Kroger and BJ's Both Moving to Undercut Costco on Gas. Neither Has a Clear Win Yet.

Two Challengers, One Target

Costco has turned cheap gas into one of its most powerful membership retention tools. Now two major competitors are making direct moves against that advantage, through different strategies, with different odds of success.

Kroger's play is a summer promotion. BJ's play is infrastructure. Neither is guaranteed to work.

Kroger's "4X Fridays"

Kroger announced a summer fuel promotion running every Friday through July 24, 2026. Shoppers who buy qualifying groceries earn 4X Fuel Points, which can be redeemed at Kroger fuel centers. According to the New York Post, the maximum savings come out to roughly $35 per fill-up.

Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger's executive vice president and chief merchant and marketing officer, framed it in plain terms: "With Fuel Points, customers can earn rewards on the groceries they already buy."

Kroger has a real size advantage on fuel infrastructure. The company operates more than 1,700 gas stations compared to Costco's 737, according to company reports cited by the New York Post.

The Friction Problem

Size doesn't automatically translate to value perception. That's the core vulnerability in Kroger's approach.

RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino put it bluntly to the New York Post: "Costco wins because its value proposition is completely frictionless: you show your card, and you get the lowest price in town immediately."

His critique of Kroger's model is specific. Customers must clip digital coupons, track which days qualify for bonus points, monitor point balances, and redeem correctly. All of this is needed to realize savings that are already baked into a Costco membership automatically.

"In a tight economy, convenience-fatigued consumers eventually reject complex loyalty gamification," Miserandino said.

Consumers on social media echoed that take. One commenter described the process as "lots of hassle, hard pass" — not exactly a ringing endorsement of a promotion designed to win over budget-stressed families.

The Fair Case for Kroger

There's a counterargument worth considering. Costco fuel access is included with any membership tier — even the basic Gold Star membership — meaning shoppers do not need to pay a premium fee solely to fill up at a Costco pump. However, shoppers who already have a Kroger loyalty account and routinely buy groceries there don't need to change their behavior at all to accumulate fuel points. The steps Miserandino describes are front-loaded. A habitual Kroger shopper who sets up digital coupons once and keeps buying the same weekly groceries could find the savings fairly automatic over time. Whether that plays out in practice depends on how well Kroger's app and coupon system actually function. That's an open question this promotion will help answer.

BJ's Takes a Different Route

BJ's Wholesale Club is not running a promotion. It's building.

According to Supermarket News, BJ's has been accelerating its gas station expansion with a direct eye on challenging Costco. Unlike Kroger's approach, which layers rewards mechanics on top of existing fuel stations, BJ's is expanding the physical footprint of its fuel operation to make cheap gas a direct membership benefit, similar to Costco's model.

Supermarket News also reported on May 29, 2026 that Costco's Q3 gains were fueled specifically by gas pricing and fresh foods, confirming that the fuel advantage is not marginal. It's a core driver of Costco's financial performance and membership retention.

BJ's Q1 2026 results, reported by Supermarket News on May 22, showed the company starting its fiscal year on solid footing. That provides the financial base to sustain a capital-heavy gas station buildout.

The Macro Backdrop

This competition is happening against real consumer stress. A recent AAA survey found that 75% of Americans consider $4-per-gallon gas a personal tipping point, and more than half said they would change their driving habits or lifestyle if prices kept rising.

West Coast states are already at or above $5 per gallon as of June 2026. The national pressure is real, which is exactly why Kroger, BJ's, and Costco are all treating fuel as a competitive weapon rather than a side business.

What This Actually Comes Down To

Kroger is betting on breadth — 1,700+ stations and a rewards hook tied to grocery spending. BJ's is betting on simplicity — replicate Costco's low-friction model and build the stations to back it up. Costco is sitting on a proven system that, per its own Q3 results, is actively driving membership growth.

The key question is whether Kroger's promotion converts into lasting fuel-station loyalty once July 24 arrives and the 4X multiplier disappears. If point redemptions spike during the promotion but shoppers drift back to wherever gas is cheapest by August, Kroger will have run an expensive summer campaign without closing the gap on Costco's structural advantage.