Why Customers Say You Should Think Twice Before Buying Costco Milk

Costco has built a reputation around offering some of the best prices around, with the caveat being that you typically have to buy in bulk. That's no problem, usually, but there's one item that doesn't appear to be as good a deal as you'd expect: milk.

There's nothing wrong with Costco's milk apart from the price, mind you, but despite the store's wildly appealing price ratios on most everything else in the store, Costco is one of the worst stores to buy milk from if you want to save money. Getting an exact price comparison is tricky since it seems like they're changing every other day, but currently 2 gallons of 2% milk are listed for a surprising $8.99 ($4.50 per gallon) on Costco's website. Meanwhile, Aldi is selling 1-gallon jugs of 2% milk for a reasonable $3.29. Kroger sells the same for $3.39, and Walmart beats them all at $2.78. While these prices will definitely vary by location and region, the difference between Costco and other stores is pretty clear.

Costco's online prices also differ from what's found in store, but the high milk prices are evident either way. In a Reddit discussion about the store's milk, one commenter said, "Went to Costco today thinking it would be normal and [found] that they raised their price to $8.20." Even with the $0.79 difference, it's plain to see that other grocery stores are beating Costco in the milk department despite the others not claiming to offer wholesale prices. It's still not the worst offender, though. Trader Joe's sells a ½ gallon of organic whole milk for $5.99, and Whole Foods sells 1 gallon of organic 2% milk for $7.49.

The popularity of plant-based milks seems to be waning as more Americans turn back to dairy, which means the cost of milk is still on the mind of regular people. For years now, it's been a mainstay of the grocery store ethos that the price of milk carries weight well beyond what most people expect. There are tens of thousands of products on modern supermarket shelves, and nobody is keeping track of the prices on every single one. But people do remember the price of milk, and they weight their grocery plans accordingly. If milk prices are even a few cents less at one particular grocery store, that's where people are more likely to do their shopping. 

Given that Costco's milk is $1.72 more expensive per gallon than what Walmart is offering, you better believe that has an impact on where customers are shopping. Walmart's milk is cheap because it cuts out the middleman, but most customers don't really care how it's done; they just care that the milk is cheaper.

The Reddit post we mentioned where Costco shoppers were noticing a price hike in milk may have something to do with the screwworm outbreak making dairy and beef more expensive, though it's hard to say for sure. If that is the case, Costco may just be getting ahead of the curve, and other stores' milk prices will soon follow.