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Decisions · Costco

Costco — Does a paid membership survive an agent that computes the whole value for a specific household?

Does a paid membership survive an agent that computes the whole value for a specific household?

The customer

You act for a two-adult household in Denver that spends about 3000 USD a year on groceries and household goods and is deciding whether a Costco Gold Star membership is worth it for the coming year. Establish from Costco's own pages the membership fee, whether the fee is refundable if they cancel, the return policy for most items and for electronics, and whether they could shop online without a membership and at what surcharge. Then judge whether the membership fits the requirements.

Requirements the agent had to apply

Reproduce this experiment

Run this decision in your agent

Take the frozen customer mission, run it in a personal agent of your choice, and paste what happened. Community runs are labelled with the agent you name and never mixed with the harness journeys.

You act for a two-adult household in Denver that spends about 3000 USD a year on groceries and household goods and is deciding whether a Costco Gold Star membership is worth it for the coming year. Establish from Costco's own pages the membership fee, whether the fee is refundable if they cancel, the return policy for most items and for electronics, and whether they could shop online without a membership and at what surcharge. Then judge whether the membership fits the requirements.

Requirements:
- annual membership fee at most 70 USD
- the membership fee is refundable in full if they cancel during the year
- most items returnable for at least 60 days
- electronics returnable for at least 60 days (preference)

Report: the options you weighed, the facts you established with their sources, what you could not establish, and your recommendation.

Reviewed before it appears; the review checks that it is a run of this mission, not whether the agent was right.

4 journeys

with memorybrand page reachedobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionCostco decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • membership fee at most 70 USD
    • membership fee fully refundable on cancellation
    • most items returnable for at least 60 days
    • electronics returnable for at least 60 days (preference)
    Remembers: “The household paid for a warehouse-club membership in 2024, used it four times, and could not get the unused months refu”
  2. 2Evidence3 searches, 6 pages: customerservice.costco.com, costco.com
    • membership fee usd: 65 brand page
    • membership refundable: Yes — 'We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissati brand page
    • return window days: No stated day limit for most merchandise — described as a 'Risk-Free 100% Satisf brand page
    • electronics return window days: 90 brand page
  3. 3BeliefRequirements met on the evidence found
  4. 4DecisionSelectedCostco Gold Star MembershipAll four requirement facts were established directly on Costco's own domains (costco.com and customerservice.costco.com). The Gold Star fee is $65/year (≤ $70 requirement…
run-70e4f466Open decision trace →
no memorybrand page reachedobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionCostco decision — customer with no relevant memory
    • annual membership fee at most 70 USD
    • membership fee fully refundable on cancellation
    • most items returnable for at least 60 days
    • electronics returnable for at least 60 days (preference)
  2. 2Evidence3 searches, 6 pages: costco.com, customerservice.costco.com
    • membership fee usd: 65 brand page
    • membership refundable: Yes — Costco states it will cancel and refund the membership fee in full at any brand page
    • return window days: No stated time limit for most merchandise under the Risk-Free 100% Satisfaction brand page
    • electronics return window days: 90 brand page
  3. 3BeliefRequirements met on the evidence found
  4. 4DecisionSelectedCostco Gold Star MembershipAll four required/preferred facts were established directly on Costco's own domains (costco.com and customerservice.costco.com). The Gold Star annual fee is $65, which me…
run-13817815Open decision trace →
with memorybrand page reachedobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionCostco decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • annual fee at most $70
    • membership fee refundable in full on cancellation
    • general return window at least 60 days for most items
    • electronics return window at least 60 days (preference)
    Remembers: “The household paid for a warehouse-club membership in 2024, used it four times, and could not get the unused months refu”
  2. 2Evidence4 searches, 6 pages: costco.com, customerservice.costco.com
    • membership fee usd: 65 brand page
    • membership refundable: Yes — 'We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissati brand page
    • return window days: No specific day limit stated for most merchandise (open-ended 'Risk-Free 100% Sa brand page
    • electronics return window days: 90 brand page
  3. 3BeliefRequirements met on the evidence found
  4. 4DecisionSelectedCostco Gold Star MembershipAll four requirement facts were established directly from Costco's own domains (costco.com and customerservice.costco.com). The Gold Star annual fee is $65, which is at o…
run-a4b7c007Open decision trace →
no memorybrand page reachedobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionCostco decision — customer with no relevant memory
    • annual membership fee at most 70 USD
    • membership fee refundable in full if canceled during the year
    • most items returnable for at least 60 days
    • electronics returnable for at least 60 days (preference)
  2. 2Evidence7 searches, 9 pages: costco.com, customerservice.costco.com
    • membership fee usd: 65 brand page
    • membership refundable: true brand page
    • return window days: no stated time limit for most merchandise (satisfaction guaranteed indefinitely, brand page
    • electronics return window days: 90 brand page
  3. 3BeliefRequirements met on the evidence found
  4. 4DecisionSelectedCostco Gold Star MembershipAll four requirement fields were established directly from Costco's own web properties (costco.com and customerservice.costco.com). The Gold Star annual fee is $65, which…
run-8a0109d9Open decision trace →