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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah exactly, people are so afraid of confrontation these days, you can tell people to fuck off and they generally will.
My costco card has my photo on it. Is that not a thing everywhere?
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.
About time. Doors are such an overrated method of entry.
edit: nevermind, read the article
Semi-related fun fact that I like to share; Costco doesn’t require membership for alcohol or pharmacy purchases.
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.
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.
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.
