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.
My costco card has my photo on it. Is that not a thing everywhere?
It is where I am as well, plus if you download the app you can bring up your ID card their as well, and it has the same photo on that as well.
A bit belated, but it occurred to me that maybe the card for a second family member doesn’t have a photo, or still has the main member’s photo. I always assumed that the second person would have to get their photo taken for the card but since I’ve never borrowed a card, and don’t have a second user, I wouldn’t know.
My partner and I are on an account together. We are not married, different last names. We both have cards with our names and photos.
When we got my wife a card, they took her photo for her own card.
Nope, during COVID they stopped taking or checking photos. They’ve had to spend the last few months getting everyone to get a new card now.
Oh you are right, that’s a very good point, I never thought about them skipping the photos because of masks.
My Costco photo is 20 years old and looks nothing like me anymore, but when I asked for a new photo they said no. So obviously they aren’t looking closely at pictures.
Same. The last time they took my photo was when I got a Costco Amex card in… I think 2005? They don’t even take Amex anymore, LOL.
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*
The Costco isles are more exclusive.
Bulk water priced tho…
Aisle be back!
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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.
And then they can tell you to fuck off, because it’s their store.
I’m sure they would try but if you’ve already shown the damn member card they can eat shit.
It’s literally their property, it doesn’t matter if you have a membership card, they can kick you off their property for any reason or no reason.
You don’t have an inherent right to shop at Costco.
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.
About time. Doors are such an overrated method of entry.
edit: nevermind, read the article
You’re right. Hatches are where it’s at these days. Those people advocating the window entry methods are just weird and smelly.
Genius comment. I’m literally lolling
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.
IIRC, there are sometimes state laws that prevent them from restricting access to the food court. It depends.
My local Costco doesn’t require a membership to buy from the cafeteria. You order from a computer and pay.
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?
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.”
How can it possibly speed up things at entry? They’re going to be checking IDs like a bouncer at a club. I can imagine it speeding up checkout only if they stop requiring card scanning at that time too, and/or massive amounts of people are doing this today.
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.
Never had an issue with parking. Sure you might need to walk a bit but there’s always parking.
Whenever I go to Costco it’s a crapshoot if I actually go depending on the parking situation
This just saves the time of having such people getting in and filling up a cart and being stopped at the register. I’ve never been able to mooch off someone else’s membership at Costco. The membership cards have photos of the member on them and they would stop me at the register whenever my dad sent me with his and not let me actually make the purchase. And I haven’t even been to Costco (outside of the food court at the one down the street since it’s outside and I can get that sweet hotdog combo without needing a membership) for years.
Costco stores started adding self checkout lanes a few years ago, which means that they weren’t always checking the photo at checkout anymore.
They check your card before you’re allowed to use the self checkout.
It must vary from store to store. I’ve used self checkout at our store several times, and no human ever checks my card. I just scan it when I start checking out.
Really? Me ma and Dad use my card all the time, a few times they just had to give address.
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.
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.
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.
When you enter the building I’ve never had anyone check if it’s actually my card, they only do that at the checkout. You just need to flash the card so they can tell you have one on your way in. They check the photo and address at the checkout though. I guess people were getting by that with the self checkouts.
I’m just repeating what was said in the article.
Having said that, each and every time I’ve had to flash my Costco card at the employee at the front door, as it also states in the article.
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.
While I agree that I wouldn’t move to Sam’s on ethical grounds I don’t like Costco’s approach on this.
We pay for our membership. Adding hassle or making it less convenient as paying members just pushes me towards cancelling and using someone else’s membership instead.
I’m in the minority for sure though because we only use Costco for a handful of things on a pretty regular cadence (sparkling water, pet food, paper products etc.). We probably just slightly save more than the membership cost in a year.
I fully support Costco protecting their business model but at the end of the day it’s a subscription service and adding barriers to access will push us away.
This is an odd take to me. You acknowledge that you pay for the membership and yet you’re against them enforcing the very benefits that you, as a member, are paying for and then your “solution” to that is to cancel your membership and do the same thing that they’re attempting to curb *specifically for their members *.
