I’ve been a Costco customer since 2010. I bought KS somethings in '10, rebuilt 'em in 2014, Phonak Brios in 2015, Philips 9010s in 2020, and Jabras 2 days ago.
I was open to new HAs in 2014, but the fitter (not the same as 2010) told me I wouldn’t get much benefit thereby, though my KS?s needed rebuilding. In 2015, a 3rd fitter thought I could get still more from my KS?s, but I had good insurance, so I bought the Brios. In 2020, I wanted better sounding music and still had good insurance; the 4th fitter thought the Brios would still work well for me (and they have done so, because I needed my backup pair when I lost one of my 9010s), but suggested the 9010s might be better for me.
When I went for new aids a few weeks ago, the fitter (and audiologist) suggested getting my 9010s rebuilt first and gave me 9030s as loaners. She said the rebuilt 9010s might sound as good to me as the 9030s.
They didn’t, and the Jabras sounded better for recorded music than the 9030s, so I bought the Jabras, This time I also bought the TV adapter and multi-mic for the 1st time. Insurance made the new aids and accessories cheaper than just adding the accessories to my 9010s, so new aids are essentially an easy choice.
IOW, at no time did a Costco person push me to new aids. I can believe they have high quotas, but at least in the branches I use, they make quota without pressuring everybody.
The 2014 rebuild cost $270 for aids that cost about $2,500. That makes me think that even Costco gets a good markup to cover services. I expect their business model is based at least in part on lower markups and much higher volume than sole/small practitioners can live on. It’s not just lower cost of labor and rent/utilities.
I suspect that sole/small practitioners might dramatically increase volume by lowering their prices. I’d be interested in hearing if that’s been tried, but it’s not a topic for this forum.
BTW, I lost an aid when some unspeakable so-and-so put her bike into a u-turn without looking back and without warning. When she did see me, she kept going and caused me to crash on a bike path. (Yes, I called out before she made her turn.) It wasn’t until I was half a mile away that I realized I had lost my aid, and I was too shaken to find the crash site. I totally forgot about the ‘Find my hearing aid’ function in the app.
The insurance part of the Costco fee was well worthwhile to me. I’d even pay extra for it.