The Bakery Item Costco Shoppers Frequently Return

Costco is known for high customer satisfaction, especially with its famous Kirkland Signature items, but it's impossible for any grocery store to only sell perfect products. One of the warehouse chain's most controversial items is the once-beloved Kirkland Signature muffins, which are now one of the most frequently returned items at Costco.

Costco's hassle-free return policy lets you take back perishable food items, even ones that you've opened or partially eaten. When you look at the issues with Kirkland Signature muffins, it's no wonder that customers ask for their money back. Factor number one is alleged shrinkflation: In 2024, Costco muffins indeed got smaller, and the company blamed it on customers who said the original versions were too large to eat in one sitting. While some members were happy with the change, others pointed out a sneaky price increase. Most Costcos used to sell a two-pack of six generously large muffins for $9.99 (that's 12 muffins, totaling about 70 ounces). Now, stores sell a single 8-pack of smaller muffins for $6.99, with most packs weighing around 30 ounces. That's 14 cents per ounce for the old muffins and 23 cents per ounce for the new.

Despite the shrinkage, if the new Kirkland muffins tasted great, most customers probably wouldn't bring them to the return counter. Unfortunately, shoppers say the formerly fluffy and moist muffins with a great variety of flavors are now shadows of their former selves.

In a scathing review, a Reddit user called Costco's muffins "the driest, densest muffins I have ever eaten. They taste more like a bad pound cake." Many shoppers are particularly sad that new, inferior muffin flavors have replaced discontinued favorites like poppyseed and apple crumb. "We have lemon raspberry and cinnamon but they are so dense, dry, and tasteless," another Redditor said.

Two more Costco muffins we'd skip are the blueberries and cream and the triple chocolate. A Reddit user said of the once-beloved chocolate muffins, "They're tiny, expensive, overly-thick, dry, and have an off-putting taste ... It hardly even tastes like real chocolate." Meanwhile, a Facebook commenter wrote, "I'm not mad the muffins are smaller, but that the new blueberry muffins taste awful." Both the blueberries and cream and regular blueberry muffins are also called out for growing mold in a few days or even overnight – that's an instant return.

These issues may be caused by a drastic change in Costco's muffins: The recipe now uses butter instead of oil. Some have praised this move, thinking it makes the muffins higher-quality, but oil generally makes moister baked goods, and butter is more expensive, which could explain the dryness problem and price increase. Some Costco shoppers are not only returning their muffins but encouraging other members to do so in order to send a message to the company. It remains to be seen if the chain will ever bring back its old recipe.