This is, to me, akin to someone paying for a gym membership and then cancelling said membership when the gym enforces not letting people in who haven’t paid to use the facilities. Aren’t you paying specifically for the gym staff to enforce who is allowed to come in and use the facilities?
I’m not against them enforcing it, just that their enforcement makes my experience worse. I’m not negatively impacted by this problem they’re trying to fix until their fixes make my experience worse.
I also think it’s naive to believe there’s no financial motivation and they’re only doing it because it’s unfair to their paying members.
Your gym analogy is also a false equivalence. The Costco membership gets you their product guarantee/return policy and the opportunity to purchase things at a cheaper price than elsewhere. Joe Schmo letting his neighbor use his membership doesn’t hurt me in any way, it only hurts Costco.
What I’m saying is actually similar to what has happened, and is happening, in media regarding DRM and various attempts to secure content.
You’re only saying that because they’re insulating you from the effect of this happening. If Costco had to raise rates because people were sharing memberships and members didn’t want that enforced, you’d complain about that too. Again, it’s odd to me that you’re complaining about them protecting the very benefits that you’re paying for which others are not. Unless you have some magic way to prevent non-members from using benefits that doesn’t affect members, your demands are unreasonable.
The gym analogy isn’t a false equivalence. If Joe Schmo lets his neighbor use your membership, it does affect you and it does so in the same way as it does at the gym - more traffic, less access to product, more upkeep, etc. and none of which they’re paying for but you are. I don’t understand why you’re ignoring the ways this affects you simply because this also affects you.
DRM is a a false equivalence. This is not immaterial goods like Intellectual Property. This is physical goods at physical stores of resources that are physically limited. It’s not the same thing in any way.
You’re only saying that because they’re insulating you from the effect of this happening. If Costco had to raise rates because people were sharing memberships and members didn’t want that enforced, you’d complain about that too.
I would not. If the new rates meant I’d pay more for a membership than I’d save over the course of a year I’d just not renew.
Again, it’s odd to me that you’re complaining about them protecting the very benefits that you’re paying for which others are not.
They are not protecting my benefits, they are protecting their revenue stream. I’m not sure why you and so many others don’t understand that companies don’t exist to provide something** for you**. They exist to extract a profit from you.
The gym analogy isn’t a false equivalence.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this and probably the whole situation in general because you’ve just re-stated the same points as in your first reply to me. You may not like my reasoning but it’s not wrong. The only reason I have a Costco membership is because it is currently cheaper for me to get a few items there than it is to get them elsewhere, but just barely. When it’s no longer financially beneficial to me to have a membership, or if they create a shopping experience so unpleasant that it outweighs the nominal savings we get from shopping there we will end our membership.
If that time ever comes and if the family members who have memberships now still do, then I’ll just have them buy for me or I’ll go as a “guest”. The only difference is the inconvenience of not being able to go whenever it’s convenient for me or waiting until we absolutely need something, because I’d have to go on someone else’s schedule.
Just because you can’t understand a logical cost/benefit rationale doesn’t make it wrong. I’m not under the same illusion as you seem to be that Costco, or any business or corporation, has my best interests at heart. This is ultimately about their revenue stream; you can tell yourself otherwise but you’re a fool if you think that’s not a driving factor.
Just because you can’t understand a logical cost/benefit rationale doesn’t make it wrong.
I understand it fine. I’m pointing out the flaw in it based on the fact that you’re complaining about paying for something that you are ok with others abusing for free. I never said that Costco wasn’t doing it for their own benefit. Happy members benefit them. People who aren’t members do not benefit them or members.
The entire point of contention is why any member would be ok with non-members using services you pay for without paying.
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.
Well that sucks. A lot. We only have a Sam’s Club here, but my family buys very little in the sizes that they offer things. There’s one exception which is a much bigger expense otherwise, so we borrow my wife’s co-worker’s card every other month, buy a few boxes, then do it again. So we are there like four times a year and maybe spend $400 total. With a membership, it would be another $50 on top of that. For going four times a year. I’m sure they’ll follow Costco’s lead.
