3 Reasons Not to Use Uber Eats for Costco Orders

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In May 2024, Costco and Uber unveiled a new partnership. You can now order Costco items from the Uber Eats app. While you don't have to be a Costco member to order through Uber Eats, joining Costco and linking your membership I.D. will unlock member-only deals and help you save money.

So far, I've used Uber Eats twice to order groceries from Costco -- and that was twice too many. Though the service might be convenient for some, it's expensive and doesn't always work for getting what you want. If you're new to Uber Eats or are a Costco member, here's why I wouldn't use the app to get your groceries.

1. Costco items are cheaper in store

Costco items are typically marked up higher on delivery apps and costco.com versus what you'd find in stores. Supposedly this pays for delivery services and helps support the delivery shoppers on those apps. But the markups can leave you spending more than what you would have budgeted for if you shopped in person.

For example, I recently went to my local Costco in Newark, New Jersey. Here's a quick side-by-side of what I paid for certain items vs. how much they cost on my Uber Eats app.

This is just a sampling of what I purchased (not everything that I found at my store can be bought through Uber Eats). But as you can see, I would have spent more than $23 extra on these five items alone had I bought them through Uber Eats. That's a third of the price of a basic Costco membership gone to upcharges.

2. The app isn't always reliable

Delivery services don't always have real-time data. In other words, there's a chance that items listed in the app aren't actually available in store.

Both times that I ordered Costco items through Uber Eats, many of the items I wanted weren't available in store. This was frustrating, as I couldn't be at the warehouse to find a suitable substitute.

Now, to be fair, you have to accept some discrepancy between the two. In fact, seldom have I ordered groceries through Uber Eats without having to replace at least one or two items. But Costco is a little different than other grocery stores in that you can't always replace items with an adequate match. It's one thing to replace one brand of plain Greek yogurt with another of the same flavor; it's quite another to replace a tub of plain Greek yogurt with 18 snack-sized cups in different berry flavors.

3. You'll pay fees

Finally, you'll pay some delivery and service fees to purchase items through Uber Eats. Yes, this is in addition to the upcharge on your Costco items.

That said, you can reduce these fees by linking your Costco membership to your Uber Eats app. Likewise, you can (nearly) erase delivery fees by joining Uber One ($9.99 monthly or $96 annually). Whether that's worth it depends on how much you use Uber and Uber Eats. As a Costco and Uber One member, I can tell you that both nearly erased the fees, though I still paid about $3 in fees.

To wrap it up, I'll close with this: The Uber Eats drivers who deliver Costco groceries deserve a huge thanks (and perhaps more compensation for Costco orders). Imagine going to Costco -- the lines, the parking lot, the shopping trolleys and carts -- for someone else's groceries. Probably not a fun time.

If you're going to use this service, be sure to tip your driver well. This is another cost that you can charge to your Costco credit card, but certainly not one to avoid to save money.

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