Bad news if you’re mooching off of someone else’s Costco membership: The retail giant is cracking down.
When you enter Costco, you need to show your membership card to an employee to shop. Costco membership cards are non-transferable, but the company allows members to give a second household card to one other person in their home. Anyone with a card can bring up to two guests to the club during each visit, the company stipulates.
But Costco has noticed that non-members have been sneaking in with membership cards that don’t belong to them — particularly since Costco expanded self-checkout.
Costco recently started asking for shoppers’ membership cards along with a photo ID at the self-checkout registers, the same policy as regular checkout lanes, to crack down. “We don’t feel it’s right that non-members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members,” Costco said in announcing the change.
And now, Costco is testing out a system that requires members to scan their membership cards at the store entrance — instead of just flashing the card to employees. Shoppers have spotted the new scanners at a store in Washington State and posted photos on Reddit.
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Makes sense, Costco makes its money from the memberships, not selling you stuff at wholesale prices after you’ve got one
Does it? What I get in rewards from shopping and refueling there more than makes up for my membership.
The money you’re saving doesn’t necessarily have to have any relation to the profit they make.
Impressive. I wouldn’t have guessed.
Yes, but most users don’t. That’s where they make their money.
I don’t know about that. Everyone I know that has a membership gets enough rewards to pay for it. It’s really not that hard, especially if you drive to work and fuel using their much cheaper gasoline.
That’s still just anecdotal. The vast majority of Costco memberships don’t, whether you know them personally or not.
Of course it’s anecdotal, the burden of proof is yours.
No it’s not. Someone else already provided membership cost and revenue data. You’re the one arguing it’s not true because you and “everyone you know” don’t have the same experience.
One of the last times I was in, I was asked for my photo ID and Costco membership card no less than 5 times by employees. I literally got asked while I was in an isle looking at items. I’ve never had this happen before and made me honestly a bit irritated having to constantly pull my ID out of my wallet. This policy needs to chill.
Aisle*
Aisle be back!
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Damn I so gotta use my friends account on instacart? But I like holding the product and seeing what I’m buying.
I share my Sam’s Club with my gf and her family. They share their Costco with us and just walk by or shop online.
Instacart lets anyone order from Costco and Sam’s without a membership… You just have to pay overinflated Instacart prices and be cool with the fact that you’re exploiting someone’s labor.
Yea but you can also connect the membership to your instacart account.
Just tell them to fuck off.
You can’t. They are a private, membership-only business. If you tell them to fuck off, they can escort you out and disable your membership.
You CAN still say it, just with consequences.
Fair enough. OP did not say “tell them to fuck off and keep shopping”. 🤣
Or tell them to talk to one of the employees that already checked your card. That’s excessive and can’t be good for business.
Fuck off, then.
Yeah exactly, people are so afraid of confrontation these days, you can tell people to fuck off and they generally will.
Semi-related fun fact that I like to share; Costco doesn’t require membership for alcohol or pharmacy purchases.
Used to be food court too, but I believe they stopped that in 2020 ish
There are a few costcos in socal with outdoor food courts. I’m nearly certain there’s no membership required to use them. I may be wrong though, it’s been a while.
Both my local SoCal Costco’s have outdoor food courts. You have to scan your card at them. One has a table with self serve kiosks for ordering too, then you queue up to get your food handed to you.
Yeah, it seems like they’re cracking down. The only one I know of that has an outdoor food court is the one in Kauai. The last time I was in town it was closed for renovations, which sucks because on a trip out there I usually hit up the food court a couple of times for a quick cheap meal for the family. My guess was that they’re going to either move it inside, or add some kind of thing to verify your membership.
Is their alcohol not wholesale? I’ve noticed their alcohol prices aren’t always the best.
It depends on the state laws. My state sets minimum prices for liquor, so you don’t save any money on vodka, whiskey, etc. by going to Costco.
My understanding is that in order to sell alcohol it needs to be available to ‘the public at large’. Madison Square Garden lost its license after kicking out a lawyer for the same reason.
It’s very state by state; however, in most jurisdictions my understanding is the same as yours.
Wouldn’t that only apply to bottom shelf alcohol? Or is the minimum so high that it even raises the price of mid tier?
Now if they’d just come up with a new system for parking in the parking lot…
What do you want them to create rotating carousels of underground parking? Their parking lots are already massive what more do you want.
