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.
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.
Wrong, Costco cannot legally prevent you from using the pharmacy. All health services are available to the public by law. Alcohol too although that law is because they are issued a public license.
Can you provide an example of anything Costco makes available to the general public the same as their members when they don’t have to?
The closest I can think of is online shopping but that adds a 5% surcharge and I don’t even know if you still can do that.
Your membership is paying to be able to shop there, the advantage being the lower prices they achieve by purchasing wholesale and limiting markup, no more than 14% for regular and 15% for Kirkland I think.
Edit: I looked at your comment history. Don’t bother replying, I’m not interested in anything you have to say and I can go to a Costco if I want to be pitched on their membership.
I’m not sure what you’re arguing against. You’re just making my point for me that the membership is paying for benefits that normal non-members don’t get.