New Costco delivery sparks questions on savings, how it works

GMA Cover Story, and there are new ways to get your groceries from Costco, but do the delivery fees make it worthwhile, and how exactly does it work? Our consumer correspondent, Becky Worley, is on the case for us, as always. Good morning, Becky. Good morning, Michael. Costco has just become available for delivery from two new providers, Uber Eats and DoorDash. Instacart's been doing this for a while, so the questions I have, how much does it cost, who's least expensive, and do you need a Costco membership to take advantage of delivery? This morning, you can order your Costco groceries from more providers. Uber and DoorDash now joining Instacart to offer nationwide same-day delivery. Around 37.9% of online grocery shoppers now report doing most or almost all of their shopping via rapid delivery services. So Costco is really tapping into this shift. To see which of these services is least expensive, I visit my local Costco and log prices for 11 items like bakery rolls, ground beef, and rotisserie chicken. Then I go online and order the same 11 items from Uber Eats, Instacart, and DoorDash. Of course, delivery costs more than shopping in-store. When you add in fees and tip for my 11 items, DoorDash and Uber Eats cost 32% and 31% more than buying in-store. Instacart costs the most at 42% over. All three services tell ABC that fees are based on the size of the cart and, in some cases, the delivery distance from the nearest Costco. I think net-net, when you think about your time and the gas, any fee that you're going to pay is going to be outweighed by your time and the gas cost. So why would you choose one delivery service over another? Instacart has alcohol delivery, while Uber Eats and DoorDash don't yet. There are also a myriad of competing promotions worth comparing. Also, the fees on delivery are discounted or dropped entirely if you belong to one of the delivery company membership rewards programs. For example, if I were an Uber One member, I wouldn't pay any service fees or delivery charges and that would make it the least expensive of the options. But DoorDash and Instacart have similar membership perks, and so it sort of depends on which delivery ecosystem you're already living in. And if you're not a member of any of those delivery services, we found the cheapest way to get delivery was through the same day tab in the Costco app itself. Which came in at about the same markup as the cheapest delivery option when you add in all the current promotions. It's important to note that Instacart is the only delivery service that has nationwide delivery of Costco, even if you don't have a Costco membership, and that's a big deal to people, Michael. It is a big deal to people, and you mentioned there are a lot of promotions available right now. How much can you save with these? Well, if you're already a member of one of the delivery service programs, they can waive the service and delivery fees. In my carts, it was about 10 to 15% cheaper when I put in my membership code for Uber One. But here's a big savings hack that I wanna give for people who are already Costco members. You can go online and buy discounted Uber Eats and DoorDash gift cards at Costco.com. So you go to the Costco website, you buy $100 worth of these Uber Eats and DoorDash gift cards, but it only costs you 80 bucks. So if you turn around and use one of these gift cards on your Costco delivery, it's a 20% discount straight out of the gates, almost negating the increase in price for delivery. So that's a hack. Wow. Nice hack. Thank you. Hi, Becky.