The Costco Food Items That Just Fell Victim To Inflation
Depending on how you see it, Costco has good news and bad news. First: the "good": Costco gave its investors a reason to celebrate when it held its earnings call. At a time when retailers are facing inflation and supply chain pressures, the chain managed to beat analysts' expectations thanks to the high demand for food, home goods, and gas, per Nasdaq. Costco's results were far removed from those reported by Target and Walmart just a week prior, both of whom reported they had missed forecasts after two stellar years, per Investor's Business Daily. But the pressures which face Target and Walmart have impacted Costco too. As Moody's analyst Mickey Chadha points out, "No retailer is immune from the higher cost pressures reverberating throughout the retail sector."
During an earnings call Bob Nelson, Costco's Senior Vice President for Finance & Investor Relations, had some food-related news to share. It dealt with rumors about the potential impact inflation might have on Costco's $1.50 hot dog and soda combos, which have been a fixture for as long as most of us can remember. Nelson killed social media speculation that the price of the hot dog combo was going anywhere, saying, "Let me just say the price when we introduced the hot dog-soda combo in the mid-80s was $1.50. The price today is $1.50, and we have no plans to increase the price at this time," per Seeking Alpha. Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news for Costco shoppers.
Costco isn't immune to food-related inflation
Bob Nelson said that the rising cost of raw materials also meant that the company had to make a few price changes in other departments. Nelson explained, "We reluctantly ... took up the price of our muffins and our croissants, I think $1 as the price of a lot of those raw materials have continued to escalate to two and three and four times what they were last year," per Seeking Alpha.
Inflation or not, the changes didn't go unnoticed by social media users, who have been going on Reddit to warn other shoppers that they were about to get a sticker shock. "It finally happened to my Costco. Croissants went from 4.99 to 5.99," warned this Reddit user, who shared an image online. Others may have seen signs of shrinkflation at work where the muffins were concerned. As one user said, "I went to Costco today and all of the muffins were much shorter than normal. Anyone else have this problem? Also the prices increased by a dollar, so I won't be buying muffins anytime soon," per Reddit. A second person agreed, "Yes! I noticed it a couple of weeks ago. Very disappointing. Loved the gargantuan muffins."