I just always go to the farthest possible parking spot from the store cuz they are generally always open easy to get in and out of and bypass all the stupid closer to the store
If people are so annoyed by the parking situation, just plan your visits when it’s not as busy. It’s not that difficult, even if it might be inconvenient.
I don’t know how anyone could ever stand going to Costco on the weekends. Just don’t. That’s like voluntarily driving during rush hour when you have the option not to. Unless you work the exact hours that Costco is open, going on a weekday evening is so much better of an experience all around. Weekday mornings aren’t bad either. I would have to be truly desperate for gas or groceries to go to Costco on the weekend vs just waiting until Monday.
Agreed, people’s complaints are that they’re too lazy to walk. I also usually park on the furthest lane near the back. Makes it easier to quickly part and quickly leave. Same when I go to the mall or any other shop with a parking lot. Mostly everyone could use some extra steps in anyways.
Whenever I go to Costco it’s a crapshoot if I actually go depending on the parking situation
Never had an issue with parking. Sure you might need to walk a bit but there’s always parking.
But Costco has noticed that non-members have been sneaking in with membership cards that don’t belong to them — particularly since Costco expanded self-checkout.
In other words, punishing customers for a self-inflicted issue.
How is it punishing customers? The rest of the article suggests it may improve things
“It speeds up the process at entry and speeds up the process at the checkout,” he said. “That’s what we believe and we’re going to pilot it.”
From the article, as I didn’t see this being mentioned in the OP summary…
Costco is testing out a system that requires members to scan their membership cards at the store entrance — instead of just flashing the card to employees.
So it seems like there’s two different things going on, per the article, when you’re entering the building, and when you’re trying to use a self checkout machine.
Costco UK has been scanning cards for months, we don’t have self checkout, though.
Costco UK has been scanning cards for months
In the US it’s still visual verification by an employee, as stated in the article.
Just providing some extra info, not refuting anything in the article…
Just providing some extra info, not refuting anything in the article…
Just noting the differences on each side of the Pond.
When did we get them in the UK?
Do we have to import every fucking brain dead piece of bullshit from that shit hole country.
Don’t talk about Wales like that.
I hate going to costco so many people and the suv carts.
I mean the carts are specifically designed for what they sell. Sam’s and BJs are the same way. A smaller cart would be filled with just a couple items.
Cars i assume?
I think they may be referring to the carts and their size
Yes, similar to SUVs those carts could run over a small child and you wouldn’t notice.
Unlike the SUV, the small child may just end up scooped up by the lower part of the cart.
Maybe. Many do drive enormous SUVs to Costco, but Costco also has very large shopping carts.
How does this mean that people won’t have to scan their cards and prove themselves at checkout, when they allow anyone inside for the pharmacy, optical center, and to purchase alcohol?
They won’t have to show IDs at checkout since the ID would already be confirmed at the door, I’m guessing…
Hahahaha no it will be both
Why would it need to be both? The cards have the member’s picture on them. A single confirmation is enough.
Hahahhahahaha
Edit: have any of you ever been to Costco? Front Door: hi can i see your Costco card? Checkout line: hi can i see your Costco card? Cashier: hi can i see your Costco card?
Haha they will just ask once right? RIGHT? RIGHT?!
What a strange reaction lol
I just hate digging out my costco card when im not in the process of an actual transaction
Costco could save a lot of money by just issuing a QR code to each paying member that they then have tattooed on their right wrist for easy scanning.
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Classy. Are we supposed to respect your opinion about KKKostco?
They started this here months ago. My wife kept her maiden name when we got married. I’m sure you can figure out why our 2 hour customer service call ended in cancellation. FUCK Costco
In a decade you’re the first person I’ve ever met who had a problem with Costco.
Meh, I cancelled for similar reasons. They have tilted over to being way too aggressive about the card shit and it’s gotten annoying. Plus, I don’t think a lot of the deals are actually very good these days.
Did you not bother to get your wife her own card?
My wife never changed her name, but she’s got her own card under her name, on my membership.
We tried to get me one, but we had issues getting the marriage certificate promptly, and customer service really wanted me to pay for my own account.
That makes zero sense. You don’t have to be married to get the household card, just have to live in the same house.
Exactly! They did a great job ignoring that and talking us out of the membership. All I really miss are the muffins.
