Costco gas sales hit record as prices draw more shoppers

Cheap gas has become a membership magnet for Costco, and the latest quarter showed how far that pull can reach beyond the forecourt. In the final five weeks of the fiscal third quarter, Costco said fuel volume hit record levels, with Ron Vachris calling those weeks the highest-volume period ever for gas sales. Higher prices above $4 per gallon brought in more price-sensitive shoppers, including people using Costco stations for the first time.

That matters on the clock because a busy gas station does not stay confined to the pump. More cars mean more parking-lot churn, heavier cart returns, more door traffic and more pressure on front-end assistants and supervisors trying to keep lanes moving while stockers and department teams keep the floor filled. Costco’s own model is built on low prices, limited selection, volume purchasing and rapid inventory turnover, so fuel is doing exactly what the company wants it to do: pull members in and turn a gas stop into a bigger warehouse basket.

The scale of the quarter shows why managers watch the forecourt so closely. In its May 28 operating-results release, Costco said fiscal third-quarter net sales rose 11.6% to $69.15 billion for the 12 weeks ended May 10, from $61.96 billion a year earlier. Net income came in at $2.19 billion, or $4.93 per diluted share. Costco said it operated 931 warehouses at the time of the report, up from 905 in the prior year’s third-quarter update.

Gary Millerchip said Costco had widened its price gap versus competitors, a reminder that the fuel business is not just a side line. It is a traffic engine that can bring members to the property first for gas and then into groceries, household staples and impulse buys inside the warehouse. Costco also reports comparable sales with and without gasoline and foreign exchange effects, underscoring how much pump volume can sway the headline numbers.

The company’s May sales update added another signal of that demand, with net sales of $24.01 billion for the four weeks ended May 31. For workers from the front end to receiving, the message is straightforward: when gas volume surges, the rest of the building often feels it next.