79 right now. They're ~25 minutes apart. I think it would be fair to say that there's thousands of people living in-between where the difference in driving distance is irrelevant.

But if they decide that buying gas is a thing they're going to do today, and they can quickly compare the prices beforehand, then: They can use that data to help make an informed decision.

A 14-cent price delta isn't much, but if 11 gallons are purchased then it's enough to cover the price of a Costco hot dog and Coke (with refill). Not bad at all.

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Additionally: While Costco seemingly doesn't make (much) money on gas, that doesn't mean that they're always cheaper.

Suppose I were making a Costco trip today and I also need to buy gas. I'd be heading to the Costco that has gas for $3.65 because that one is much closer for me.

But I can get gas for $3.62 right now at the station down the block from my house. There's no line there (there's never a line there), there's no membership proof to futz around with, and it's super easy to get in and out of.

Since I have enough easy information to make an informed decision, then: I can tell that the smart move is to plan on skipping whatever line may be present at Costco's gas station and just buy gas down the block. This will save me both time and money.

But tomorrow? Who knows. The situation may be different, so I may make a different decision.

I disagree. The prices still move with the price of oil. Their margins are just lower.

I've been tracking every fuel purchase I've made for 12 years now across 5 or 6 different cars. Not sure what I'll ever do with that information, but I suppose it may come in handy for a political argument.

I’d be amazed if it actually changed anything with him.

There was a blog post around 10 years ago where someone did the math and found the extra wait wasn't worth the savings if you value your time.

For me, locally, there's a grocery store chain that also has gas stations. If you are a member (which is free), you get a discounted rate on gas - usually only 3-5 cents more per gallon than Costco. And if you do enough groceries in a 3 month period, you occasionally get an additional 10-20 cents off your next filling, which makes it cheaper than Costco.

They're also open a lot more hours than Costco gas. And their lines are shorter.

I don't see the point of going to Costco to get gas.

If only they exposed this data!! Would have been so fun adding the display to the site

Does it routinely take an hour to get gas at Costco near you?

Even when the lines are at capacity the Costco I go to (north of Seattle in Shoreline), I never wait more than like five minutes.

i go befoe costoco opens at 7am . they have different timings.

Just wait until you have an EV! Then you will get to wait in line for an outlet, and then wait while the electrons trickle into your tank! Good times.