Costco pays at least $20.00 an hour to every new hire in an entry-level job, from cashier assistant to stocker. The company runs 115 warehouses, 43 of them in Ontario, and four more open their doors in November in Alberta and Ontario.
Costco roles taking applications
Six roles inside the warehouse, listed with shifts, hourly rate and who they suit.
See Job Openings at Costco →🛒 Aisle by aisle below
- The teams inside a Costco warehouse
- Costco pay against Job Bank’s ranges
- Pension, health plan and vacation time
- Interviews, checks and the age rule
Costco warehouse departments that hire
A Costco warehouse is several businesses under one roof: grocery, bakery, butcher counter, food court, pharmacy, optical and a tire shop. Shoppers are called members, and most new hires begin on the front end or the stocking crew.
Checkout team
Rings up bulky carts, boxes orders and checks receipts at the door.
Merchandising
Unloads trucks and refills the tall steel racks while the doors are locked.
Fresh foods
Bakes muffins, cuts meat and packs produce where members can watch.
Food court
Serves hot dogs, pizza slices and frozen treats by the exit.
Tire centre and gas bar
Swaps winter and summer tires and keeps the fuel lanes flowing.
Optical, pharmacy, hearing
Licensed professionals backed by trained assistants and clerks.
Hourly pay at Costco compared with Job Bank
Costco lifted its starting wage to at least $20.00 for every entry-level position in its US and Canadian warehouses. That beats the top of Job Bank’s usual range for cashiers, which runs from $15.00 to $19.02 an hour.
💡 The top of the scale keeps rising: Costco’s employee agreement has added $1 per hour to its highest wage rates every March, so long-serving cashiers and stockers earn far more than the $20 they started on.
Costco benefits: pension, health plan and paid vacation
Unlike many retailers, Costco opens its benefit plans to part-timers. They join after a waiting period of about six months, provided they keep working steady weekly hours.
How Costco hires, from application to first shift
Pick a warehouse
Apply online to the location nearest you, since each one keeps its own openings.
Online quiz
Questions about serving members, working in a team and simple arithmetic.
One or two interviews
First a department manager, and for some roles the warehouse manager too.
Screening and orientation
Screening comes before your orientation and first scheduled shift.
Costco’s Canadian warehouses hire adults 18 and older, and applicants on Indeed and Glassdoor report roughly two weeks from application to offer. Bring your SIN to the paperwork, and expect warehouses in Quebec to work mainly in French.
⚠️ Big cases, cold rooms and concrete floors: stockers lift heavy boxes all shift, meat and produce teams spend hours in coolers, and gas bar staff work outside through the winter. Front-end and membership desk roles are the lighter choice.
Four new Costco warehouses staffing up for November
A new location hires its whole team in the weeks before opening day. Lloydminster alone expects 100 to 150 local hires, and Wasaga Beach is set to create more than 370 jobs.
📍 Northeast Edmonton, AB
Closer to home for workers on the capital’s northeast side.
📍 Lloydminster, AB
Pharmacy, optical lab and tire centre on site.
📍 East Windsor, ON
Opens November 20 with bakery, meat room and food court.
📍 Wasaga Beach, ON
Gas bar, tire centre and a seasonal garden centre.
Picking a Costco role to apply for
Each warehouse posts its own vacancies on Costco’s careers site. Line up six Costco jobs side by side, with their shifts and pay, and choose the one that fits your week.
Front end, stocking or the food court? Find the Costco job that matches you.
Every role with its schedule, rate and the strengths it calls for.
See Job Openings at CostcoKeep reading about Costco
Drawn from Costco’s annual report and benefits information, local news on the new warehouses, Job Bank wage data and Indeed reports from Costco employees in Canada. All pay is quoted in Canadian dollars.