5 reasons why you should avoid getting gas at Costco

You can't get Costco gas if you're not a Costco member, which means paying $60 for a year's membership. Assuming you have a car with a 16-gallon tank and stand to save 10 cents off each gallon of gas you buy, you would not cover the cost of the membership until 37.5 fill-ups.

You can't use cash to buy gas at Costco — that is, unless you go through the added burdensome step of going into a Costco warehouse and using the cash to buy a Costco cash card. You also can't use any credit card save for one in the Visa network.

Some people don't have a Costco near enough to justify the time they would need to expend in order to get to a Costco gas station.

Such drives are also counter-productive in that they consume fuel — a drive of much more than 20 miles would eliminate the savings most people would get on Costco gas when you consider the gas they'd burn up getting there.

If you shop at certain grocery stores, such as Kroger or Stop & Shop, you can join a loyalty program that earns you money off each gallon of gas you buy from a partnered gas station chain. In many cases, these rewards programs lead to gas that is cheaper than what you'd get from Costco.