In the US and Canada, Costco is increasing the cost of its yearly membership fees by $5 and the premium membership by $10. Since 2017, this is the first rise. To maintain low prices and compete with rivals like Sam's Club and BJ's, Costco depends on these fees.

On Wednesday, the members-only warehouse club announced that there is going to be a $5 annual cost hike in the US and Canada beginning on September 1. This means that the annual membership cost of $60 has been increased to $65. The most expensive option, dubbed "Executive Membership," will now cost you $130 annually as opposed to $120.

About 52 million memberships, slightly more than half of which are executive memberships, would be impacted by the pricing changes, according to Costco.

In Wednesday's extended trade, shares increased by over 2%.

Since June 2017, this is Costco's first membership rate increase. Since the business typically raises prices every five and a half years, Costco is expected to increase the fee in late 2022 or early 2023.

Costco refrained from increasing prices earlier, though. CEO Craig Jelinek has previously stated in talks with CNBC that the timing was not ideal given the high rate of inflation that consumers were facing. Richard Galanti, the company's chief financial officer, had previously stated similar things during earnings calls.

According to Costco, it increased enforcement last year to make sure customers weren't using the membership cards of other people. For memberships at the self-checkout aisles, it introduced an additional check. Similar actions have been taken by Netflix, which has also cracked down on non-paying users.