Costco has added gold bars to the long list of items that it has made available to its members at a bargain price.
On its official website, the U.S. retail warehousing giant is now selling 1 oz. PAMP Suisse Lady Fortuna Veriscan gold bars (limited two per member).
Its price may vary depending on the location. In Canada, the gold bars are listed at C$2,679.99 each, or roughly $1,985.20 per ounce.
The product, which contains 24 kt of 99.99% pure gold, is not eligible for price adjustments and/or any promotions, it says on Costco’s website.
Regardless of the price, these gold bars seem to be flying off the shelves, at least in stores, judging by comments from the company’s chief financial officer Richard Galanti.
“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling 1 oz. gold bars. Yes, but when we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours,” he confirmed via a conference call earlier this week.
However, given the limit on the amount each member can buy, it would be impossible for anyone to accumulate enough gold to profit from this investment. There is also the cost of membership fees, which would eat into any potential gains later on.
“At the very least, though, it’s an effective promotion and one that could appeal to a certain sector of Costco’s shopping clientele,” Jonathan Rose, co-founder of Genesis Gold Group, told CNBC.
Rose noted that the company appears to have accelerated its offerings of dried foods and other survivalist goods at a time when worries about the future of the economy are running high.
“For example, the company markets a 150-serving emergency food preparedness kit that could come in handy, you know, just in case. Gold meshes with that type of product,” he said.
