A woman took a $14-an-hour Costco job in 2018 calling it ‘just a summer job,’ and seven years later she makes $56.85 an hour on Sundays

A Costco employee who goes by Joce on TikTok is back in the spotlight after her pay breakdown resurfaced online. She says she was hired in 2018 at $14 an hour and reached $37.90 an hour in 2025, according to Upworthy. The video has drawn over ten million views, and the figures come from Joce’s own account and have not been independently verified.

Joce joked in one video that she always called the job “just a summer job.” Instead, she stayed for seven years and counting, and steady raises each year lifted her wage from $14 to $37.90. The video lists her hourly pay year by year, starting at $14.00 in 2018 and $15.00 in 2019, before reaching $37.90 an hour in 2025.

Joce, who posts as @thelifeofjoce, explained how she got there in a second video. She moved into the optical department and became a licensed optician, which gives her a base rate of $31.90 plus a premium added to her wages. On Sundays she earns $56.85 an hour, which matches time and a half on $37.90, as Costco pays extra for Sunday shifts.

Joce says Costco gave her time to study on the clock

Joce said she had no prior experience or training when she began working toward her license. She wrote that “it’s all on the job training and they give you time to study while working.” She added that Costco gave her three months to study for the first exam, the ABO. She then had up to a year or so to pass the second, the NCLE, to become fully licensed.

The video has drawn hundreds of thousands of likes, and the replies became a debate about degrees and paychecks as viewers compared their own salaries. One of the most liked comments joked, “just looked at my masters degree and sighed.” Another viewer wrote, “THIS is why I left teaching after 8 years with a masters degree and never looked back.”

Nurses were a recurring voice in the replies. One commenter wrote, “I’m a nurse. I work in an ER,” before telling Joce, “you make more than I do.” Another nurse said they earn $39 an hour “with all the headaches of work,” while a widely liked reply claimed Costco employees are “making more than new grad nurses in the Midwest.”

Not everyone accepted the numbers. One skeptic said Costco “is not paying $37.50 an hour,” although Joce’s stated rate is $37.90, and another said they had “never seen a costco pay over $30/hr for a non-management position.” A commenter who said they work at Costco reported earning $21.50 an hour plus time and a half on Sundays, adding that licensed workers are paid well.

Costco’s wider pay scale puts Joce’s rate in context. Reuters previously reported, citing an internal company memo, that Costco raised top-of-scale hourly pay to $30.20 and lifted its lowest starting pay to $20 an hour. The memo also described an additional $1 raise in each of the next two years.

Joce’s $37.90 rate includes a premium on top of her $31.90 base, as certain specialist positions and store locations offer additional pay. Costco’s twice-a-year bonuses and benefits are separate from the hourly figure, according to the report. However, the report’s estimate of just under $80,000 per year assumes a full-time schedule, so her actual earnings would depend on her hours and premiums.

The report pointed to growing Gen Z interest in blue collar work and cited figures showing more than 42 million Americans carry student loan debt averaging just under $40,000. Retail pay has also stirred heated reactions online before, as Gen Z workers defended themselves after a TikToker complained about miserable looking employees.

Joce has posted other videos about the job, including one in which she answers viewer questions about being an optician. That video lists the ABO exam fee at $225 and notes that she did not go to school for the role. However, the report noted that premium pay varies by position and store location, so other employees may earn different rates.

Joce has kept posting about her work at Costco on TikTok, so more details about her pay, her optician license and the path she took could surface in future videos.