So what happens if two friends go to Costco but only one has a membership card? Will they deny access? or, in an even better scenario, if you accompany an elderly. I used to borrow a friends card and shop at Costco time to time.
Edit: That was in CanadaLast sentence, second paragraph:
Anyone with a card can bring up to two guests to the club during each visit, the company stipulates.
I didn’t see that! thanks!
Trebuchets.
I wonder if that brings changes to the membership tiers. I pay more for Executive membership to get 2% cashback, but if they will not scan my membership on the checkout how would they know how much I’ve spent?
You’ll still have to scan at checkout, the POS system will only work for booze and pharmacy without a valid membership
Honestly, I’ve been considering just cancelling my Costco membership. Sam’s Club let’s you scan as you shop, check out on your phone, and walk out. If Costco let you do that, it would help cut down on this greatly.
Only let two phones be registered at a time and that’s your ID. Or have different tiers for solo, duo, or family with different price tiers. If you get a new phone, you have to invalidate your old registration. Have TOTP or one-time QR codes generated in the app for when you check out in line or at the gas station. Let the old people still have cards, but you check their ID every time. If someone forgets their card, let them look it up by phone number and present an ID to prove they are that member. Could even give $10 off a membership for going digital or an extra 60 days of membership if you go all-digital to incentivize it. When someone goes digital, flag their card barcode as no longer active in the system if someone tries to use it.
If you go digital, you get to scan n go and walk right out. Someone scans a QR code of your receipt as you leave like they do at Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club even let’s you scan a gas pump with your phone and it will already program in a credit card of your choice, tie that pump to your membership, and give you a digital receipt. Totally paperless and basically zero contact.
Yawn. Costco > Sam’s club (ew, Walmart) for treating employees, plus Kirkland brand is the best store-name brand. Btw you can have a digital card on Costco app. I’m not even sure what your reason was for canceling, and for some reason I read your whole comment twice
The one place where Sam’s beats Costco is its scan and go app. You literally scan the barcodes of the items you want to purchase as you shop, check out in the app and walk out the door. Never have to speak to anyone or wait in the checkout line.
I could understand how this would appeal to someone with extreme social anxiety or someone really pressed for time, but in reality I don’t care for this at all. I’ll wait in line for 2-5 minutes or scan it myself at self checkout if I’m really pressed for time for some reason
When I buy huge , heavy items , it’s real nice to not try to find the barcodes on 40lb packs of cat litter and cases of water.
This. I choose Costco for many reasons. I don’t care what others like about Sam’s bc I’m not going to give money to that company.
I haven’t cancelled yet. I said I was considering it.
I agree Costco selection and products are better, as well as their employee treatment. However, I have both at the moment, Sam’s Club is a quarter mile from me while Costco is a 18 minute drive one way, and I can easily get in and out of Sam’s Club with the Scan and Go app. That’s why I’m considering whether renewing is worth it.
A app to scan like that would be amazing. Would go a long way to shortening those massive lines that make getting into and out of aisles complicated when it’s busy.
Mine has always done this? You have to show your card to enter… And they do it at check out too
…along with photo ID…
Yes - at checkout at the self service - they make us show your id and your card
Huh, they haven’t been doing that here… I figured that must have been the new thing. How annoying.
The cards already have a photo on them as does the app’s digital card. You only have to show Photo ID if you have a “COVID card”.
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Non-members need to go though. Pay your dues or go to another store.
My Costco card has a grainy photo on the back, too.
Same
"And now, Costco is testing out a system that requires members to scan their membership cards at the store entrance — instead of just flashing the card to employees."
“The scanners also mean employees don’t need to ask customers for their membership cards at cash registers and self-checkout.”
Look man - don’t assume I can read. I’m like every other red blooded American that looks at a title and makes glaring assumptions and gives opinions that no one asked for. Okay?
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This bullshit started with self checkouts. We need to widely reject self checkout, they cost people their jobs and just create more corporate bullshit. If these corporations want to avoid shop lifting and other issues, hire staff and get rid of self checkouts. I refuse to use them and shake my head at the employees when they direct me to an open self checkout.
My closest Costco doesn’t really have self check, since they always have someone there doing the scanning for you. Effectively the self check is a weird looking Express Lane that they only sometimes enforce the item limit on.
