Costco’s gas stations are breaking records as drivers seek cheaper fuel

Higher prices have pushed many members to the retailer’s pumps for the first time.

As the Iran war’s effects on energy prices ripple through almost everything, except the stock market which continues to break fresh ground on an almost daily basis, Americans are feeling the squeeze at the pump, in their delivery bills, and even when walking down the produce aisle. For Costco, though, the pain has come with a perk: soaring demand at its gas stations.

Last week, the warehouse giant said its gas business had posted “record-breaking” sales volumes for its fiscal third quarter, ended May 10. Higher gas prices brought “many members” to Costco’s pumps for the very first time in the quarter, CEO Ron Vachris said on the earnings call, with each of the quarter’s three four-week periods setting new all-time company volume records, and the final five weeks ranking as its top weeks for volumes in history.

Demand was so intense that many stations required “multiple daily gas deliveries,” Vachris said, as more people rushed to Costco pumps in the middle of a national gas price spike.

According to the American Automobile Association, the national average price for regular gas sat at $4.32 a gallon as of Monday, up a whopping 45% since the war broke out in late February. State-level increases ranged from about 30% on the West Coast to more than 60% in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Indeed, with its pumps typically priced about $0.30 cheaper per gallon than traditional stations and local competitors, fuel has long been one of the warehouse club’s reliable traffic drivers, alongside its famous $1.50 hot dogs and $4.99 rotisserie chickens.

After opening its first gas station in 1995, Costco has steadily expanded its fuel network, operating 747 locations worldwide by the end of 2025 — more than 6x its footprint at the turn of the century, and roughly 300 more than Walmart’s planned total for the end of last year.

The pump is also a gateway to getting Costco’s stickier, high-spending members through the doors: just under half of its gas station visitors end up going inside the warehouse, according to CFO Gary Millerchip, and they also tend to visit more frequently, spend more overall, and renew their memberships at a higher rate.

Tom Jones

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Yum! Brands might have found a potential buyer for Pizza Hut

Yum! is in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital about a sale, per reports.

Max Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.