NEWS
Costco Keeps Selling Out Of One-Ounce Gold Bars
Courtesy of Costco
Costco recently began selling gold bars, and they’ve been flying off the virtual shelves, repeatedly running out of stock over the past three months.
The warehouse retail club recently began selling one-ounce bars of 24-karat gold from Rand Refinery, as well as one-ounce 24k gold PAMP Suisse Lady Fortuna Veriscan bars. They are only available online on the Costco website, and although prices are only visible to members, Reddit users have reported recent prices a little over $1,900.
Per reports, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti revealed during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that there is high demand for the gold bars, stocks of which don’t last long.
“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling one-ounce gold bars,” Galanti said. “But when we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours, and we limit two per member.”
“I think this is brilliant! Making gold accessible in a retail environment will give everyday consumers the ability to diversify and exchange cash for gold,” financial coach Lisa Chastain said. “This was a golden idea.”
“When you cross $33 trillion of debt, it starts to make people wonder whether paper money will be worth anything at all. Lots of people are hedging their bets buying hard precious metal assets,” Ted Jenkin, co-Founder of Exit Stage Left Advisors, added.
The market price for gold shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday stood at $1,890.90 per ounce, according to Nasdaq.
The price of gold surged by about 30% during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past 5 years, the price of gold has risen by more than 55%.
Gold and silver often rise in popularity when consumers lose faith in the economy, the U.S. dollar, real estate values, or banks. The offering from Costco may also be particularly attractive to consumers who already gravitate toward purchasing bulk stocks of food and other essentials the store provides.
TMX contributed to this article.