I wish more places had the Scan and Go option in the app like Sam’s Club. Not having to visit a register is so nice.
You make a very good point. This thread is a Costco circle jerk apparently. Bulk addicts gonna tweak lol.
Costco treats its employees very well and they should be lauded for that, but frankly, I think the whole idea of paying a corporation for the privilege of shopping in their store is bullshit and should not be encouraged.
Meh, it depends on how much you really need to buy. We have a big household so we do genuinely save buying in bulk when we’d usually need to get at least a couple packages of whatever food to feed everyone.
Doing probably 75% of my shopping there with the 2% cash back has allowed my membership to pay for itself. And personally, knowing that they treat their employees fairly well is big draw, especially with how draining retail work can be.
So it’s definitely not for everyone, but if you do actually use all of the stuff you buy, it does have decent benefits.
Sure, but why should you have to pay for the privilege of shopping there in the first place?
Because they offer something that other stores cannot. Why do you pay for any privilege that you pay for?
No, they offer the same things other stores offer in larger quantities so the per item cost is lower. You’re paying for that. Movie theaters offer something other businesses don’t. Would it be acceptable for them to require you to have a movie theater membership before being allowed to buy a ticket or popcorn?
…you just admitted that you’re paying for a benefit. What are you even arguing here? If other stores do not offer larger quantities where the per item cost is lower, then that’s the benefit you’re paying for.
Movie theatres are a bad counter too. You can’t get into the movie theatre to buy popcorn without a ticket in most theatres. The ticket is your admittance in the same way the membership is.
Because it’s part of what allows them to keep costs down. If you’re only going to go once or twice a year, they’re losing money on you. They need a way to compensate for unprofitable shoppers, and a bit of sunk cost to keep the regulars coming back.
Still, I tallied up my last Costco trip with the equivalent of the same items at our regular grocery store and came up about $35 cheaper, that’s already a decent chunk towards my membership cost and doesn’t include cash back. In capitalism, that’s about as close to a win-win as you can get.
paying for the privilege
Amen to that. It feels like I’m subsidizing wages. If your business needs me to pay for the merchandise AND a pass for entry you can fuck right off.
Economics of scale mean bulk purchases are cheaper. They get them much cheaper than you do when you buy there (given it’ll usually be less per unit compared to other stores). This is akin to Amazon adding ads to their PAYING customer’s plans or Netflix backtracking on account sharing. Corpo BS of the highest degree.
Imagine if you had to buy a McDonalds membership at $50 a year in order to buy a Big Mac…
Keep going… imagine that every Big Mac you buy now is 25% cheaper. If you buy enough Big Macs, you might save money over the course of the year. At some point, the 25% cheaper thing is going to be far more than the $50.
I swear people have no math or finance skills anymore…
You’re still paying for the privilege of shopping there. I have no idea why you think that is how things should run.
I’m not. I’m paying for the benefits they provide.
You’re still paying for the privilege of shopping there. I have no idea why you think that is how things should run.
I’m not paying for that. I’m paying for the benefits the membership provides.
It’s why you can use the pharmacy and buy certain items without a membership. Those aren’t benefited in the same way as the rest of the purchases you can make there.
Even if you just buy gas, condoms, and medicine at Costco, you’d break even quickly. Depending on your location, even just one gas stop at Costco gas saved us $60, the price of a membership.
Medicine that costs north of $130 at CVS costs $47 at Costco. Some of the stuff you can get at Costco, like berries, are half the cost as normal grocers, and usually much higher quality goo. Some, you even get an entire carton of milk free vs buying the same ultra pasturized milk at other stores. We go there and split up a Costco run by our families :)
Hell, even in college, Costco saved us students so much money. We were so hungry, haha.
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?
There’s a lady at the door of the Hacks Cross store in Memphis that is absolutely relentless about seeing and reading the values on membership cards as people enter the store. I feel sure that she used to be a living legend at the highway patrol before she retired and took this job.
She’s playing Papers Please irl
Glory to Arstotzka.
