Your Costco membership is about to cost a lot more

The INSIDER Summary:

•Shopping in Costco and buying in bulk has always been associated with saving money.
•While it hasn't officially been confirmed, Costco is thinking of raising their membership fees up $5.

Buying in bulk can reap all kinds of rewards, like not having to buy paper towels for two months, or saving big on that 48-ounce box of crackers for your wine and cheese night. But if you're a member of Costco, you might have to prepare to shell out extra cash for those benefits.

The megastore is apparently planning to charge more for its memberships. Analysts at UBS bank expect the hike to be as much as 10 percent. That means the basic Gold Star Membership annual fee would jump up $5, from $55 a year to $60, and the Executive Membership would increase from $110 to $120.

Costco hasn't officially confirmed that this is happening, but the company's chief financial officer Richard Galanti said during a conference call last month that the time is probably right for a price increase, Consmerist reports. This could be in part to help the chain expand, as it has 30 new stores slated to open this year, about half of which will be the U.S.

Welp, at least you can still get Disney tickets at a crazy discount. But if you are thinking about dropping your membership now, remember that you can still (sort of) shop there without one.

SEE ALSO: 7 unexpected things you can buy at Costco

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